[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by dmhallene

You Trailer this ALONE, routinely,? Please Help me with a checklist as I'm new and not so confident, YET. 1984 20' Step V, 1989 150 HP Mercury outboard. 1987 LoadRite Trailer W/ elec winch.
Thanks

Hi.. Thanks for your PM. I answered your post here rather than in the PM you sent me so everyone could see/read my reply. Yes, I trailer my boat alone (most times) and routinely. My last big trip was bringing it up from it's winter home in Florida to New Jersey. (1600 miles, give or take a few). Most times it's just a short 25 mile trip to the river where I launch. My tow vehicle is my 1998 Jeep Cherokee with an automatic transmission and a 4.0 Liter inline 6 engine. The trailer is equiped with brakes and each wheel has a bearing buddy on it. (Make sure your trailer wheels have Bearing Buddy's also). I consider having brakes on the trailer a necessity due to the fact that my Jeep, while having tons of towing torque, is actually a fairly light vehicle. Given the mass and inertia of the boat and trailer, brakes on the trailer are necessary for emergency stopping.

You will need to carry with you at all times while trailering the following items:

Spare tire
Jack that can fit under your trailer axle
Tubeless tire repair kit
12V compressor
Can of "Inflate-a-flat" or similar product
One (and two is better) extra wheel bearing kits (two bearings and a seal). (Make sure you have both inner and outer bearings as their sizes can differ).
Greese gun filled with wheel bearing greese
Slip lock (Channel Lock) pliers or a large adjustable wrench
Small sandwich baggy filled with cotter pins)
A roll of paper towels
Lug wrench

With the exception of the spare tire, all of the above fits into a milk crate, and it's a simple matter to just throw it into the back of the car before you leave home. Additionally, you can buy spart tire mounts that bolt to your trailer and allow you to mount your tire to them. The better units even allow you to bolt an entire wheel and extra hub assembly to the mount.

I see by your post that you have an electric winch on your trailer already. There are tons of cheap China import winches on the market. Stay clear of them. The last thing you want is for your winch to fail in the middle of a retrieve with others waiting to use the launch ramp. Get a good winch. Hopefully your winch has some sort of remote control that allows you to operate it from a distance. (Powerwinch and Dutton-Lamison winches are both great heavy duty units that allow you to do so). I use a 4000# Powerwinch personally. It has a lanyard that connects to a switch on the unit. That way I can stand back by my boat, pull the lanyard to activate the winch and guide my boat while the winch pulls it up onto the trailer. Easy as pie.

I'm 66 years old and it's no big deal to launch or retrieve my boat. If I can do it I'm pretty sure anyone can.