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Trailer for Core Sound Mark 3 boats.


Steve W

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Winch tower/post/stand, pick one . . .

 

I've found with light boats (anything less than a ton) and an average tow vehicle (midsize car, small pickup), you want as heavy a tongue weight as practical. With powerboat trailers, this means moving the axle back as fair as it'll go on most, so the weight of the boat is a bit forward of the axle and pressing down on the hitch. No, it's not balanced, but it does tow better, as the hitch stays constantly engaged with the ball. If you want to wear out a hitch or ball quickly, let the hitch bounce around on the ball for a few hundred miles, because it's lightly loaded. I like to set mine so I can just comfortably lift it, so it's about 100 pounds on most small boats. You can lift this, but you don't want to very many times, before using the jack. The only time I have to lift it, is to place it on the ball if I've missed pretty bad, when backing up. I use the jack all other times.

 

Get a good jack. These come is way too weak, too flimsy and finicky models. The wheel at the bottom and the jack mechanism seem to be the weak links. A double wheel has better bearing area, which is good for me, as we have nothing but sand to put them down in. Some have just a flat plate which are good, but don't roll. I don't roll anything but the smallest boat on the jack wheel, as it's just to easy to bend them. The mechanism should be a planetary gear set, not the stamped set. Pull the (plastic) cap on the top of the winch and you'll see the gear set. If they're cut plates of steel stacked on top of each other, try to find one that has cast or forged gears, which look solid. These last a lot longer, especially if the boat is heavy. Swing up models tend to be built cheaper than non-swing ups. Look at a horse trailer jack and compare the pieces to what you have and you'll see the differences.

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15 hours ago, PAR said:

If you want to wear out a hitch or ball quickly, let the hitch bounce around on the ball for a few hundred miles, because it's lightly loaded.

 

   If it's bouncing around it may not be adjusted properly.  A properly adjusted hitch will be tight enough on the ball to not bounce around.

   I have had good results with a reasonably light load on the tongue of a trailer over many many miles and I didn't need to worry about overloading the jack (or my back).

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You alsways want to have some weight at the tongue of your trailer.  10% of the trailer’s weight is recommended.  Once, I borrowed a trailer which was tail-heavy.  It lifted up on the ball.  It shook the hitch pin out of the draw bar, and disconnect itself while I was driving down the Interstate!  Always make sure that you have some downward force on the ball.

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It's pretty easy to adjust a hitch to fit the ball, but it'll still move around a bit. In fact, I've never purchased a trailer that was adjusted properly. There's always some slop, if only for rotational movement on all three axis. I've had the same thing happen, though didn't lose the hitch, but did feel it yanking at the ball, so I stopped and it was nearly lose enough to have popped off. Yep, a good solid downward force on the ball solves this and she'll trailer better. Light boats don't put a lot of torque on the ball/hitch, so you can get lots of wear out of it, but heavy rigs quickly show where you need to address stuff.

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That trailer disconnected for me with no load on it.  It was shaking and baking as I drove it down the Interstate.  The trailer shook the clevis clip right off the clevis pin.  It was only a matter of time before the pin worked it way out.  What made it worse, was that my brother-in-law had used ordinary hardware store S-hooks to hook the safety chain to the trailer hitch.  Needless to say, those straightened out at just the wrong moment.  I can still hear the sound that the draw bar made, as it it pulled out of the hitch!  I looked in my rear view mirror, and saw the trailer getting smaller and smaller...  Ever since that day, I use a locking clevis pin to hold the draw bar in place.  I don’t need to hear that sound again!  

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Wow!!! That's about as much fun as watching my freshly rebuilt hydroplane doing somersaults in the rearview mirror and coming to rest impaled on a stop sign. (Note. Never grab a piece of polypropylene ski rope that's been lying in the Florida Sun for years to tie said hydro on top of the car. Gets kinda brittle.)

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Joe,

I see you have a Karavan. I'm looking at them too - what model did you get, and did the center rollers come with it, or did you have to retrofit them? Your cross-bars are concave,  but given our boats are pretty flat-bottomed, would the straight cross bars get the boat up too high, do you think, and/or make it harder to load?

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Steve,

 

Re: the galvanized/aluminum choice, the guy at WestMarine suggested buying a painted trailer if you can't find a galvanized one and just adding sacrificial zincs to it to keep it from rusting.

 

I don't know if there are any aluminum trailers for a CS20 - I don't think Trailex makes any that big and they're the only aluminum trailer manufacturer I could find.  

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Frowley,

I just noticed your question. I have a Karavan RB KKR-2400 78-S.  I see that KKR is their line of roller trailers which seems a bit odd. I  struggled a bit with what trailer to get and finally just jumped.  I am not sure I landed in the best spot but it works. One of the dimensions I looked closely at was the width between the fenders. The KKR-2100 has the same width so that would seem to be a better choice not sure why I went with the 2400.  Of course the width between the fenders is only important if you are opting for the ride between the wheels as opposed to the ride over the wheels.

 

If I recall correctly I spoke with a representative at the factory and custom ordered the trailer. It came set up with three keel rollers and bunks. I suspect the frames are identical so whether it is a KKR or KKB does not matter if it is a custom order. I went with the bent cross bars and you are right they drop something like 8 inches which is too much for our boats. 3 or 4 inches would be better. I had to lift the center rollers up and modify the bunk brackets down to make it work. It is very possible that the straight  cross bars would be a better fit. I think your keel would be a few inches higher.  You could back the trailer in a little further to make up for the extra height. I hope that helps.

 

 

Joe

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21 hours ago, Walt S. said:

Steve,

 

Re: the galvanized/aluminum choice, the guy at WestMarine suggested buying a painted trailer if you can't find a galvanized one and just adding sacrificial zincs to it to keep it from rusting.

