U-Boat Wrangler

[Speed331]

Besides their Jeep being way over it's towing capacity, anyone want to chime in on what each of them could have done to save the day... I can see two right off the bat....

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[BDinTX]

Would have been nice if the lady friend hadn’t dragged him all the way in….

 

[GATORB8]

Why the hell did he let the brakes off and get out?

 

[GtX]

Why the hell did he let the brakes off and get out?

Confusion in a stressful situation?

 

[RedundanT]

Confusion in a stressful situation?

Stupidity in a moron situation more likely, but that would be the truth, and that is frowned upon today

 

[The Last Cowboy]

I’ve had a lot of boats over the years and have been boating since I was 6 and loading it on the trailer since I was 12.

That whole video is a mess. She had the engine in reverse, he tried to stop her from pulling him back with his brakes. Once the boat winch was connected, the engine on the boat should have been shut off. She was very calm though. He should have been in 4 wheel drive so he could have pulled up the slippery ramp.

Oh, distracted by blue bikini at the 6:00 mark.

 

[jeepster345]

I live right by that boat ramp. They do that stuff all the time. People used to set up chairs on the grass and watch.

 

[Wbino]

How much over the towing limit was that boat?

 

[jimim]

Man that’s is what I’m always so afraid of when we are backing in the river to launch when it is very shallow to get to the deeper water. The rocks are wicked slippery and when we have to have all 4 wheels in I get really nervous of the truck floating. Guys so it all the time at this area but it’s still scarey. Especially when I’m backing it in and my keeps saying further further and I’m looking on the front camera and I have 30 feet of water in front of my front tires. We are loading and loading a fishing jet boat that is only 16 feet and pretty light but 4 wheels in the water always worry’s me.

 

[Reinen]

Besides their Jeep being way over it's towing capacity, anyone want to chime in on what each of them could have done to save the day... I can see two right of the bat....

OMFG! Chit Show is right. Let us count the ways...

Right off the bat - WAY over max towing capacity, should never have been attempted.

0:30 - Not so easy to tell here but he's apparently not in 4WD and lockers are definitely not engaged. Neither of the driver side wheels spun.

0:32 - Jeep driver responds to losing traction by flooring it. The engine noise was the Jeep, not the boat. (You can hear the guy taking the video saying turn the motor on when the wife jumps into the boat, obviously referring to the boat engine. So the boat was off). Gunning it in a traction loss situation rarely works and he just slipped backwards. When that happens STOP, attempt to come to a as stable a halt as you can and re-assess the situation.

0:43 - The video guy is panicking about the Jeep being in the water, but it's fine. The water line is not above the max water fording depth where it counts the most, the engine compartment.

0:52 - Reverse lights flash. This is clearly an automatic and he just put it in park.

0:57 - It's hard to tell due to camera shaking and the door blocking but I think I see the front tires spinning. This shows that he's definitely in 2WD. At this point only his front tires were holding him in place. When he took his foot off the brake in 2WD the front tires were free to spin. Park in 2WD only keeps your rear tires from spinning (very important to know when jacking up the vehicle). Between the slick underwater surface and the boat lifting the rear at this point, the rear wheels were not enough to hold him in place. The front wheels were now doing nothing and just rolled him into the water.
Understand how your drivetrain works, everyone.

0:59 - Come on, jump back in and hit the brakes!!! That was working.

0:60 - 2:00 - smh. smh. smh.

Now lets move on to the recovery.

8:03 - NEVER connect a tow strap to a hitch ball like that. They are not designed for it and you're effectively creating a potential slingshot cannon that can kill a bystander. The pickup had a tri-ball hitch. If you're in a pinch and it's all you have, run the line on top of the receiver bar and under the balls pointing to the side.

8:05 - Recovering driver gets into the RAM pickup without even looking at the recovery scene and directing people away from the danger area.

There were more than enough people present to do a proper recovery. One person directing the recovery from a safe distance, one person in the recovery truck following the instruction of the director, one person in the recovered vehicle following the director's instruction, ready to control the vehicle if needed. The person in both vehicles should never be wearing seatbelts during the recovery in case an emergency exit is needed.

11:09 - In a water recovery, never pull the vehicle right out of the water like that. Transition from underwater to above water slowly. You could be within your recovery capacity while the vehicle is underwater but once above the surface the water trapped in the vehicle increases the recovery weight tremendously. With the way this video was going, I fully expected the tow ropes to snap at that point. When it is safe, before the vehicle breaches the surface and takes on the weight of the water, completely halt the recovery and open doors and tailgate to let water exit. Then retreat to a safe distance.

11:24 - VERY dangerous place for the driver to be standing. The Jeep is super heavy, loaded with water. If the recovery ropes break under the additional water weight the Jeep will roll backwards and possibly kill/drown the driver. He's also right in the pinch point if the trailer jackknifes towards the driver side. This has so much potential for a fatality, it's ridiculous.

11:27 - The Jeep is rightfully protesting with its horn. This was a long sequence of wrong choices and the poor Jeep took the brunt of it. You go tell them how wrong all this was, Jeep!!

 

[mgarciaknight]

Agree that at 11:24 Jeep owner is an idiot standing behind the Jeep while only the tension of the strap is preventing him from being killed. But I guess saving his speaker box is more important to him. Shows level of education and priorities!

 

[SH556JL]

Agree that at 11:24 Jeep owner is an idiot standing behind the Jeep while only the tension of the strap is preventing him from being killed. But I guess saving his speaker box is more important to him. Shows level of education and priorities!

Reminds me of the BMW guy… I imagine they both deep down wanted the vehicle to run them over and save them from the embarrassment.

 

[am1978]

Facepalm. Sorry for that dude. The narrator just captured it beautifully.

 

[plex]

I just read the title and I already knew this is Florida.

 

[Speed331]

How much over the towing limit was that boat?

He's 1500 lbs over minimum. He's only rated for 2000lbs and that boat + trailer is 3500lbs easy ( I say that based on my old 18ft sleekcraft ski boat. It was 3500lbs and no where near as big) probably closer to 4000lbs.

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