Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I have seen people talking about power loading being prohibited on their lakes. I have been on several lakes (only in Oklahoma and Arkansas) and its ok to power load around here. The only time I have NOT power loaded my boats is when they broke down on me. My question is, Why is power loading prohibited on some lakes? Its a lot quicker and usually keeps the "flow" going at the ramp (except when you have the newbie that loads his boat in the back of his truck because he has his trailer in too deep).

I think it is because the prop wash digs holes if the ramp is short & in the dirt.

You may be right. I can see where that could happen.

Its usually a problem on rivers. They have short ramps. All of the ramps in the rivers here in the Pittsburgh area are very short and trailers go over all the time. To get them out a few guys have to pick them back up onto the ramp or call a tow truck (which usually does damage to the ramp and the trailer. Lakes usually have nice long ramps and powerloading in my option does a good job by blasting the sediment off of the concrete.

Power loading washes the dirt out from under the ramp.
If you power load pretty soon the ramp breaks or sinks and is unusable. It happens in lakes as well as rivers. You don't understand or have a clue what that prop is moving under the water. It's like a cyclone under your boat when your power loading.

Oh I do understand how much water is moved by a prop. I have owned anything from small fishing boats with outboards, cruisers with I/O's, drag boats both prop and jet drives. I guess we just have better ramps at our lakes. The ramp a mile from my house is 40-60ft long and has been there for years without washout.

killerkernrich wrote:I think it is because the prop wash digs holes if the ramp is short & in the dirt.

Yep, that's why a lot of the marinas around here don't allow power loading.

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!

Around here most ramps were put in by marina's and homeowners. Most of them can't afford to pour a ramp 40 to 60 feet long and 10 to 12 foot wide. We only have a few public ramps here so power loading is not recomended. We still do it our ramp is washed out under but has only become a problem because or boats have grown so we have to be carefull not to fall off the end when backing in.

It's not just under cutting the ramp, it also builds up a shallow spot (shoal) out past the end of the ramp. If let go long enough, it can make the ramp unusable due to the possibility of grounding or whacking the prop when approaching the ramp.

I'm glad the ramps around here are built to handle power loading.

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

I can't power load, I only have a 90 hp

There's no reason that Lake Granbury cannot build a proper ramp, with water that drops that low.

Our water is never more than 3' lower than full pool. They drop the level in March for the building of seawalls and boat docks.

I'm always in awe at how fast and efficient the bass fishermen are at power loading their boats and getting out of the way. It comes from twice weekly fishing tournaments and many loadings/unloadings.

I guarantee that I can "load and get out of the way" just as fast as the Bass Pros with my bunk trailer pontoon WITHOUT power loading. Idle the pontoon on, winch it up the last 5-6 feet, and off go. Its usually 60 seconds or less from the time my wife backs the trailer into the water to when it leaves the water. 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. I guess their arm is wore out from all that casting and they don't have enough strength to operate the crank at the end of day.