 

I don't know if there are any aluminum trailers for a CS20 - I don't think Trailex makes any that big and they're the only aluminum trailer manufacturer I could find.  

Be sure to ignore the advice of that particular West Marine guy in the future...

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Joe,

Thanks so much for the great reply - really appreciate it. The key detail you mentioned was that you 'just jumped,' which is pretty much what I concluded. The local reps and I became mutually exasperated before I finally realized that I just need a basic trailer - subject to what folks have been advising above, then purchase and mount the center rollers and set it up to fit the boat. I'm picking up an EZ Hauler EZB 14-17 1250 trailer today with straight cross bars. The boat (CS17 MKIII) will sit above the fenders the way Graham's does, and I'll buy and fit a bunch of center rollers to make it work.

 

Fred

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Right now, I have three B&B boats. A CS 17, a CS 17 mk 3 and a Marissa 18.  All are on galvanized trailers but with different configurations.

 

I will cover them in chronological order.

 

I finished my CS 17 'Lively' in 2007 and bought a tilt trailer because I had one on my previous O'Day Daysailer II and really liked it.  Occasionally I launch from the beach and the tilt seems to help. When launching/retrieving from a ramp, I never put the wheel hub in the water. I think the wheels are 14" but not sure.  The wheels are under the boat so it is higher but this has never been a problem launching. When I got the trailer I moved the winch post forward as far as possible and then moved the wheel/axels forward until I got about 10% tongue weight. I have never had a problem with towing with this combination.  I have rollers in the center and a bunk on each side.  I need to change out the carpet for Starboard one of these days but it is just not needed. The overall length of boat trailer and masts mounted on top fit in one side of my two car garage with only a slight angle required. When towing the tilt mechanism causes a slight movement of the boat and some extra noise and a wearing of the hull where the bow meets the winch post roller. I still have not figured out how to stop this yet. This is my favorite trailer boat combo.

 

I finished my Marissa 'Salty' in 2012.  I bought a standard galvanized motor boat trailer for and 18' boat. I moved the wheels using the same process as for 'Lively' with 10% tongue weight. The trailer has been fine.  I have found that I do not use the boat very much. I am a sailor.  However, my son does use and love both boat, motor and trailer. So I keep it for him, for the time being.

 

Earlier this year, I bought Chick's CS 17 mk 3. We met near Savannah, GA and I drove my new boat home to Palm Harbor, FL.  His trailer is huge compared to both of my other trailers.  The boat sits between the wheels and is therefore lower and easier to get in and out of. The boat/trailer handled very well on the trip down here and in all the times I have used it here.  I did not mention above, my tow vehicle is a 4 cyc Sabaru Forester.  I do wet launch (hubs wet) this boat. No bearing problems yet.  Watching them. Chick had rollers in the center and vertical bunk boards that he cut to conform to the hull. This is another reason that I launch wet.  I like the flat bunks I have in the other trailers better.  They have two mounting points and then the board flexes to fit the hull. This boat, trailer, tabernacle masts are a total of 25 feet long.  This is way too long for a 17 foot boat. I have not quite figured out how to remedy this yet.  It will fit in my two car garage crossways with the masts practically hitting the corners. I think the tires are 14 inch but not sure.

 

Steve, hope I have answered most of your questions.  Good luch with your decidsion. My opinion.

dale

 

 

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A little more on the issue of submerging the hubs. As I said previously, I have taken to submerging the hubs to retrieve the boat to reduce stress on my Aluminum trailer. I opened them up recently and no problem at all - no water has entered. When I put the bearing buddies back in I smeared gasket silicon on the mating surfaces and also across the back of the inner bearing seals. I don't want to be taking them off too often in case it reduces their water tightness, but I do think that the answer is to ONLY submerge the hubs if they are dead cold, otherwise rapid, uneven shrinkage will allow water to get past the edges of the seals.

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I've been dunking trailers in fresh water for years. I think the cold hub thing is correct, but if your hubs are real hot you are doing something wrong. I keep a handheld infrared thermometer and just point it at the hubs every stop. I even have my wife doing it when I'm pumping gas. No need to get your hands dirty, but touching the hubs works too!

 

Plenty of good info. Dale, I never thought of the tabernacle mast adding to the length, but you are right. That might mean my plans to store it in my garage are out. Luckily I have another option (barn) that is just not quite as convenient. I'm leaning towards a narrower trailer and having the boat higher. With Rollers and a good winch (2 speed) I think I'll be good. I'm going to look at a couple of options this weekend.

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I received a PM requesting info about my Belhaven 19 trailer and thought I would share it here.  Trailer is a year 2015 Easyloader EZB 17-20 3100 with two adjustable cross members, two keel rollers, disc type surge brakes and 15 inch wheels with oil bath hubs.  The boat sits between the fenders with the bottom of the keel about 14 inches above ground.  The plank up front is where the keel rest. You'll notice in the photos that the rollers have flattened out which is fine since I don't want to push 1,200 pounds of boat off the trailer anyway.  Everything is working fine even if it looks like MacGyver did the modifications.    

B19 empty trailer.jpg

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Thanks for the pictures Randy.  I'm looking at a very similar EZloader (the bunks look exactly the same).  Question concerning the bunks: did you need to modify them?  Did you shape them to fit the hull, or they were flexible enough to conform to the hull?

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I mount the bunks on edge and shape them to fit the hull. I prefer that the bunks carry most of the weight, as the center rollers can deform the hull if the keel isn't stiff enough. I think that's the case the way we use a big epoxy "fillet" down the center in place of a wood keelson. Guess I'm kinda paranoid about this, but back-in-the-day when my business was boat repair, I saw a lot of damage from trailers.

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