"The king of topwater," as he's often dubbed, recalls an incident from back in the days when pros drew fellow pros to fish with during tournaments. He and the pro partner, whose name he had drawn, were preparing to fish an event on Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Texas out of Rowland's boat.
"I had a fancy Suburban, the kind with a small-screen TV and other amenities SUVs had back then," he said. "I had cut a deal to make rod straps for boats, and part of the deal was that I would get an enclosed boat trailer (similar to what you see in the above photo) to use for an entire season. Now this trailer was an interesting concept I liked a lot. Part of the roof hinged up, just like the trunk of a car. It kept your boat, motor and tackle dry all the time. The trailer also made it easy to keep your boat clean."
As Rowland explained, you backed this trailer down the ramp just like any other trailer. Recovery, though, was like driving your boat into a box. His partner only had seen one of the enclosed trailers a time or two thus far.
After a good day on the water, Rowland just had pulled near the launch when his partner asked if he could drive the boat into the trailer to see how hard it was. Rowland gladly agreed and started opening the two back doors, as well as the little front door for reaching inside and tightening the boat winch. Then he backed the trailer into the water, and his partner drove the boat inside. While Rowland reached in and tightened the winch, his partner asked if he needed to crawl through the front hatch, but Rowland assured him that he could just stay seated until they had reached the tie-down area.
Rowland was starting back up the steep (80-degree angle) ramp when he suddenly heard a "pop" and felt the load lighten a lot. He looked into his rearview mirror to see the trailer rolling back down the ramp.
"It must have been moving 20 or 30 miles per hour when it hit the water," said Rowland. "The 'pop" had been my safety chain breaking. I've never had a time when I felt more helpless. This was a tandem-axle trailer, with four tires full of air. The walls of the trailer were insulated with foam, so when the trailer with the boat inside hit the water, the whole thing immediately floated 15 or 20 yards from the ramp. It continued to float farther away as I got out of the Suburban and ran to the water's edge."
While Rowland contemplated what to do, his partner still was in the trailer wondering why Rowland had stopped so suddenly and backed him into the water again. Finally, he poked his head over the side of the trailer. Realizing what had happened, his eyes got real big and he hollered that he was going to jump.
"Don't even think about it!" Rowland shouted back, as he fought the idea of his boat sitting on the bottom of Sam Rayburn. By this time, three or four guys had gathered nearby and were rolling in the dirt laughing.
"I didn't think it was funny," said Rowland. "That was my trailer, my boat and motor, my livelihood floating helplessly out there. How long it could stay afloat I had no idea."
Rowland eventually backed his truck down the ramp, then yelled for his partner to trim the motor down a little and drive the boat and trailer back toward him. With the help of those jolly guys on the bank, he slid the tongue back into the trailer. One of them had an extra pin, so before long, things were good to go.
As a result of that incident, Rowland decided he never would have an enclosed boat trailer of his own, and he made good on that vow, but not before another misadventure occurred. He was driving down the highway one day when he felt a bump, then glanced out the window to see a wheel rolling past his truck. His first thought was that the wheel had come off another car, but that was before he checked the sideview mirror and saw sparks coming from his trailer.
A year later, the enclosed trailer was gone, along with all the troubles it had caused him.
No comments:
Post a Comment