introducing the "Dirty Shrimp"

[Gerry Zagorski]

One other thing you need to concern yourself with when launching, especially at low tide, is slime on the ramps. Every year you see photos of cars fully submerged at ramps. Once they start sliding there is no stopping them, even with 4 wheel drive. If you have a heavier boat and a light tow vehicle, this adds to the issue.

If you see slime on the ramps there are a few things you can do that will help.
- Use chocks under the back of the front tires of the tow vehicle when launching and retrieving.
- When launching make sure the boat is floating off the trailer. I've heard stories where someone went to gun the boat in reverse to get it off the trailer while the boat was still on the bunks and that is what caused the tow vehicle to slide.
- Try throwing some sand on the ramp to help your traction.
- When backing down the ramp you should be backing down in nuetral and applying slight break pressure.
- Just like driving in the snow, stomping on the breaks or gas spinning your tires is not advised. Either can cause your tires to break the pavement and could be the start of a slide.

Since you have that big Suburban and a lighter boat, this might not be as much of an issue for you Steve, but it does happen. Just be careful.