power loading?

[BobL]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q31Wl7Ten5o

[Nautical]

For the sake of those who are new or have only power loaded in the past, where is "the line?" At what point can you use your engine to get the boat to the trailer without it being considered power loading? Is it when the boat is still level and completely floating but over the trailer itself? Is it considered power loading beyond that point when the bow first contacts the trailer?

[OK Toon]

I don't think it's a matter of distance, I think it's a matter of thrust from the motor. If you are in forward gear at idle speed, you are fine. But the moment you rev that motor up to force the boat farther onto the trailer, then you are "power loading". That's why if you back far enough in, you can idle right up to the bow stop and never have to give it anymore throttle than idle speed.

Others may have their own opinion.

[blackberg]

We always power load,
I think it's a combo of the ramps we have here and the tow vehicle.

Our ramps here are long and steep, upto 8 lanes across.

We really can go in deeper since then the van will take on water. We are usually a foot or 2 short and just need to power trough that

-bb

[blackberg]

This is one of the ones we go to, the one on the right is the one that is opened the most and used the most, see how the ramp keeps going underwater.

Cropped the left one out since the pic was huge
-bb

[crspang]

You can see the effects of power loading on the pics from the Lake Granbury news paper article posted in another thread.

That looks more like the effects low water. If the water was higher then there would be no problem.

[ROLAND]

I don't think it's a matter of distance, I think it's a matter of thrust from the motor. If you are in forward gear at idle speed, you are fine. But the moment you rev that motor up to force the boat farther onto the trailer, then you are "power loading". That's why if you back far enough in, you can idle right up to the bow stop and never have to give it anymore throttle than idle speed.

Others may have their own opinion.

I agree with steve here, but I think it also depends on the steepness of the ramp, and just how far back you back your trailer down. I know in the past there have been a couple of times where we were able to just glide up on the trailer all the way up to the stops without power loading, but the trailer was so deep that the ass end of the pontoon was still floating... as a result when we pulled up off the ramp on at least one occasion, the toons were sitting up on the edge of the bunks, not down in the bunks as they should have been...but since we use the same ramp 95% of the time, we pretty much know just how deep to put the trailer in.

[smoker62]

You can see the effects of power loading on the pics from the Lake Granbury news paper article posted in another thread.

That looks more like the effects low water. If the water was higher then there would be no problem.

WTF are you looking at. Its blatantly obvious when the water was at normal levels, the power loading dug holes and deposited the rocks behind the hole. Sure, raise the levels of water so you dont hit the rock piles from the " low water ".

[crspang]

You can see the effects of power loading on the pics from the Lake Granbury news paper article posted in another thread.

That looks more like the effects low water. If the water was higher then there would be no problem.

WTF are you looking at. Its blatantly obvious when the water was at normal levels, the power loading dug holes and deposited the rocks behind the hole. Sure, raise the levels of water so you don't hit the rock piles from the " low water ".

I'm looking at the water line marks on the bridge. At normal levels the motors would be washing against the concrete but as the levels fell and people were forced lower and lower down the ramp then the prop wash started digging holes. Now, with the water level as pictured the ramp is not usable regardless of power loaders. If power loaders caused those holes at normal levels then that is piss poor ramp design.

[Drago]

Most bASS pro wanabes I see power load the boat all the way to the stop, LEAVE the motor in gear at 1/4 throttle (which blows my mind if they have a bunk trailer), walk up front and hook up the strap, turn the crank less than 1/2 a turn to tighten strap, walk back and shut the motor off.

This is precisely how I load our boat on our lake. I have to do this completely by my self. Joy feels very uncomfortable backing the trailer down the ramp. I only put about 1-2 feet of the bunks in the water. My bunks are so slippery that I have to run at ~1500-2000 rpm to keep the boat from sliding back into the lake.

[bodie]

I don't mind a bit of power loading but A LOT of people take it way too far. I see far too many people just barely get the back of there trailer in the water (tires still on dry land) and use 1/2+ throttle to walk there boats up the trailer. A quick bump of the throttle to get it on solid enough to winch it tight, just fine! LOTS of throttle to push it over 1/2 the length of the trailer. "Someone" actually made a sign at the local ramp that says "Power loaders will be shot" and its still standing three years later. That "someone" got real sick of having to push his boat off the trailer due to the HUGE hole left from power loading past the end of the concrete, and why is the concrete short to begin with, due to concrete breaking off and falling into the washout over the years!

I agree anything more than a little bump and then neutral it and let slide home your doing it wrong...IMO