Gravel bar pics

[Country Dave]

My 2 cents,

Only a couple ways that I can think of and the first one would be “Lighten the boat up” but that’s not very practical. I mean the only real way you could do that would be to remove the motor and that’s just about as problematic as getting the boat of the bar.

I see a lot of timber along the bank; I would find the narrowest spot downstream and dam it up. Let the water come up and float it off. If you couldn’t drag it off without damaging it I can’t think of another way, lighten the boat and drag it off, or raise the water level and float it off. Just saying................. :mrgreen:

 

[Paul Marx]

A screw anchor and a come along , or a piece of pipe driven in at an angle away from the bow and a come along . Don't ask me how I know Smack . . 2" pvc running length wise will also work , just like the runners on your trailer do.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

I tried pushing my boat off of my trailer by myself and couldn't do it and it has the plastic bunks. Overcoming the resting inertia of a 800 - 1000 lbs takes a lot of muscle.

I've read about guys using tarps to pull boats off by letting the water fill up in them and the current dragging the off...almost like a sea anchor I guess? Anyone ever see that or done it?

 

[Country Dave]

RiverBottomOutdoors » 1 minute ago[/url]"]I tried pushing my boat off of my trailer by myself and couldn't do it and it has the plastic bunks. Overcoming the resting inertia of a 800 - 1000 lbs takes a lot of muscle.

I've read about guys using tarps to pull boats off by letting the water fill up in them and the current dragging the off...almost like a sea anchor I guess? Anyone ever see that or done it?

I like that idea,

There's a lot of force behind a tarp full of water. If it didn't pull the eyelets out of the tarp I think that would work pretty good.

 

[user 6672]

These are all "light" boats you guys are talking about.. get your arse out n dig n push

 

[Paul Marx]

I got it . If the water is still around the boat , dig a hole under the foot of the jet. Adapt a fire hose to fit the discharge and blow a chanel . =D>

 

[Lil' Blue Rude]

Wonder how some Wetlanders Bottom paint would help out here? I know the airboat guys use all kinds of paints like that to reduce friction.

 

[PSG-1]

There's a similar coating called "Gator Glide" Coatings like this might help reduce friction to some degree, but dragging a 1000 lb boat off a gravel bar is still going to be a PITA, any way you slice it (no pun intended) :LOL2:

 

[PSG-1]

Paul Marx » Today, 16:45[/url]"]I got it . If the water is still around the boat , dig a hole under the foot of the jet. Adapt a fire hose to fit the discharge and blow a chanel . =D>

In theory, yes. But most likely, all the churned up sand would quickly foul the water pump impeller.

 

[PSG-1]

Country Dave » Today, 09:49[/url]"]My 2 cents,

Only a couple ways that I can think of and the first one would be “Lighten the boat up” but that’s not very practical. I mean the only real way you could do that would be to remove the motor and that’s just about as problematic as getting the boat of the bar.

I see a lot of timber along the bank; I would find the narrowest spot downstream and dam it up. Let the water come up and float it off. If you couldn’t drag it off without damaging it I can’t think of another way, lighten the boat and drag it off, or raise the water level and float it off. Just saying................. :mrgreen:

If the stream is narrow enough, yes, this method will work, guaranteed. If it's a wide river, but the gravel on hand is cobble-sized, you may be able to construct a downstream-facing "V" around the grounding site, and try to divert water into this, just a few inches of water may help to break suction with the ground. It's worth a try, what else can you do except start stacking rocks?

 

[Wood_Duck]

With that big Opti, maybe a small set of wings on the boat and you could fly just above the water? Love the boat, I'm glad my jet can be manhandled enough to get unstuck. I keep saying in years to come I'm gonna get a HiPro but I dont know what I'd ever do getting one of them stuck. I'm thinking of either starting to carry a comealong or find a way to add a winch.

 

[dhoganjr]

Most of the time I keep a set of comealong's in the boat. This trip I didn't have them, just lucky the guys showed up with the 2 four wheelers. I keep thinking about a battery powered winch or one of the gas powered chainsaw type winches for times like this.

There was about 3" of water flowing across the gravel bar, I could of powered through it and probably never touched bottom. But at first glance I thought it closed off and the reaction parked it.

Funny how different you react with something new. With the old motor I would have made a new trench and slid out the other side.