First let me set the scene. I was prepping my boat like I always do in the make-ready lane at my local boat launch so that I wouldn't tie up the lane (this is a smaller lake with only one ramp). I started taking off the transom straps, tilted my motor up, grabbed my transom saver, and made sure the plug was in. You know, the basic things you need to do before dipping your boat in. I was finally ready to make my way to the ramp when someone rolls up past me and lines up to put in. He struggles to back up towards the docks and stops, gets out, and starts to prep his boat. Are you kidding me, what a disrespectful and uncourteous thing to do at the launch. I mean it's already a little past five and there are still a few more bass boats trying to launch for their 6 o'clock take off. That was strike one, showing no etiquette.

After he was done with that he gets in his truck and attempts to back it in the rest of the way. Once again he's all over the place. You can tell from his lack of etiquette and poor trailer control that he is new to the game. Which is fine, Im not saying I was a pro when I first started but he was on the struggle bus the whole time. He had to try three different times just to get the trailer in the water. By the time he finally got the trailer out of the water it was close to 20 minutes later. Thats way too long when theres a line of boaters waiting on you.

Now that I have vented a little, here is the proper way to go about launching your boat.

1. Pull over to a spot out of the way and prep your boat. Take off your transom straps, transom saver, and make sure that infamous drain plug is in. Load anything else you may want to bring on the boat as well. Do not take off your bow strap at this step, keep it attached until just before you motor the boat off of the trailer.

2. Once you are prepped, get in line or if no ones ahead of you, make your way to an open lane and line yourself up. Do this without cutting in front of someone, thats how many confrontations start.

3. Now back your boat up parallel to the dock until the top of your trailer fenders are just barely out of the water. This technique is a good rule of thumb, although all boat launches are different. (i.e. When loading your boat, have the trailer submerged at the same depth. Nine times out of ten that is the perfect hight to engage the hull of the boat on the bunks and slide up nice and straight). Also, make sure the trucks window is down and the radio is off so that if the driver and captain need to communicate, you can hear each other.

4. Have the driver get out and unhook the bow strap and safety chain. The captain of the boat should now tilt the motor down into the water so that the pickups are submerged. Start the motor and let it run for a second. Remember you still have people behind you waiting so don't over do this one.

5. Once the motor is running, put the boat into reverse and back off of the trailer.

6. With the boat now in the water, the driver can pull the trailer out and park the truck in the designated parking spots.

Sometimes if the launch is busy, I like to idle a safe distance away from the docks when the driver goes to park the truck. That allows another boater to line up and use the ramp as you are waiting for the driver to return. When I need to pick them up, I will either creep up to the end of the dock when its open or have them go down a little ways from the dock and scoop them from the shore. I just like to free the launch up as much as possible on those busy days. But I can get away with that on my local lakes here in Michigan. It may be a different story in other waterways across the country.

Launching a boat really isn't that hard to do with a little practice under your belt. If you follow these steps and don't rush yourself too much you will look like a boss every time you launch your boat.