More boat trailer stuff

[Guest]

Ahh, nice to hear a little luck came your way, Check the adjustments and tongue lengths, grease the wheel bearings and check for dry rot in the tires, the cheapest part of your project that can do the most damage to your project upon failure. All of that hardwork looks pretty bad on the shoulder of the road. This is just a little late night hint, as I know you were going to do that anyway.

[Marshall]

Jan,

I have been going to smaller boat shops and marinas. I have found a couple of used trailers that are in the $300-350 range. They have rollers and look to be easily modified to the Weekender. However, as I was driving back from golf on Friday, I saw a 16' runabout, with a 75 horse Johnson, on a trailer that will fit the weekender for only $200. Runabout needs work, but what the hey, if the trailer works. I may be going from no boats to 2 boats !

[Jan Williamson]

Ok, I got the trailer yesterday. Cost me a whopping $6.00 to dump the old boat at the landfill It looks to be in great shape. Did a little rust treatment on the bottom where the paint was knocked off, and had a bunk roller bracket re-welded. Got a new set of tires too. I wonder if a keel shoe is really necessary. This trailer is a 1962 ezloader with 24 rollers , all adjustable. Any input on getting the boat on the trailer in the water verses in the driveway would be helpful. I thought about using multiple floor jacks and backing the trailer under bit by bit,moving the front jack back as the trailer gets to it. I am not sure if the trailer needs to be modified further. Hard to tell till the boat is on there.

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[Johannah]

Wow. That's a much more expensive trailer than the ones you have been researching and it looks as though everything is adjustable. Probably set up for a motor boat so you will be adjusting the axle forward and perhaps the winch mount back (for clearance with a bowsprit). Since there don't appear to be any guides at midline, you're going to want something there. Great find 8) .

[Jan Williamson]

Yeh, I think I got lucky. So you think I need to adjust the axle forward? The boat that was on it was a stern drive 16 ft sea swirl. I did move the winch back about a foot. It gives me a little over a foot of clearance from the car. So what do you think about a keel shoe?

[Mike Pennington]

Okay Jan,

I appologize for jumping in, I haven't even read the whole thread, but hear goes.

I do this with the Vacationer regularly, your weekender is much lighter. One floor jack, under the keel up front, lift to where the bow is high enough to start on the trailer. Hook up your trailer winch strap to the boat, and to your tow vehicle, :roll: get the trailer up close and crank away. Assuming you have a through bolted eye bolt installed in your keel. With all those roller your boat should slide on very easy. Make sure the winch strap is in good condition too. :shock:

I also use my moaning chair number one and two on either side of the boat to keep her level, they are cushioned, so I don't usually worry about scratching the paint.

I think you still might want to consider a keel box eventually, or at least a few rollers for the keel to rest on. I have two bunks and four keel rollers on my trailer, the style of frames the rollers rest in are hard on my keel. A keel box guides the boat on to the trailer. If you have a cross wind to the boat launch the boat can drift off the trailer.

I hope to weld up some brackets to bolt the keel box on my trailer by next spring. The keel is the spine of the boat, though you have all those rollers, I don't know what effect they will have on the bottom of your boat if that is all she has to rest on. For that matter how many of them will be actually supporting the boat while you trailer? There may also be some side ways movement too. For short hauls you should be good with what you have, nice looking trailer. You have a lot to work with.

Strap down your boat real good, keep in mind how easy it will be for that flat bottom to slide forward, if you have to hit the brakes. I always run a strap in front of the mast and back a few feet to the trailer frame.

If I've said to much, I don't mean to be condesending, just don't want you to have problems because I didn't say enough. :wink:

[Jan Williamson]

Mike,

No you didn't say too much, all good. I can never get too much info Got the boat on and you were right, it was easy once we got the boat up high enough. I have some work to do to get the boat high off the fenders. I am trying to post a pic.

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[rolandblais]

Nice driveway... I thought mine was steep...

Looks like you're nearly done. When'r we goingg sailing

Peace,

Roland

[Jan Williamson]

Yes, it is a steep driveway. At least I have a little level spot at the top I think I will launch at Lake Siskiyou in Mt Shasta, Ca. Maybe in two weeks :shock: I am hoping for a few opportunities this fall, so I can know what to work on during the winter.

[Johannah]

Well except for almost sitting on the fenders, that looks pretty good. How do you like the way the boat fits?

[Jan Williamson]

Johannah, you are right about the fenders :? I do have a pretty easy solution for that though, I plan on some spacer blocks under the bunk rollers (they rest on the frame), so they push the boat up a couple inches higher. I have the center of the boat weight about a foot forward of the axle, so I think it will be ok. I will work on a keel box too.

