Reconfiguring my trailer

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Reconfiguring my trailer

Postby MikexB » Fri Feb 04, 2022 1:24 am

My trailer sits on sandy ground. It was a bear to move because there was so much weight on the jack. I did some research and found that the tongue weight should be around 7% of the total weight of the boat and trailer. Mine was 150lbs when it should have been 60-70lbs. I had to slide the boat back about 2 feet to achieve the correct weight. Now the boat sits more centered, fore and aft, on the bunks. The centerboard now sits on a keel roller. I thought it might make the boat easier to launch and load, but no joy.

I took advantage of the opportunity to examine the trailer more closely when the boat was in the water a few days ago. I noticed that my carpeted bunks are a few inches closer together at the rear. Now I'm looking at the configuration of my keel rollers and bunks to determine what changes I should make. From what I have been able to gather, the keel rollers are supposed to support the majority of the weight of the boat and the bunks are supposed to provide lateral stability. If that is true, should we be able to push our boats forward and back on our trailers while on land?

I watched the videos about how to launch a boat. I back up the trailer until the stern begins to float. That puts the entire trailer frame in the water. I have to stand in mid-calf water to unlatch the winch, push the boat backward and climb on via the bow. I tried not backing in so far but I couldn't budge the boat. I'd like to be able to launch and load without getting wet, like Greenlake. I feel that I could do that if I could push the boat back more easily without it being in the water. In addition to aligning the bunks and taking weight off of them, I am planning to attach Trex decking instead of carpet to reduce the friction.

Do you think this will work? Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Mike
MikexB
 
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Re: Reconfiguring my trailer

Postby GreenLake » Fri Feb 04, 2022 3:38 pm

Rollers are very concentrated supports. That's fine in the front, where the V shape is pronounced and where there's a lot of laminate (esp. for the older DS1's). Aft of the CB I find it preferable to support the weight of the boat on the bunks. Mine are high enough (and the rear roller is also lowered below the line of the others) that they take over as the boat is pulled forward. The roller at the CB does help hold the CB, but there's a small gap.

Also, the bunks should be as wide as you can make them.

The reason I can launch without getting wet feet is that my trailer has a tilt-back. I only have to get the hubs wet, then I let the trailer tilt and the steeper angle means I only need to give the boat a push to get it to slide into the water. On retrieval, I go in slightly deeper (to where my lowered rear roller is at the water level, so I can capture the bow in its notch).

I can manually pull the boat between 1/3 and 1/2 the way on the trailer. After that, I need to use the winch for the rest. I don't think I could move the boat forward and back by hand with the trailer level.

If your trailer doesn't tilt, get one that does.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Reconfiguring my trailer

Postby MikexB » Fri Mar 04, 2022 9:36 pm

I figured out how to tilt my trailer. :lol:
Tilting trailer.jpg
Tilting trailer
Tilting trailer.jpg (252.9 KiB) Viewed 3082 times


These are the things I checked and adjusted on my trailer to make it easier to launch and land:

1. Make sure the boat is in the correct position fore/aft. The tongue weight should be 7-10% of the total weight of the trailer and boat. That's going to be 60-100lbs for us. Mine was about 150-200lbs when I first checked. I moved the winch bracket and the boat further back until the tongue weight was correct.

2. Make sure the trailer is level. Ball hitch brackets come in different "drops". Mine needed to be raised 5in.

3. Make sure the bunks are parallel and, preferably, tilted towards the center to match the angle of the hull. Mine were neither.

4. Spread the weight across the keel rollers and bunks. With the boat resting on the keel rollers, I pressed up on the bunks while tightening the bunk brackets.

5. Position the keel rollers and bunks to be slightly higher in the front. It helps a small amount with launching/landing without causing problems while on the road.

Notes:

I replaced my 2x4/carpet bunks with 1x6s and Trex. My first impression is positive. I'll be interested to see how this works out over the long term.

The hull curves fore/aft and side-to-side. It won't have full length/width contact with a flat 6in by 6ft bunk.

The hull is narrow at the front and doesn't come in contact with the bunks. It rides on the keel rollers.

My keel rollers are squared-off "V"s. They straddle the centerboard slot. The aft end of the centerboard rests in the groove of one of the rollers. I wrapped some indoor/outdoor carpet around the last cross-member to keep it from scraping the aft end of the centerboard in case it is hanging low.

I took my newly configured trailer for a test drive today. I am pleased with the results. My feet did get wet but that was about all. :D I backed the trailer in until the aft end of the bunks were about 2in below water. I was able to push the boat off of the trailer, walk down the bunks and climb aboard. For landing, I guided the boat to the ends of the bunks, climbed off with the bowline in hand, walked up the bunks, attached the winch strap to the bow and used the winch to pull the boat onto the trailer. This was, by far, the easiest launch and landing I have done.

I'll be happy to answer any questions. I learned a lot from the people on this forum and am anxious to pay it forward.

Boat landing on trailer.jpg
Boat landing on trailer
Boat landing on trailer.jpg (222.32 KiB) Viewed 3082 times


Boat on trailer.jpg
Boat on trailer
Boat on trailer.jpg (230.62 KiB) Viewed 3082 times


Mike
MikexB
 
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Re: Reconfiguring my trailer

Postby GreenLake » Sat Mar 05, 2022 3:03 pm

Mike, thank you for your very detailed post, including the photos.

I realize one key difference to my experience is that I never have to get into the boat while it's in the water near the trailer. I always managed to either have a dock nearby so i don't have to let go of the painter, or a bit of beach to land the boat while I get it ready.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Reconfiguring my trailer

Postby MikexB » Sat Mar 05, 2022 11:19 pm

Greenlake,

If I kept my boat in the water a majority of the time, I probably wouldn't think about how the trailer was configured. When I discovered that my bunks weren't parallel, I decided to learn as much as I could and fix whatever wasn't right. I thought it would be helpful to share what I learned and put it in one post to make it easier to find. Your comment about tilting trailers led me to arrange everything so the bow is slightly higher on the trailer. It's easier to slide it downhill.

There aren't many sailboats in this part of the country (and no DS Fleets). The two ramps I have tried are not "sailboat friendly." Both of them have shallow rock fields on either side of the ramps, probably to prevent erosion. Pulling the boat from the trailer to the first dock is not practical. The other, as seen in the picture, has two ramps. The one closest to the dock has a low overhanging tree. It is rare that there is no one launching/landing their powerboat between me and the dock. Climbing on/off from the trailer is a necessity for me. I'm glad you have other choices.

I met a guy with a large, fixed-keel sailboat at the ramp one day. He was trying to engineer a telescoping tongue so he could back the trailer far enough for the keel to clear the bottom. He had owned the boat for 3 years and had yet to get his invention to work properly so he could launch. The design of his invention at the time was pretty clever.

Mike
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Re: Reconfiguring my trailer

Postby GreenLake » Sun Mar 06, 2022 5:53 am

Conditions are always different depending on the ramp. I've launched from eight different ramps or beaches over the years. I've also checked out a few more while looking for potential launch sites. That's more than some, but not really enough to cover the whole range. My trailer is fairly forgiving, because I don't need to immerse it to the point where the boat floats off or on.

But that's not true for everyone, and with a shallow ramp it means one might need a tongue extension even for a DS. Especially if the alternative would be to drive the car into the water.

Sounds like your modifications are well thought out; and having the boat not level, but slightly stern down also helps with draining water via the aft drain plugs while it's on the trailer.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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