[Rhodes22-list] I Hate My Trailer

[Roger Pihlaja]

Dear Steve & Stan,

I doubt that Steve is in the market for either a new boat or a new trailer &
moving the axle, leaf springs, brake lines, etc sounds like a royal PITA!  I
have two suggestions:

1. The bow arm could be moved forward.  On my Lil Dude boat trailer, the bow
arm is attached to the trailer tongue with U-bolts & its position is
adjustable.  Back in 1996, when I replaced my 2-cycle Evinrude 6 outboard
with a much heavier 4-cycle Honda 8 outboard, I had to slide my bow arm
forward about 4" in order to compensate for the additional weight on the
transom while trailering.  But, even if it were welded, moving the bow arm
would still be easier than moving the axle.  After moving the bow arm, the
bunks would probably also need to be adjusted to fit the hull in its new
position on the trailer.

2. If the problem is insufficient tongue weight & Steve doesn't want to move
the bow arm; then, permanently bolt or weld some weight onto the trailer
tongue.  A couple hundred pounds of iron or lead doesn't take up much room.
Heck, you could even make virtue out of necessity by fabricating the
counterweight to be some sort of walkway on top of the trailer tongue so you
wouldn't have to walk in the water in order to get to the trailer winch!

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

----- Original Message -----
From: "General Boats" <wwrhodes at rhodes22.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2003 8:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] I Hate My Trailer


> only for SA
>
> your axle is too far forward
> a new boat or a new trailer or moving the axle aft will do it
>
> ss/gbi
>
> Steve Alm wrote:
>
> > Hi.  Mary Ann and I just got back from a four day trip with Fandango.
We
> > went up north to Leech Lake in north central MN.  The sailing and living
> > aboard were great (I'd love to tell you more about it sometime) but
after
> > putting the boat in and out several times in several locations with
varying
> > degrees of steepness at the ramps, I've concluded that something is
> > definitely wrong here.
> >
> > No matter what, I just can't get the boat far enough forward on the
trailer.
> > The result is not enough tongue weight.  I had to take the motor off and
> > lash it on the trailer tongue, put the rudder up in the V berth, along
with
> > anything else that has any weight to it.  I used my bathroom scale to
try to
> > find out how heavy the tongue really is:  the scale only goes up to 300
lbs.
> > and I pegged the thing before the tongue even budged off the hitch--so
I'll
> > bet I have at least 400 lbs, maybe more.  Still, the trailer fishtailed
at
> > anything over 55 mph and also lurched and tugged most of the way.  I use
a
> > 3/4 ton full-size cargo van with a V-8--more than enough.
> >
> > At one of the ramps that had a very gradual slope, I backed in so far
that
> > my tailpipe was almost under.  Using the tongue extension, the forward
ends
> > of the bunks were just at water level and I drove the boat hard at the
> > trailer, trying to get up on the damn things, but still no luck.
> >
> > And at the steep ramps it's even worse.  As we've discussed before, you
pull
> > the boat all the way up to the bow stop, but when you pull the trailer
out
> > of the water, the bow rocks back away from the bow stop, and leaves the
boat
> > too far back--actually NEGATIVE TONGUE WEIGHT!
> >
> > I really don't want to move the motor, rudder, etc. not to mention all
the
> > landing gymnastics every time I trailer.  Is it just me or is it a
design
> > flaw.  The trailer axle should be about 6-8 inches back or something.
Can
> > anyone offer some insight, please?  Pretty please?
> >
> > Slim
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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>
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>