# Best boat ramp/parking designs and features



## [email protected] (Jun 1, 2010)

I prefer a ramp that allows you to straighten out your vehicle and trailer before backing down to water. The ramp should be angled down stream for fast water loading/unloading and have an area to tie up while waiting your turn. Parking needs to be pull through accommodating truck and trailer or 2 trucks with circle drive around parking in a perfect world.


----------



## Gremlin (Jun 24, 2010)

The ideal boat ramp would include these features:
1. Clearly marked Staging Areas to get the boat ready to put in the water before pulling onto the ramp. The Carbondale boat ramp is a good example.
2. A ramp that can accomodate more than one trailer. Marked lanes help.
3. A place to move the boat to below the ramp while running shuttle or waiting on last minute bathroom runs.
4. A large parking area that has spaces to indicate how to park for efficiency. The new Eagle county ramps, like at Dotsero, are nice like that. The metal pipes in the gravel create angled lanes. South Canyon and Carbondale ramps are good examples of how the first person to park for the day can screw up a lot of spaces.
5. Signage that lets tourists in RVs know that they are parking in a loading/unloading zone while they run to the bathroom.
6. A clean bathroom.
7. A place to park boats above the ramp (with tie-offs) at takeout until the ramp is clear.
8. A separate area for kids to throw rocks in the water and dogs to chase sticks.
9. No poison ivy.
10. A ramp that you can actually drive down. Shoshone and Big Eddy takeout on Rio Chama suck like that!

An example of a ramp I HATE would be the Whitewater takeout on the Gunnison! It misses every single point.


----------



## sonofole (Apr 23, 2014)

[email protected] said:


> I prefer a ramp that allows you to straighten out your vehicle and trailer before backing down to water. The ramp should be angled down stream for fast water loading/unloading and have an area to tie up while waiting your turn. Parking needs to be pull through accommodating truck and trailer or 2 trucks with circle drive around parking in a perfect world.


Thanks for the feedback! Yes, the straight-down, back-down is one of our proposed objectives for this project, as well as parking for truck/trailer in demarcated spaces. This project should also address the downstream angle situation, as we plan to do instream hydraulic modifications to reduce the stream velocity at the ramp location.


----------



## FlyingDutchman (Mar 25, 2014)

1. (Similar to Gremlin’s first point). A few good signs are key. Signs establishing rigging/prep and tie down areas . A sign that says don’t block the flow of traffic. And a sign that says “If there is a line, hurry the [email protected]#* up”.


----------



## NoCo (Jul 21, 2009)

Trash service, separate areas for commercials. No bigger shit show than Ruby mountain at low water with the commercials trying to launch 200 boats of bubbas


----------



## wack (Jul 7, 2015)

1.place to tie up while running shuttle.
2. pull through >straighten out>back up (see lower pumphouse as example)
3. angled pull-through parking like lower pumphouse
4. designated area for commercials to load their clients
5. launch area for multi-day people would be ideal....somewhere other than at main ramp.
6. designated rig-up area (fisherman and people w/o trailers)
7. should be able to accommodate an F-350 crew cab longbed and a 12' trailer


----------



## Riverwild (Jun 19, 2015)

Wow based on your comments Colorado kind of sounds like a shit show.

I do appreciate ramps that have two different ramps or more in some cases. This helps spread it around. Little Hole on the Green below the dam is one of the best ramps I've seen anywhere, multiple parking areas with 3 boat ramps, some with multiple lanes, docks etc. It's really the multi day crowd that needs the most room and therefore are subject to the wrath of other users that just want to drop n' go.


----------



## co_bjread (Oct 26, 2004)

I like the ones that have multiple ramps, geared toward different users. I am particularly thinking of smaller craft, like canoes, kayaks and duckies, that don't need as much space as a raft, and are more easily moved onto or away from the water. 

State Bridge has one, and Two Bridges on the Colorado has a decent landing spot to the side of the boat ramp for smaller craft. 

I once saw a large group of canoers drop a dozen canoes side by side on the boat ramp in Saratoga Wyoming, then leave to run shuttle. They left no room for anyone to get around them, without moving their stuff.

So, considerations for that kind of stuff is good too.


