Low pressure launching experience for a rookie?

[FishingFool]

I've always thought Morton was electric only. I could have sworn I've read about it too. But checking here, I dont see anything listed for Morton. Even checked the KCC PDF and nothing for Morton. Is it in a different county?

http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/w ... ating.aspx

LOL this thread reminds me of 2 years ago.....

The best advice I can give you is, to hold the bottom of the steering wheel while backing up. Steer left, to make the trailer go left. Steer right, to make the trailer go right. And go slow. That's about it.

[rjn cajun]

I've always thought Morton was electric only. I could have sworn I've read about it too. But checking here, I dont see anything listed for Morton. Even checked the KCC PDF and nothing for Morton. Is it in a different county?

http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/w ... ating.aspx

LOL this thread reminds me of 2 years ago.....

The best advice I can give you is, to hold the bottom of the steering wheel while backing up. Steer left, to make the trailer go left. Steer right, to make the trailer go right. And go slow. That's about it.

It`s the Morton your thinking of. The one in King County. Up until last year there was a sign posted at the lake that stated no gas engines and a speed limit of 8 mph. Last year I didn`t see it anymore and seen several boats with gas motors. I also seen the home owners cruising around with motors.

[reigndawgs]

Ah, I love you Evergreen State, but you never make things easy:

http://www.kingcounty.gov/council/legis ... le_12.ashx

[rjn cajun]

Not to hijack your thread but why is this state so hard to find info about things. You would figure going to a lake a guy could find information about if he can or can`t run his gas motor there. Whether it`s at the lake or in the regs. But there gonna wait till he`s out on the water with his family having a good old time to ruin his day. Sorry for venting.

[reigndawgs]

Not to hijack your thread but why is this state so hard to find info about things. You would figure going to a lake a guy could find information about if he can or can`t run his gas motor there. Whether it`s at the lake or in the regs. But there gonna wait till he`s out on the water with his family having a good old time to ruin his day. Sorry for venting.

Vent away, I agree. I love our state more than any other, but the state government does love to make things complicated. I always check here first when in any doubt and have managed to rarely if ever commit an infraction.

[Bodofish]

The best practice you can get is just backing all over an empty parking lot at night. The next step is to hit any launch you want, get in line and be ready for my favorite phrase, "If you have a deadline, I guess you should have left home a little earlier.", normally closely followed by,"BTW if you're not going to help, be a good boy and go wait by your boat.". Feel free to use any combo salty expletives as needed.

[Bodofish]

Not to hijack your thread but why is this state so hard to find info about things. You would figure going to a lake a guy could find information about if he can or can`t run his gas motor there. Whether it`s at the lake or in the regs. But there gonna wait till he`s out on the water with his family having a good old time to ruin his day. Sorry for venting.

Vent away, I agree. I love our state more than any other, but the state government does love to make things complicated. I always check here first when in any doubt and have managed to rarely if ever commit an infraction.

That would be because the State is not in control of all bodies of water. Counties control a lot of them and you can get good info on the lakes (pertaining to gas or no) by hitting their water quality sites. The other easy way is just take a cruise by the launch and read the signs. Oh and lets not forget the WA Lakes Lake directory.

It's just not that hard. Want to know about a lake? Do a web search and there will be many sites telling you what you can and can't do. Real Estate adds are good too!

Bing and Google are your friends.......

[Mike Carey]

Not to hijack your thread but why is this state so hard to find info about things. You would figure going to a lake a guy could find information about if he can or can`t run his gas motor there. Whether it`s at the lake or in the regs. But there gonna wait till he`s out on the water with his family having a good old time to ruin his day. Sorry for venting.

Vent away, I agree. I love our state more than any other, but the state government does love to make things complicated. I always check here first when in any doubt and have managed to rarely if ever commit an infraction.

It is tough. I'm going to think of a way to incorporate that King cnty info, the problem is (and it's the same with fishing regs) that it constantly changes and then we have outdated info on our site. I don't want to have wrong info posted in lake overviews.

