Steep Boat Ramp

[r47smiley]

With a Lance 865 in the bed of a 2012 short wheel base f250 4x4 crew I am wondering how steep of a boat launch ramp is too steep to turn around on. Some of our lakes draw way down and due to the lines, backing down the side while waiting isn't an option. You need to turn around at the bottom! Of the ramp.

Any guess what the max cross slope a truck with a truck camper can reasonably handle and not get light weight on the up hill side. Of course the turn will be made nice and S L O W.

Thanks,

Rob

[Oldtymeflyr]

I have driven down Lake Powell, Bullfrog Boat Ramp and turned around. I believe that one of the pictures is the Bullfrog ramp.

[Bionic_Man]

Here is one from today. Water level is down about 100’, so there isn’t always a flat spot at the bottom. But it is never too steep to turn around.

Someone else mentioned that the real steep ramps aren’t usually long which i would say is mostly true.

I think most boat ramps i have been to would be safe to slowly turn a camper around toward the bottom of the ramp. Most. Not all.

[KD4UPL]

Thanks for the picture. I wouldn't consider that a boat ramp, it's more of a driveway. It looks like it's almost flat at the bottom where the turning would occur. Hard to tell from the picture. Also, doesn't look very steep. Again, hard to tell from a picture but I think lots of the ramps I use regularly are nearly twice that steep.

[Kayteg1]

That picture is short version what we have on Lake Mead. Good part with 6 launching lanes the waiting line was very short.
My Ford gauge show 4' on it, or 8%. Not sure about the accuracy.
I think any TC should stand 8% sideways, but be careful with centrifugal forces.
That's where duallies shine anyway.

[Beverley_Ken]

Bionic Man wrote:
For our friends mainly back east, the OP is likely talking about a situation like this. No one backs all the way down this ramp.



And to the OP, I see campers and sometimes motorhomes drive down and turn around on many ramps, going very slowly.

Yes a picture is worth a 1000 or 10,000 words, definitely not the type of boat ramp that I was thinking about.


Ken

[jaycocreek]

There are some boat ramps here in Idaho I would not even consider to back a boat down with the truck camper on the truck let alone turn around on one...Dwarshak reservoir alone has them 15% and they get steeper as the water lowers...Not me with a TC..

[TxGearhead]

OK, I got it. Just not familiar with a lake being that deep and pulled down that much.

[jimh406]

I couldn't imagine a very long ramp being too steep. Do the math. If it was really steep, there wouldn't be any reason to be long. 🙂

[Grit_dog]

^Thanks for removing the ignorance for those who’ve never been to biglakes with variable water levels.......
Don’t have the exact answer but the big long ramps like above I’ve been on werenot very steep comparatively speaking. You could drive across a 20% slope pretty easy though.
If in doubt, do some practice runs on ramps or somewhere out of the way.

[mkirsch]

I'm surprised at you fellas... Don't you know there's NOTHING a TC can't do? They're the perfect go-anywhere, do-anything RV.

I would just go ahead and drive down the ramp like any other car.

[Bionic_Man]

For our friends mainly back east, the OP is likely talking about a situation like this. No one backs all the way down this ramp.



And to the OP, I see campers and sometimes motorhomes drive down and turn around on many ramps, going very slowly.

[midnightsadie]

in arizona ,lake roosevelt the ramps are some times 200 yards down to the water ,plenty of room to drive down turn around scray as hell. but seen big class A,s do it all the time , I,ve done it in a class C real spooky.

[Kayteg1]

Did turn around at the bottom of the ramp last Saturday.
No camper thought.
Due to low water level in Lake Mead, boat ramps are 3/4 miles long. Don't think backing up would be welcome.

[kohldad]

TN has some ramps that are so long on the draw down, I've seen 6+ trucks with trailers parked along the side of the ramp. They do the same thingof drive down and turn around.

It's relative easy to figure out. Estimate where the vertical COG of the rig is. If you have no idea, figure half way up the camper is on the safe side because the truck out weighs the camper and most of it's weight is below the bed. Next, put a mark at the horizontal center of the camper at the vertical COG. Now all you need to do is figure out the angle off vertical it is on a line from the COG mark to the inside of the tire. (Inside as another safety margin and to allow for some wheel roll).

If you can't figure out the calculation, hang a string from your COG mark with a small weight on the end so it just clears the ground. Now drive down the ramp and slowly start to turn with someone watching the string. If it gets close to the inside wheel, you know it's too steep and you should stop, back up the ramp.

You will probably be very surprised that with a right weight camper it can be close to 30* which is a lot steeper than most boat ramps.

My camper is 2,400# non-basement which is light compared to my 7,000# truck. In bear jams at Cades Cove, TN, I've pulled off the road where cars were afraid to go. One time I heard a guy tell his friends "Watch him fall over." I then proceeded to almost double the angle to about 20* before stopping.