Stupid Trailer Tricks - don't do this

[calden]

Hey all:

Partial DS content.

I took my newly purchased SJ21 out for a sail yesterday. Fantastic! Feels very much like my DS when tacking or jibing - I'm amazed. All the DS moves I make worked perfectly. Don't know if it's my super-expert and highly developed sailing technique, something unique to the SJ21 and DS design, or simpy that all decent boats will feel "right" with a minimum amount of technique. Probably not the first!

When I bought it I revamped the trailer it came on and replaced the rollers with bunks. I had noticed that the trailer seemed a bit anemic for this boat, so I hauled out a slightly beefier but slightly shorter trailer I had (the one that came with my DS a few years ago, in fact.)

In order to get the 21' and 1400 lbs. of SJ21 weight balanced properly on thisi 16.5' ft. trailer, I moved the boat as far forward as I could. I had some concerns about enough trailer tongue length for launching.

I'm having a welder buddy make a swing-out tongue extension, but I REALLY wanted to go out yesterday. I thus whipped up a temporary extension from a piece of 8' galvanized pipe, a ball and a hitch. Used it to get the boat in the water, then, feeling quite proud of myself for making this handy item, drove back to park the car. Feeling smug about my engineering abilities, I see, in the driver's side side-view mirror, the trailer starting to come up BESIDE me. Thinking I had a runaway trailer that jumped the hitch, I hit the brakes and was ready to leap out and jump in front of this missile hurtling towards some attorney's brand-new Ford F150 he used to put in his PWC. Of course it hadn't come off the hitch, it just was pivoting merrily on both ball hitches, and was happy riding up beside me, still attached. The car had brakes, the trailer none.

So, of course, when I braked to jump out of the car and stop this impending disaster, the trailer kept flying on until the extension was 90° to the trailer tongue, at which point it slammed sideways into my rear bumper. The impact bent the pipe and left a nice little dent in my bumper, but at least the trailer stopped. Whew! Thank God there were no families walking in the lot at that particular fateful moment in time.

SO... if anyone out there is thinking of fabricating a home-brew tongue extension, make sure it's not what I did!

Carlos

[Peter McMinn]

Carlos, I'm trying to picture "pivoting merrily on both ball hitches, and was happy riding up beside me, still attached. The car had brakes, the trailer none".

Can you please elaborate?

Peter

[calden]

Clarification on rogue trailer movement:

The extension I made was an 8' length of galvanized pipe with a hitch on one end and ball on the other. This effectively increased the trailer tongue length by 8'. The difference between this and a bonafide longer tongue is that not only can the tongue pivot at the ball hitch on the rear bumper, it can also pivot at the ball hitch on the trailer.

So when pulling it directly behind me, it tracked behind me. But when I gently braked, the trailer veered off to the left because the tongue extension was swinging out to the left instead of staying straight behind the car. Kind of like a water skiier shooting out to the side of a boat when you do a sharp turn.

It just hadn't occurred to me that it would not track straight. I've got older teenagers in the house and my brain doesn't function the way it should. I try to get away from it all by going sailing, but see what happens?

Carlos

[Peter McMinn]

Carlos, your ingenuity precedes you (pun intended). Bravo!

[calden]

Actually, it's stupidity rather than ingenuity.



Carlos

[UkiDLucas]

I think the extension is awesome, and I might make something similar for myself. I will try to avoid driving around with it. Just in-and-out the water.
Also, the 2-inch square car-end of the pipe will prevent the folding, I think it will be an easy rig.

[calden]

If you do make something like this, be aware that the tongue weight of the trailer will push the extension down to the ground, and you need support it with the tongue jack or maybe make a simple tongue support with a couple of larger wheels.

Carlos