[Frank Hagan]

For a Weekender, which weighs about 500# give or take a bit, you should have about 50# "tongue weight." You can measure it by taking a scale, fitting a stick between it and the trailer tongue, and letting the trailer stand-wheel thing down until all the weight of the tongue is on the scale.

The 10% tongue weight rule is a standard rule; you can adjust it somewhat for "driveability", but you should stay right around that weight. Too much heavier and you can have trouble keeping the trailer behind you, it will want to sway from side to side.

[Jan Williamson]

Frank, is this the process you are talking about? Pretty interesting! I did a cut and paste, so I don't know if you can post it or not.

The Backyard Approach to Tongue Weight

By William R. Gongaware

William R. Gongaware teaches engineering technology at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in Richmond,Virginia. Here, this BoatU.S. Trailering Club Member offers some practical advice on how to gauge tongue weight. Bill and his two assistants (grand children) explain how it's done using a little bit of engineering and a lot of common sense.

If someone came up to you right now and asked "what's the tongue weight on your trailer," would you be able to tell them? And would it be correct? Do you even know what it means? Being able to answer these questions is important. Being able to get those answers is as close as your trailer and bathroom scale.

Tongue weight is just what it says: The weight of the trailer tongue on the hitch. It should be 5-10% of the weight of the trailer and boat fully loaded (including gas and, if applicable, outboard engine). If it is too light, the trailer will sway from side to side or surge forward and backward while being pulled. If the tongue weight is too heavy, the tow vehicle will be difficult to handle and, after a while, you will see excessive wear on the rear tires.

Here's what you need

a bathroom scale with 300 pounds capacity

2 five foot 2X4's, preferably southern pine or Douglas fir or better or a 4X6 of similar quality

12 eight penny nails or equivalent screws no longer than three inches

8 or more pieces of scrap hardwood (1X4X6 or longer) to be used as shims

2 or 4 cement blocks or pieces of a 6X6 at least 10 inches long

one dark color marker (permanent ink, chisel tip preferred) and one pencil

Tools: torpedo level, hammer, measuring tape

The project overview:

In preparation, park the trailer and tow vehicle on a level surface. Chock the wheels and apply the parking brake. In order to make the system operate as safely as possible, relieve the tension between the ball and the coupler so the tongue can be raised smoothly with the trailer jack.

This project is based upon an Isaac Newton's law stating an object will remain in place,if the force pushing up equals the force pushing down. And because the tongue weight in many cases will be more than what a bathroom scale can handle, the design used here will weigh only a portion of the total weight. As a result, depending on where the trailer tongue is placed on the wood, the weight registered on the scale will be doubled (if the tongue is set at the "24" mark), tripled (if the tongue is placed on the "16" mark) or quadrupled (if the tongue is placed on the "12" mark) and will equal the weight of the trailer tongue.

The wood is supported at the 0 mark by shims and concrete block. At the 48" mark, the wood is supported by wood shims and the bathroom scale. The most important part of this entire project is don't be in a hurry.

Marking the wood:

All the nailing of the 2X4's is on the centerline of their length. Place the 2X4's one on top of the other and nail the boards together three inches from each end. Next, begin nailing the wood 6 inches apart alternately on opposite sides. Then using a pencil and measuring tape, start at one end and make a tic mark at 6, 18, 22, and 54-inch location. Starting at the first tic mark, use the color marker to construct a line on the sides and top of the wood at every tic mark location. Now, starting at the line marked "6," label it with an easy-to-read "0." At the next line label it as "12, then "16" and "24" and finally "48" along the top of the sides. Now, looking at the side with the seam of the two boards showing, write "support," X4, X3,X2 and "scale" beginning at the "0" through "48-inch" lines respectively. This is the top of the lever upon which the trailer tongue will be placed.

Making it work:

Make certain the wood is level. And also make certain the height of the lever is equal to that of the tow vehicle's hitch (and if it is properly installed, the trailer itself should be level). Zero the scale, if this feature is installed. If it isn't, make note of the reading with just the weight of the lever and remember to subtract that from the reading with the trailer tongue. Slowly jack the trailer tongue down so that the coupler is around a portion of the ball but the tongue on the lever (this is done for safety in the event the jack fails or the lever shifts). You are going to place the tongue on the "24" mark on the lever and watch the scale reading carefully. If it nears fifty pounds under the maximum capacity, move the tongue to the "12" mark.

Now, multiply the reading on the scale by 2 or 3 or 4 depending on where the tongue is sitting and remember to subtract the scale reading if you weren't able to set it at zero. There is your tongue weight.

Take the weight off the system before you disassemble.