Putting a boat in the water with bus

[Garymci5]

Hi All,

I'm trying to figure out a safe way to use our MCI-5 with a manual trans to put our 19' sailboat in the lake. As you can imagine there are a few concerns. I'm not thrilled about parking the bus nearly in the water or too close to it. The grade might be too steep for the bus to pull itself out or at least the clutch might not be happy afterwards. Years ago I had to smoke a clutch to get moving on a steep hill and don't want to make a habit of it.

The boat isn't very heavy, maybe 1000lbs with trailer. Putting it in the water wouldn't be hard but pulling it out would be. A winch might work but would be very slow. Most powered units are only 6-10' per minute, but have a long 30 to 50' cable. It would work but slow.

Overall risking the bus is to be avoided. I just had an idea that the simplist solution might be to just tow it out with a long rope THEN hook it up. Might not be very elegant but keeping the bus out of the drink might be worth compromising this some!

If you've any bright ideas, I'm all ears for good input.

Thanks!
Gary

[Airbag]

Put a winch on the back of the bus and let it put the boat and trailer in the water. I would not subject your drive train to that abuse. FWIW best of luck 

[FloridaCliff]

Gary,

I used to drop my pontoon boat with a Class "C" and it was just a little too thrilling for me and it had an auto transmission.

Wouldn't even consider the Bus and not even on a bet with a standard.

Think about all the motions you would have to go through and then would probably end up damaging your clutch.

I would just offer to pay someone at the ramp to launch it for me, the winch would be a good backup in a pinch.

Cliff

[BG6]

I'm trying to figure out a safe way to use our MCI-5 with a manual trans to put our 19' sailboat in the lake.

Easy.  Hook up the trailer, drive to the ramp, then unhitch and bribe someone with a pickup truck to handle the last 50 feet.

The last place that I would put my coach is where it will go into the lake if anything goes wrong.  NOBODY can do you any good if you have a problem, you're way too heavy.

[zubzub]

definitely go with the long tow.  I have gotten my 671 with manual pretty bogged down trying to do a start from dead stop on a slope similar to some of the boat ramps I have seen. (my bus is lighter though) so the situation may be comparable.  Other options would be using some kind of pulley rig.  all of this depends on your boat trailer being stable enough to be rolled about.  I have used rope pulley to pull a car from a difficult spot and it was quicker than a winch but required a little muscle, there is even a way to use loops at either end of the rope  as cinch points and then running length of rope back and between loops , the more lengths the less effort to pull, this rig locks after each pull.  Others may say 1000 lbs is nothing go for it, but I would try this somewhere with a steep slope and no water below before hitting the ramp, seems like a better place to experiment.   No wonder my life seems dull sometimes, used to be I would try this on the boat ramp 1st, preferably with a storm approaching and a dozen others waiting to pull their boats.

[Jeremy]

I've just managed to lose the long reply I wrote to this question based upon many years of launching and recovering boats with all types of vehicles. Bottom line though - if you have enough space then you shouldn't have a problem. At the end of the day, it's not like you're trying to launch a Hallberg Rassy. Even if your 19-footer is heavily-built long keeler it will probably make less difference to your clutch than filling the bus's water and fuel tanks.

Jeremy

[BUR]

I have a 19 ft runabout, I thought about it for a moment (well a half-a-moment). There is just to much that could go wrong. I didn't want to be the entertainment for millions of people on U Tube. BUR

[Utahclaimjumper]

I launched mine ONE time with my 4106, two problems, while floating the boat off the trailer I noticed a large (and getting larger) oil slick gathering around the engine area of the bus, then found that I had submerged the electrical panel at the rear corner of the coach. Lost reverse gear untill I found a way to jump the reverse solinoid, no way I'll do it again.>>>Dan

[Len Silva]

You could try putting a hitch on the front of the bus.

[kyle4501]

Isn't reverse a little faster than 1st? That'd make pulling it out that much harder on the clutch.

I can think of lots of things I want to do with my bus.
Backing it downhill towards big water ain't never been on the list!

Have someone else put her in the water will be your best bet. Just look for someone with a nice dent free rig & a nicer boat than yours . . . 

[Jeremy]

It's true that you do often see boats being launched by vehicles with front-mounted towbars, but this is done for maneouvreability rather than because of gear ratios. I don't know about American buses, but 1st gear on my bus is very low (so much so that it it rarely used on the road), so I wouldn't have any worries about taking it down a reasonable slope - but in any case you shouldn't be taking the tow vehicle that close to the water anyway (if the tow vehicle actually gets wet then you've definitely done it wrong!).

Jeremy

[NewbeeMC9]

Something like this in the bay

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=6661

or this http://www.djproducts.com/products/trailer-mover.html?gclid=COiDisbqpZoCFQghnAodWE469g

or this:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200381462_200381462?cm_vc=C5503,  down hill easy or hook to winch on bus


or swivel tongue wheel and hooked to winch on bus

[belfert]

That little manual tow dolly could never pull a boat out of a lake without a lot of help.  I have used one in an emergency to move an older Airstream trailer on fairly level ground. (Tree was about to fall on the trailer.)

[Van]

You should rename the title "Putting a bus in the water with a boat LOL.If you know where you are going call ahead and try to arrange to have it launched,other wise you too can become the afternoon's entertainment for blocking the ramp.
all depends on the slope of things(meant to say scope,ahh! same meaning!LOL)Easy In,Easy out,Hard in,twice as hard comin'out.

Reverse planning always works for me ,FWIW.cheers

[John316]

Bottom line is, your bus isn't water tight enough. The navy spends millions more to make their subs watertight, and I just don't think that your bus is watertight (no matter how good your conversion is ). I would never try it with my auto transmission, and never with a manual.

Enjoy, and if you do launch with your bus, send me the video .

God bless,

John