Loading your boat on to your trailer at the boat ramp is pretty much just the reverse of what you did when you launched it as described in our previous article “How to easily Launch Your Boat by Yourself“. When you are done for the day and it’s time to go home, drive your boat the the ramp dock if there is one and tie it to the dock or just beach it if there is no dock next to the ramp. Then you can go and get your tow vehicle and trailer and back the trailer down into the water at the ramp. The important thing here is to remember how far your trailer was in the water when you launched it so you can position it in the water at the same level. You should have made a mental note on how much of the fenders were above the water line or how far up the front of the trailer the waterline was when you launched your boat. Once you have your trailer in the water far enough if you have a roller type trailer or a bunk type trailer you can slowly drive your boat up on to the trailer carefully so the bow of the boat goes into the rubber v-pad on the trailer bow stand. Once there leave the engine in forward gear, using the boat props forward thrust to keep the boat from backing off down into the water, go up to the bow of the boat while you are still in the boat or get out at the dock next to the boat and connect the winch strap to the boat and crank it up with the winch handle until the strap is tight and locked. Put the safety chain on the boat’s bow eye now also. then go and put the engine / drive in neutral and turn off the engine. Bring the drive unit all the way up with the trailer button if you have a sterndrive or outboard motor. Pull up an outboard motor manually to the trailer ing position if you do not have power trim and tilt.
If you don’t feel confident enough or have never tried to drive the boat onto the trailer, bring up the drive unit or outboard engine to the trailering position and just use a rope tied on the boat to guide your boat up on to the trailer and hook up the winch strap and safety chain. Either way once the boat is secured on the bow stand you can now take your boat and trailer out of the water and install the trailer tie downs. You should inspect your boat prop for any damage, you might have hit something and not have felt it or noticed it. Take out anything from the boat that might fly out once you are driving down the road and put in the tow vehicle. check your trailer lights to make sure they are working and trailer brakes if you have them. now you can drive on down the road.
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