Trailering advise

[willy]

For better than three decades I have been towing my boats, all have been under 20 foot or so, even the V.s were a little bit of a pain in the arse when I fly solo which I seem to be doing more often these days.
Now I got this behemoth CC, almost 25 feet overall with the pulpit. Heavy biatch too.
I used to come in and pull boat up on the rollers, reach over and snap the cable on and climb over the bow and winch in, that is very tough, even dangerous to do now, it is high with high rails.
Any of you guys got any advise on how to set up your trailer or to retrieve easier under these circumstances.
I am considering buying a new trailer and not putting her in the rack marina this year.

[spareparts]

do you really need rollers at the ramp you use? Its rare to see roller trailers down here, most are aluminum I beam with 2X6(horizontal) bunks on brackets. the biggerboats use the big solid wood bunks, but they down't support the boat as well and can cause the trailer to float when you put it in deep. You're supposed to cut the bunks to fit the hull, but no one ever does. Nice thing about carperted bunks is the boat will sit on them with out moving too much while you secure the winch strap, so you won't have to keep the motor in gear to hold the boat. Float on trailers used to have a hoop and latch sytem so the boat would hook itself http://www.floaton.com/features.html. While you're down here, you can talk t my trailer guy in Mt P and see what he says

[step up here]

never worked on the idea yet but i thought of Velcro a laser on the front of the bow ; then putting a suitable target on the winch post . target may have to be somewhat large and offer some shade or just load up when the sun goes down.if
perfected it will offer one to load any boat on the trailer without getting from all who never owned a boat:bsflag:dont get me wrong its done everyday without trouble but its just a thought when you get to a neglected ramp

[tsubaki]

I agree with spare about the bunks needing fit to the animal being carried but I'm a proponent of a combination of rollers and bunks being I might use different ramps with different slopes depending on where I put in at.
Spray Silicone the bunks, it makes a big difference.
willy, I know you gettin old and stuff but it ain't easy for a 50 year old either to winch up a boat this size, even if it's got a two speed on it.
You really also need a ... (well, to be politically correct) companion to do the winch portion. Even if you have to use him to cut bait and and omit his gas portion.

[captpete13]

Willy, sounds like you need an electric winch for your trailer. We got these new winches for our yard trailer at work. They are made by Superwinch. It has a 5000lb capacity on a single line pull. But the good thing is that it has a remote with I think 30' of cable. You could be at the helm of your boat and still work the winch. or be in the drivers seat of your car. Or wherever.

[willy]

I have an electric winch Pete, the issue is getting down to hook up etc.
if you have ever seen these HS Vectors they have a giant bow area, very high, with a bow rail all around.
And with the flair on them too you literally have to climb over then reach your legs in to make contact with the frame.
Some way of putting the bow into a auto latch might work but then you still have to climb over.
Just debating thats all. Obviously with two guys the issue is moot, it's when I want to run out for a day myself. That just happens more often now as my sons are not around anymore, one is living in NYC and the other is going off to school at UMD in August.

[spareparts]

just buy a smaller boat, like a V

[captpete13]

how about adding another bow eye? maybe higher up so you can reach it.
sounds like you just need to get a slip and keep it in the water.

[willy]

You may be right Pete, That sounds like the best way for me, just like the idea of trailering so I can hit different waters with her

[step up here]

you might want to consider powering up on to the trailer just enough to reach a ladder affixed to the winch post. saw a trailer with that set up and wondered how effective it was. maybe even design it to be remove after use.

[willy]

going to put her in the rack again this year and then work on the trailer after, going to update it and make some changes. Maybe some way of climbing down might work.

[reelapeelin]

you might want to consider powering up on to the trailer just enough to reach a ladder affixed to the winch post. saw a trailer with that set up and wondered how effective it was. maybe even design it to be remove after use.


It's not too hard to look around and find permanently mounted ladders at the winch-stand for this purpose...pretty substantial ones that go to top of bow to make it easy to step over the rail...

Either that or a slip w/a lift would be ideal...that's what I'd do...my buddy at Lake Hartwell has lifts for both his boats...easy to deploy and keeps em CLEAN...:party:

[spareparts]

did you look at the latching mechanism on the floaton site?

[willy]

I did look at it, looks pretty cool, they are in Fla. though so tough to check out and to get set up for your boat correctly

[spareparts]

they probably have all the info for your boat on file