----------



## missiongravity (Jun 10, 2007)

I take it you are in CO so perhaps you've never been on the Madison in MT. But there is a pretty well designed put it at the take-out for the Bear Canyon section of the Madison. If only people would follow the rules. There is a dedicated rigging lane so people can stage to launch, this launch lane leads directly to the ramp so that you are headed straight back when you turn out of the rigging lane. Then once you have dropped your boat you can pull straight out and in to one of the dedicated trailer parking spaces. 

The main problem is keeping all of the summer tourons in tubes from parking wherever they want and blocking the ramp etc.

Here is a google maps link to the boat ramp. Pretty clear in the satellite image.

Google Maps Link


----------



## BmfnL (May 23, 2009)

A lot of good considerations on vehicle movement and space in this thread. It makes me wonder how we always find ways to cope at poorly designed ramps.

To touch on other factors:

Pedestrian and bike traffic should be diverted far from areas where vehicles are backing.

Ramps are great when they are located at a spot on the river where the class changes, creating distinct runs.

Ramps at the downstream end of a straight section of river have much more aware parties landing at them. 

It is nice when these areas are designed with more capacity than is anticipated.

Close liquor store.


----------



## okieboater (Oct 19, 2004)

lots of good boat ramp design advice here. I realize it is the location of any ramp that decides a large part of the design. Below is a couple of ramp designs that work, but could be improved if funds were available.

One of my favorite floats is Deso Gray Canyons Sand Wash put in and Swaseys Boat Ramp take out.

Put in is plenty wide but at low water you have to deal with walking in mud to launch your raft. The ideal ramp would be paved to the water in both high and low water. 

Take out at Swaseys is one of the best designed boat ramps I have used. Wide, paved, rest rooms, trash disposal and plenty of off ramp parking. The problem is rafts need some sort of artificial eddy upstream of the ramp to tie off and wait for a spot on the ramp. While the overall design of the ramp is about as good as it gets, because the lower half of the ramp has fast current and rocks to the point a great designed wide ramp is limited to only a few boats recovery at a time. This ramp is one that a few hours work with a dozer and/or bucket crane could make about as good a ramp as could be. And, yup, a short drive to food, beverages and places to motel.


----------



## jgrebe (Jan 16, 2010)

Agreed, some really good advice so far. The Carbondale ramp is just about perfect I think. A few things things to consider if you have room. A rigging area off the ramp at the bottom. A lot of people dump their junk then rig/de-rig on the ramp which just plugs things up. This might be covered previously but a change of grade in the middle of the ramp makes your trailer dissapear while you are backing. Also a place to tie up boats upstream and downstream while you run shuttle.


----------



## sonofole (Apr 23, 2014)

Thank you all for your input. Really good information here and I appreciate you all chiming in. We were already proposing to add a second ramp a bit upstream and I really like the idea of signage to direct public vs. commercial to different ramps and rig-up areas. Commercial in this case is mostly fishing, not rafting.

Draft design proposal is due early next week, so I'll continue to monitor feedback at least until then. 

Cheers


----------



## NoCo (Jul 21, 2009)

Ice machine, booze, and loose women!


----------



## sledhooligan (Mar 12, 2009)

The bigger the better. However big you're thinking double it and it'll still be to small. 

How ever great the ramp is, all it takes is one dip shit to park in the wrong spot and a ramp becomes a cluster fuck.
Most ramps weren't designed for trucks and trailers. A modern ramp needs to be a combination of traditional boat ramp with lots of room to put gear and boats and room for trucks and trailers load and unload much like a boat ramp at a lake.
Lees Ferry is one of the best. Its big enough for trucks and trailers and groups to spread out a set up boats. Pearce Ferry is also a nice take out.
Yampa and Ladore both have nice put ins. The take out at Split mtn is good to. The problem with it is it has a bottleneck where you first enter the ramp. As big as it is all it takes is one person pulling to far forward and you can't swing a truck and trailer in and back it up with out having some skill.You add two or three trucks and trailers trying to back in and it compounds the issue.
Cache Bar is by far the worst designed take out I've ever seen.
The Westwater putin and take out get honorable mention not so much of a poor design but the mouth breathing fuck heads that seem to inhabit it any time I'm there. Be it the dude with the Tacoma who parks at an angle across both lanes to set up a 14 boat. Or the bros who think its cool to just hang out shit faced clogging up the takeout or the Mormon Boy Scouts who take up 2 of the 3 lane drying out there gear and can't figure out why four other groups are pissed trying to share the last lane.