Ideally each county would coordinate with WDFW and have motor restrictions added to the fishing regs. That would make it easy for us citizens, although more work for the counties and WDFW.

[Bodofish]

Since I normally go north to fish, the Snohomish Co. web site has been the best info for what is and isn't allowed on a lake. Again the water quality section. Then for ramps it WDFW, then county then city.

Yes in a perfect world they would all share and coordinate but as long as there is no monitary incentive I doubt it will happen.

[Mike Carey]

Since I normally go north to fish, the Snohomish Co. web site has been the best info for what is and isn't allowed on a lake. Again the water quality section. Then for ramps it WDFW, then county then city.

Yes in a perfect world they would all share and coordinate but as long as there is no monitary incentive I doubt it will happen.

So true. Well, in a never ending quest to make this a more perfect world let's do it ourselves. I started a thread where we can add links to each county's lake information/regulations.

The challenge will be finding each counties info on the web. Feel free everyone to start googling and help us out!

County Lake Regulations thread

[rjn cajun]

Since I normally go north to fish, the Snohomish Co. web site has been the best info for what is and isn't allowed on a lake. Again the water quality section. Then for ramps it WDFW, then county then city.

Yes in a perfect world they would all share and coordinate but as long as there is no monitary incentive I doubt it will happen.

So true. Well, in a never ending quest to make this a more perfect world let's do it ourselves. I started a thread where we can add links to each county's lake information/regulations.

The challenge will be finding each counties info on the web. Feel free everyone to start googling and help us out!

County Lake Regulations thread

Sweet thanks Mike. Bodo fish thank you also for the helpful tips on who to contact and where to look. Never thought about a few of those research items you mentioned. It would just be nice and save alot of headache if they would just post the rules of the lake speed limit gas or no gas and etc. But that would be to easy on everyone.

[Marc Martyn]

Backing up trailers isn't rocket science, but it can be tricky under certain circumstances. I learned a trick many years ago that makes the task easier. People are used to turning the wheel in a certain direction when they back up their vehicles. The direction is ingrained in their minds from the time they started to drive. Most drivers can back a car up by using the mirrors. But when backing up a trailer, the direction the wheel is turned is just the opposite.

If you can remember this little trick, it will make it a lot easier backing up using mirrors.

While using the mirrors, turn the stirring wheel so the bottom of the stirring wheel is going in the direction you want the back of the boat to go.
Tape a note on the dashboard as a reminder until it become habit. When it became habit for me, I never put my hands on the top of the stirring wheel while backing up trailers.

I would suggest taking the boat over to a large parking lot of an office complex after hours or on the weekend. If they have painted lines for two cars, practice backing up the trailer between those lines.

[tnj8222]

Backing up trailers isn't rocket science, but it can be tricky under certain circumstances. I learned a trick many years ago that makes the task easier. People are used to turning the wheel in a certain direction when they back up their vehicles. The direction is ingrained in their minds from the time they started to drive. Most drivers can back a car up by using the mirrors. But when backing up a trailer, the direction the wheel is turned is just the opposite.

If you can remember this little trick, it will make it a lot easier backing up using mirrors.

While using the mirrors, turn the stirring wheel so the bottom of the stirring wheel is going in the direction you want the back of the boat to go.
Tape a note on the dashboard as a reminder until it become habit. When it became habit for me, I never put my hands on the top of the stirring wheel while backing up trailers.

I would suggest taking the boat over to a large parking lot of an office complex after hours or on the weekend. If they have painted lines for two cars, practice backing up the trailer between those lines.

Im no pro launcher but this is great advice

[reigndawgs]

Backing up trailers isn't rocket science, but it can be tricky under certain circumstances. I learned a trick many years ago that makes the task easier. People are used to turning the wheel in a certain direction when they back up their vehicles. The direction is ingrained in their minds from the time they started to drive. Most drivers can back a car up by using the mirrors. But when backing up a trailer, the direction the wheel is turned is just the opposite.

