How Do You Build A Boat Ramp?
Even if you live on a river or a lake, you might not want to leave your trailerable boat in the water all the time. Boats left at a mooring or tied to a pier accumulate marine growth, and marine growth wastes fuel and reduces your boat’s performance. These reductions in efficiency and increased fuel consumption result in higher boating costs. If you don’t want to build a fixed pier or floating dock because of local restrictions or the impact on your boat, you can always dig a slip and build your own ramp. Measure the length of your boat trailer, from the tip of its tongue to its tail lights and multiply by two. This is how long your ramp must be; few boat ramps are longer than twice the length of a boat trailer. Measure the width of your trailer. Calculate how large a trench you’ll need to dig in order to construct the ramp. Look up the average tidal change (how much the tide goes up and down) in the tide tables for your area. Add this figure to your boat’s average draft (how deeply th
