Boat Trailers

[brickman]

hey raiders my boat trailer suxs

it's a dunbler trailer with center rollers and gides at rear and center and two runners on the sides

pritty much a standard trailer i thought about a gide to center the boat but would just like to know what setup is the best

the boat is a 5 meter savage scorpion al

i have no prob fabricating roller holders or any mods but am considering building a custom trailer

putting the boat on the trailer is the only thing that sh77ts me to death as my ramp always has across wind

i thought it was just me but my mate has the same prob

so to be quick we flip a coin and one gets his feet wet every time

since neil woke up to heads i win and tails you loose i've had to get wet feet

anyway any help would be appeceated

cherrs gary

[roosterman]

i know what you mean about those cross winds an getting wet ..

i get out sometimes for a quick jew session solo and launching my 14ft fiberglass pongrass is no biggie except when those damn crosswinds hit and its 1am in the morning with no one within coooeee to help....

i fitted those easy guides to the trailer and its now soooooooo easy,once you get the nose in and start winching the guides straighten her up for you...

getting it started is the trick as once i had big sthly hit at bayview and it woulda made funniest home videos i recon but managed it solo.. woulda been no hope without em...

so as you can see i think they are the beez neez....

cheers...steve.....

[slinkymalinky]

G'day Brick.. I'll watch this thread closely. I've got a standard Quintrex trailer for my 4.8 which sounds like exactly the same set up. One of the reasons I launch at Roseville is that it's less affected by wind.

I've got solo launching down to a reasonably manageable process. I either 'walk' the boat over to the trailer from the pontoon with a really long tether or put my heart in my mouth, aim for the middle of the trailer and drive her up... holding the boat in place with some revs while I scramble over the side... usually followed by pushing her back off so I can get her back on the rollers.

All in all it gives me the &*&&* too. Hope someone's got a solution other than a new trailer.

Cheers, Slinky

[brickman]

well its good to hear i'm not the only one

roostermans center thingy will be my first option

raiders we have full eng,workshop to over come this prob

i will be having a look at the ramp to get some sizes and heights so the first proto type should be only a week away

any input will be welcome and rewarded with one for you we just have to get it right

i will post some pics when i get it mounted and tested and then we will start a brains trust to come up with a simple but efective solution

it's all good cherrs gary

[IWANNABROCK]

The self centering rear roller I found helped a lot when whinching boat on trailer on my own.I bought it from a large boating supply chain.

[roosterman]

hi Gary,

the one i have is store bought but you can very easily knock one up just as good...

basically the rollers have a heavy gauge spring on rollers pushing them upwards into a V

which helps centre the hull..

i usually put trailer down far enough so the rear roller is still just exposed then the tricky bit is i forget sometimes to have the winch cable ready at the rear of trailer so getting it hooked up is only bit to worry (if windy) as once shes all hooked up you start winching and she goes on straight every time ..

heres a pic of it from web

i bought an electric winch just before i scored the retrievermate at a $ too good to refuse and the electric winch is gathering dust in the shed maybe on my next hull upgrade it might get used but for now the retrievermates working good enough...

one thing i am gonna do is put some form of walkway out of that steel mesh stuff so as to not go belly up slipping on wet trailer etc...

good luck with your little project,will be interesting on what you come up with....

cheers...steve......

Edited August 15, 2008 by roosterman

[brickman]

thanks for the pic steve

had the same idea of the walkway i was thinking perforated plate folded 50 mm down on the sides and galvinised just to keep the weight down

i've been trying to drive the boat all the way on the trailer your method seems more relaxed i may have to give that a try

thanks gary

[ORES]

Yeah, I also was going to say to put some sort of walk way as Ive ended up in the drink my self trying to straighten the thin out in the wind It help heaps mate.

Also try not to revers the trailer to far in the water and let the wrench do the work..

[brickman]

hey lads been very busy at work

but i will post a pic up tonight off a trailer that has no rear roller and a guild in a vee all the way to the second roller

this looks the goods it would wedge the frount half off the boat and keep it straight till it picked up the side skids

anyway the mod would be easy but before i start up the 9 inch we will look at every ones ideas and we should come up with an easy solution

the only prob i see is were we mod will eventuly rust unless we get the trailer hot dipped and the time to strip the trailer and get it re galvinised it would be easyer to build a new frame and just swap every thing over

any way i will use my trailor as a test bummy

soon all stress from loading the boat will be a thing off the past

stay tuned gary

Edited August 27, 2008 by brickman

[brickman]

the pic i wished to show would no download[probley me ]

anyway this pic gives the general idea

i would take the vee all the way to the back off the skids so there's no were to get jammed

rooster man i was thinking about a little braket bolted to center cross member that holds a broom stick with a hook on topoff the stick for your winch cable

boom stick so if you run it over no halm done

the idea was to hook up the boat before you get out and just pull the stick out

there is a spring loaded one with a roller at the sharp end that sits 200mm higher than the first fixed roller

as you load and unload it gives you a gental cusson efect

any way it's open for coment all ideas will be considered

cherrs gary

[tuffy]

Brickman, save yourself the trouble of trying to re-invent the wheel and go and buy a Retriever Mate like Roosterman has. I've got one and I drive my 4.6 centre console on every time with no probs. Just leave in gear on fast idle until you lean over the front to hook on, and Bob's you uncle.

I was doing this when my boat was tiller steer as well. No brainer.

Tuffy.

[brickman]

ok i must be missing some thing

i would like to drive the boat nearly all the way on the trailer is this a bad idea

seriously am i doing the wrong thing i drive it off and thought i should be able to drive it on and old mate winch it the last 3 feet or so

cherrs gary