----------



## villagelightsmith (Feb 17, 2016)

*Ramp/Parking features & design*

Toilets within a reasonable distance from the ramp. Often they are wa-aa-ay out there toward the entry to the parking area. Some may quibble about VQO's (Visual Quality Objectives) but when you really need one, a short jog looks A LOT BETTER than a long hike. In planning, just figure "Ok, I've put this off for the last hour and I've gotta go NOW!" How far do the commercials want their guests to walk while their group is getting that last minute of instruction ... how long do you want to wait for all your guests to go and return. And there's always just ... one ... more. Close enough so they WILL GO instead of waiting ... waiting ... waiting for another half hour when they WILL need to go NOW!

Okay, so I'm an old guy. A bit slower to walk now, and frequent to pee. It's the first order of the landing for many of us and our guests as well. Let's not embarrass anybody by asking how many have pissed in a cataraft or a self-bailer. Or just in an old school bailing bucket. Ah, the long forgotten sins of our ill-spent youth!


----------



## Ajackson (Jan 18, 2013)

I like ramps like Dead Cow on the Eagle and the Westbank ramp on the Roaring Fork. Those are my favorite because I like to people watch. Also, the shittier the ramp, the less people normally. 


In all actuality, there has been great advice given on this post. I like ramps that are pull through and back up, staging areas, signage, someone working at the ramp making sure everyone is as efficient as possible, different areas for different boaters (duckies kayaks, etc). 

I wish that the heavily populated ramps (all over the US) had specific put-in/take-out areas for outfitters, such as raft guides and fishing guides. Most of the time commercial trips (raft and fishing) are trying to get in and out as smooth and efficient as possible and I sometimes have to be an asshole just to get my boat in the water. 

It kind of stresses me out when I have my boat ready to go at the staging area, and I have to wait 10,15, even 20 minutes for someone to learn how to back a trailer down a boat ramp. My favorite is when the weekend warriors show up at Pump house on the Upper C and get all of their stuff out on the ramp, and then have to inflate raft, figure out how the frame goes together and so forth.


----------



## PoppyOscar (Jul 8, 2012)

If it's a two lane ramp give it a divider of some sort down the middle.I think ramp 3 at PH has one. Helps to keep ramps hogs to one sire or the other. 

A looooong apron so my dam trailer doesn't drop off at low flows.

+1 on tie offs with a eddy nearby. Nothing like stuffin your boat into the willows waiting for shuttle or having to literally stack boats.


----------



## PoppyOscar (Jul 8, 2012)

+1 on rigging area, keeps the posers off the ramp so the rest of us can get in and out with our pre-rigged gear.


----------



## stelz (Aug 10, 2018)

I think everybody who regularly uses ramps has hit all the major points. It's got to flow when the traffic gets heavy. Separate rigging, launching and parking areas-Clearly defined with signage. 
Ramps that reach at low water. 
Trash and toilet facilities. 
A wide ramp for multiple launches simultaneously, as well as shoreline space for boats to stage for shuttles. Tie off points a bonus. 
Somehow there has to be a way to teach people how to use ramps too.
Mainly...Don't rig up or break down, in the launch area and be considerate of others when launching and parking. 

The Upper gunnison "Ramps" pretty much all suck. 
The Upper C ramps are mostly decent. Some could use better shoreline space. It's just the amount of people that mess with those. 
Afterbay on the bighorn is nice because it's so wide and has good staging and parking. 
Cooper landing on the Kenai has good pull through and parking and a good ramp. Areas are separated.


----------



## mtntime.avco (Jul 31, 2017)

Okay, first of all kudos to the OP for actually taking the time to ask river runners this question.

I think the OP needs to look outside the state of Colorado for boat ramp and put-in take-out engineering. Utah Arizona comparatively have great structure and continuity when it comes to launches. Probably because they are so large and well managed. 

I saw on a lot of other posts on this thread that people think there needs to be separate ramps for separate activities/crafts etc., and this is just plain flawed. Because many boaters/trips have multiple types of crafts.

Take State Bridge for example, they have a well marked 'tuber and small craft launch' (which a tuber only ramp ridiculous in its own right). So a busy day in July and family is @ the boat ramp(s), trying to launch/take-out a multiday trip. These trips typically have larger boats and duckies or kayaks etc. Now you have a multiday trip trying to de-rig/rig at multiple boat ramps. One trip is taking up 2+ ramps? Instead of being contained to one area, one trip is spread out everywhere. This happens all the time @ this boat ramp. And its so poorly managed it's usually chaos. 