If you can remember this little trick, it will make it a lot easier backing up using mirrors.

While using the mirrors, turn the stirring wheel so the bottom of the stirring wheel is going in the direction you want the back of the boat to go.
Tape a note on the dashboard as a reminder until it become habit. When it became habit for me, I never put my hands on the top of the stirring wheel while backing up trailers.

I would suggest taking the boat over to a large parking lot of an office complex after hours or on the weekend. If they have painted lines for two cars, practice backing up the trailer between those lines.

Great advice and plan on doing just that!
I'm going to hit a school lot as they are on spring break and it will be sunday. Then I'm off to Sawyer most likely.

[kevinb]

Excellent tip Marc.
High school parking lots are pretty good,....I suppose depending on the city/size of school might be an issue for having a large parking lot.

Just try your best to find a low key spot. In my experience,I do fine at any lake,so as long as I don't have anyone waiting on me. Once theirs a crowd,it becomes added pressure and I tend to screw up and do the typical"Almost there...uh,wait a minute" then have to pull forward and try again. Its then followed by some growns of the others in line. Pretty much what Bodo mentioned.

[Marc Martyn]

I should take my video camera out to Fish Trap Lake on Opening Day and film the launch fiasco for awhile. I could title the film "How To Be A Jerk"- An Instructional Video For Pinheads.

[Bodofish]

Backing up trailers isn't rocket science, but it can be tricky under certain circumstances. I learned a trick many years ago that makes the task easier. People are used to turning the wheel in a certain direction when they back up their vehicles. The direction is ingrained in their minds from the time they started to drive. Most drivers can back a car up by using the mirrors. But when backing up a trailer, the direction the wheel is turned is just the opposite.

If you can remember this little trick, it will make it a lot easier backing up using mirrors.

While using the mirrors, turn the stirring wheel so the bottom of the stirring wheel is going in the direction you want the back of the boat to go.
Tape a note on the dashboard as a reminder until it become habit. When it became habit for me, I never put my hands on the top of the stirring wheel while backing up trailers.

[h]I would suggest taking the boat over to a large parking lot of an office complex after hours or on the weekend. If they have painted lines for two cars, practice backing up the trailer between those lines.[/h]

Great advice and plan on doing just that!
I'm going to hit a school lot as they are on spring break and it will be sunday. Then I'm off to Sawyer most likely.

[h]The best practice you can get is just backing all over an empty parking lot at night.[/h] The next step is to hit any launch you want, get in line and be ready for my favorite phrase, "If you have a deadline, I guess you should have left home a little earlier.", normally closely followed by,"BTW if you're not going to help, be a good boy and go wait by your boat.". Feel free to use any combo salty expletives as needed.

Yeah good idea, go to a parking lot and back all over..... Never thought of that before..... Granted there is something to be said for a highschool lot, on the other hand you may have trouble with the locked gate and the police if you should make to he inside. If you go to a parking lot,I suggest finding the biggest one available and doing it at night because there is less traffic and it's harder to see. Most launches are hard to see and a mental image of where you want to go is everything. Small input small changes.

[Mike Carey]

and bring some orange cones to set up an imaginary ramp.

[Bodofish]

Great call!

[reigndawgs]

Well all plans went down the drain for practice when my wife got on my case and had get my kids out of the house. So I went directly to Lake Sammamish, not a soul around hardly. I parked my rig, went up to a nice looking group of guys chatting and said "Can you please help me? I've never backed up a trailer before and I just bought this boat." The guy was super nice and he helped my get my first launch and retrieval under my belt. Of course, I couldn't get the outboard started and we never left the dock, but I'm pretty sure I have that issue resolved now. But hey, it was a start. I still plan on practicing before my next launch but my kids were on my case because I promised to take them out and my wife was going to kill them if I didn't get them out of the house. I will keep you all posted on the next one.