Trailer measurements A25

[tribologist]

I bought some guide plates from Eastern Marine Trailer part superstore. I have a 18" piece of 12x4 lumber that will have a encounter with the band saw soon.

[DesertAlbin736]

About those stern guides, how high do they go up? Bear in mind the difference in beam between the transom & midships. According to your rendering the trailer frame looks very similar to ours. The catch is to do any good centering the boat when hauling out they'd have to be a close fit to the hull near the transom. Seen in the 2nd photo at least on ours they can't quite be adjusted all they way up close to the hull, nor can they be moved forward because the attachment to the frame is an integral part of the taillight assembly. In any case when the trailer is backed into the water the top of the short guide posts are too low to catch the hull. If they were taller then they would interfere with the widest part of the hull as the boat floated off on launch or pulling it up to the bow stop on retrieval.

Anyway if you could find or have fabricated this type of adjustable bunk support struts that attach to frame crossmembers via U bolts that would make life a lot easier. I've found that when needing to block up the boat on land & pull the trailer out from under the boat, say for bottom painting, then dropping the bunks via those adjustable struts makes it much easier to pull the trailer out from under. Then when rolling the trailer back under the boat while the hull is supported by cranes & stands once the boat is resting on the keel rollers you just jack up the struts to fit the contour of the hull & level it up.

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[tribologist]

The issue with pulling my trailer is that it is not resting on rollers... I would have to bridge the keel bunk. My side guides are much taller than yours. They clear a few inch on each side. They spring out a little when I pull in. The problem is actually not so much that than the effect of listing or a ramp that is not perfectly flat. It takes so little to be a few inch off and it make it look silly.

[tribologist]

Prototype is in…. And here u can see how tall my side guides are. Will test on sunday when we are pulling out. Going to Mystic. DA, did u go up Mystic river?

[tribologist]

The Vee guides worked really well they are quite wide on top and the guide tubes only allow a few inches of slop so its not possible to get outside and there were no indication that they touched the bottom. What it looks like is that as the boat slide by the side guide tubes its already in the vee. I will add water to the cad model now since i know how the trailer is in the water.

[dkirsop]

Nice job!

[dkirsop]

Thank you Tribologist for an excellent idea. Borrowed shamelessly and adapted to my keel roller system.

Roller Guide.jpeg

[tribologist]

Thank you Tribologist for an excellent idea. Borrowed shamelessly and adapted to my keel roller system.

Roller Guide.jpeg

Looks good! I would have put them closer to get it even more centered but maybe the rollers centers it as you pull it in.
I added rollers in the front of my keel bunk and that was a fantastic improvement. Now it just float of. No jerking ion brakes dropping stuff from the truck in the water (I back with tailgate open)

[ssrig]

Great idea! I like dkirsop’s version 2.0! I might be copying that too.
I see how the outboard leg of the bracket is held with a u clamp but can’t see what’s holding the inboard?

I’ve only had the boat not line up once so far, don’t know if it’s fluke or what but it centres most of the time, I have something similar as dkirsops with keel rollers, and a combination of wobble rollers and pads.

[dkirsop]

There is a u-bolt in the centre that holds the inboard leg in place. The bracket is all one piece so only 3 u-bolts were required.

[ssrig]

Oh yeah I see it now! Thanks. I’m going to look into my pile of stainless steel and see if I have something to make it with, my pile has been depleted with my flopped stopper that I put together.

[WillieC]

So, Mr.K. Do you have an Ironworker in your garage? Those are nice crisp bends for us mere mortals with vices and lumpy hammers. Do tell us more.

I was going to add that those look like nice bottom paint scrapers but closer examination reveals the starboard or uhmw sliders. Nice work indeed. Installation of fore and aft thrusters guided by gps sensors coupled to sensors mounted on the trailer will let you load and unload from the comfort of the cab, or your back deck. Clearly more work needed.

[DesertAlbin736]

I still have that problem with my bunks extending so far forward that the bow settles on them as the trailer is pulled forward & locks the hull in place well before the keel has a chance to engage a V notch. I suppose I could solve that by shortening the bunks back to the 2nd support strut? Yes, in this picture the front keel roller was a little out of adjustment, since corrected. These long bunks also preclude launching by Travelift crane.

The owners of the two trucks parked to the right of mine in this Google Maps street view of Blaine Harbor, WA launch ramp parking lot in 2019 are now sailing on their way across the Great Lakes from the Apostle Islands to Buffalo aboard the Southern Cross 31 cutter owned by the guy who owns the tan truck at far right. The owner of the burgundy colored truck next to my red Dodge is crewing with them as far as Fairport, OH, midway across Lake Erie. We'll meet them when they arrive in Buffalo, NY early next month.

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That was the time we all met for dinner at the Hummingbird Inn Pub on Galiano Island, BC.

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[WillieC]

The problem, at least one of the problems with our 4 bunk trailer, is that they extend so far aft they rise enough to make me have to have a steep ramp to load and unload. Which I have. Not many public ramps are that steep.

Since they extend so far aft, the two inner bunks serve as my vee-guide...and paint scraper if I try to retrieve in skinny water. Gotta get that baby IN the water. It works for us in that we only go in and out a couple times each year.

[dkirsop]

No Iron worker in my garage, just a vise and a hammer. Along with a cardboard template to test the profile before fabrication. Too bad the don't teach shop work in junior high anymore, it has saved me thousands of $ over a lifetime.