[Rhodes22-list] I Hate My Trailer

Peter Thorn pthorn at nc.rr.com
Sat Aug 9 11:55:05 EDT 2003


Steve,

I re-read your comments and have been pondering this.  You are saying you
cannot get the weight far forward enough, right?  I take this to mean that
the bow does not contact the bowstop in the normal position, ergo weight too
far back.  If this is the case and you have a single axle trailer:

1)    Try lowering the drawbar on your van, as close the to road as you
dare.  This will "flatten" the loading angle on the ramp.

2)    Try lowering the forward bunks so that, when the bow is touching
bowstop (full forward) , there's about 12" of air (no contact) between the
hull and bunk.  When loading, keep only this 12" above the water.

3)  If the ramp is steep enough, load without the extension tongue.  The
extended tongue tends to steepen the loading angle.

4)  If you're just a few inches away from full forward, while the boat is
still dripping wet, try the "McGregor Stomp" in the parking lot.

The bow must come to full forward each time, or you will not have consistent
tongue weight.  This can lead to huge problems - evidently like you've been
experiencing.  All these will help flatten the trailer angle, making it
easier to get the boat all the way forward.

BTW, I discovered all these suggestions by reading on this list - many are
from Roger's writings.

PT






----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Alm" <salm at mn.rr.com>
To: "Rhodes" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2003 3:58 AM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] I Hate My Trailer


> 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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