If separate boat ramps have a chance at working, they need to be separated and contained in a better fashion. (Spit-balling) separate private & commercial ramps might work. 

Another post said boat ramps need to be large, and I agree, I think the post said, whatever your thinking double it. And they are right. Continuing State Bridge as an example, this boat ramp is tiny, and for whatever reason, 80% of the year, the boat ramp has current running over it. 

The Upper Colorado has changed a lot in the last few years, and the boat ramps they have built do not reflect this change. We have commercial boaters and fishermen, 4x more private boaters, tubers, festival participants, etc. All these people are butting heads at boat ramps that are just too small. 

Boat ramps need to have long, clearly marked lanes, so multiday trips have a staging areas in their lane, fishermen need to have places to rig, commercials need to have areas to gear up and safety talk guests. the only answer to all of these are space. Boat ramps need to be bigger(period). Sadly, unless permitted, rivers in Colorado are just going to get busier and more chaotic.

*edit* people obviously need to learn boat ramp etiquette. But lets be real, thats never going to happen, unless permitted and someones there to enforce and teach it. Some people suck, some people are just always going to want to roll a boat on the ramp or drink a beer and inflate their tube with their car on the ramp. Thats just gonna happen. either enforce it, or make more space.


----------



## mtntime.avco (Jul 31, 2017)

This probably should be its own thread.







but this is on google earth...and its a pretty decent representation of a slow afternoon in June,July,Aug @ two bridges.


----------



## Pine (Aug 15, 2017)

Put the outhouse as far downwind as possible from the ramp. I've been to a few access sites where the smell from the outhouses is enough to knock a buzzard off the gut wagon. 

Changing areas with privacy screens are a very nice feature.

Drive through / back in ramps are nice. 

Also a sign that says, "WARNING $10,000 fine for blocking the boat ramp" would be nice.


----------



## jeffro (Oct 13, 2003)

PoppyOscar said:


> +1 on rigging area, keeps the posers off the ramp so the rest of us can get in and out with our pre-rigged gear.



I assemble my frame, inflate, and rig my boat every damn time. Generally I back down, toss my gear to the side, get the truck the fuck out of way, and rig. I love when somebody "fully rigged" comes up and is riding my ass and then backs up their shit show after me. They'll start undoing straps, moving shit into their boat, dogs on the loose, etc. In the end they take 2-3x the time and space.


Point being there is all kinds of incompetent people, and some have the cash to roll up with a rigged trailer.


I think good organization and flow of the ramp make a nice one. Can't say I like the Westwater "rangers" barking orders at me though. Even if people need it.


----------



## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

mtntime.avco said:


> This probably should be its own thread.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, it's a crowd but at least gear's staged on the sides of the ramp and they're keeping a lane open. For a crowded access you could do a lot worse - this comes nowhere close to some of the shit shows I've seen.

-AH


----------



## elkhaven (Sep 11, 2013)

missiongravity said:


> I take it you are in CO so perhaps you've never been on the Madison in MT. But there is a pretty well designed put it at the take-out for the Bear Canyon section of the Madison. If only people would follow the rules. There is a dedicated rigging lane so people can stage to launch, this launch lane leads directly to the ramp so that you are headed straight back when you turn out of the rigging lane. Then once you have dropped your boat you can pull straight out and in to one of the dedicated trailer parking spaces.
> 
> The main problem is keeping all of the summer tourons in tubes from parking wherever they want and blocking the ramp etc.
> 
> ...



That access used to work better before they "fixed it" and it's a hell of a lot busier now. I agree the paving, parking, rigging lane all are nice, if people use their brains, but what I hate about virtually all montana accesses is FWP tries WAY to hard to minimize riparian impacts. The Warm Springs access (aka California corner also aka the one linked above) has a great 3 boat ramp (if people aren't selfish, which is rare) but then no where to park boats, it's a shit show when busy because the willow covered bank (riparian fringe) and relatively deep, swift current along the bank make it very difficult to spread boats out while people are parking or running shuttles. If FWP would just concede a 100 yards of riparian fringe and have tie up locations all along the parking lot (keep the fences, just allow people to move from the lot to the water minus the willows). Ironically, it used to be a simple gravel lot with no willow fringe, just a grassy bank right down to the water and it was way more user friendly.


----------

