converting shoddy trailer to tilt trailer

[Hodad3230]

Gday there, as you can see my trailer is a pretty ordinary one...
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Hodad3230/trailer1.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Hodad3230/trailer2.jpg

I was gonna strengthen it, adding box section - running 2 lengths from the front of the subframe to the drawbar, creating a triangle. And I'm gonna add some skids running at right angles to the boat.

While I'm at it, I'm thinking of making it tilt - the triangle section will attach using a standard sprung fitting and I was just going to use a bit of rod running through the main drawbar and a couple of welded on tubes with rubber suspension bushes as the hinge.

Does any-one have any thoughts - are their potential issued with rigidity/handling? Are the hinges available as weld-on accessories?

I'm keen on this because I always launch from the beach, and if there's any swell I need to winch it off the dry sand. It's only 4.5m but it isn't too light. A new trailer is not an option right now.

Cheers Ian

[pedrodepacus]

hey ian your on a mission arnt you you will end up with a totally new rig the way your going did you get those other pics

[Hodad3230]

Gday Phil yep got those pics sorry I hadn't replied. Yeah on a mission - had this boat for about 9 months and worked out what I wanna change. Gonna get it sorted in time for the autumn thaw. As I said, beach launch only and need to be able to do it solo, so not really keen to trade up to something bigger (not that I could justify spending the moola to the boss, who has to look after our 7 month old son while dad's out a'killen). Here's a pic of my boat on the water....;D
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Hodad3230/Image002.jpg

[Chimo]

Hi Ian

I used to occasionally beach launch and retrieve a 5.6 Al with a 90HP and a hand winch.

My trailer was all rollers with no side skids. I have a feeling these are whats making it hard to get the boat back on and probably not hepling you launch either.

Do you have a large front wheel on the trailer?
I carried my trailer spare on stub axel mounted on the draw bar so that it was a couple of inches above the road when travelling but was great to spear the traler into the sea to then roll the boat off. (we used a long rope to retrieve the trailer and we drove along the beach until the trailer came out and was running parallel to the to water. Then just backed up and hitched the trailer on the car and went home. By the way if you d it the way i described leave the boat back a couple of feet from the full on position until the trailers on the car then winch it the last couple of feet. Makes the trailer much easier to lift on to the car.

So IMHO I would get rid of the skids and fit a couple of sets of quad wobble rollers to each side of the trailer and not do anything else and I bet the boat would fly on and off the trailer for you

If you fit the quad roller adjust them so all of the rollers supporting the boat are equally hard or easy to turn by hand when the boat is on the trailer.

Thoughts?

Cheers
Chimo

[dnej]

This is a pic of my tilt one.It may help.
David

[ifishcq1]

I put all multi rollers on my tinny but I had to leave the keel rollers to support the main weight and then adjusted the outside rollers until they took away the side ways roll...a mate with a similar setup but no keel rollers split his tinny along either side of the top keel welds..the keel must support the majority of the weight and the others are for balence

[pedrodepacus]

hey chimo it was excellent of you to drop in the other day say gday.
ian i now can see wat you are doing and why your doingt it bloody hell looks like my shed [ask chimo] but all jokes aside ian it looks like from the photo that the side ribs are squashed on both ends if thats th case id definatly be using a 3mm bulkhead across the back where you cut that seat out ring me ul tell you why

[Chimo]

Hey Ian

I agree with IFISHCQ that you don't want to put all the weight on the sides of the boat but I do know, because I had it explained to me by an aluminium boat builder of some 30 yrs experience, that supporting an Al boat evenly across its keel and bottom gives optimum support without hull deformation and easiest launch and retrive; even if you run up on the sand and then winch off the sand. Of course it easiest to do this with the trailer off the car or with a tilt trailer if you have a solid one like Davids.

Phil, was good to touch base and I'll be in touch re that stuff we were talking about but not quite yet as I am still only part way thru the current project!

Cheers
Chimo

PS Ian from your photo it seems like the third roller is not doing any work either so there could be a fair bit of extra weight going onto the skids too? Is this the case or does it just look like it in the photo?

[dnej]

Chimo,I think you are correct about that roller not touching
David

[Hodad3230]

Gday fellas, thanks to all who have replied. Those pics ware a real help too, ta david, maybe I need a few more rollers as well.
The hull isn't perfectly centered at the moment, one of the skids is a little out of position after copping a knock on the last retrieve mission, and you're on the money re that roller, I'm going to have to lift it up. Have a look at the back one though - its frame is squashed from taking so much weight each retrieve (I believe). I'll be replacing the frame.

Where I launch, the beach is pretty flat and shallow unless the tide is right in. There is usually some swell running. The way I usually launch is:
back down the beach
disconnect the trailer and push the lot into the drink
push the boat off, get the bow facing the waves and pull it back as far as I can onto the beach
drag the trailer out and connect it to the car.

Retrieve is the reverse of this, unless there is too much swell to get the boat on the trailer without smashing the hull into skids, mudguards etc - around half the time or more. So using the car I drag the boat onto the dry sand so I don't get waves splashing water over the transom, and push the trailer against the hull. When the winch strap starts to get tight I lift up the trailer and rock it a bit while I drag the boat on. I end up having to turn the winch strap where I can literally just reach it because the trailer is on such an angle. It's bloody hard...

I figured the only way to make it easier would be to get the trailer to tilt, or to build /buy a trailer where the boat sits much closer to the ground, with considerably more money and effort than just making this one tilt. My metalworking skills are rudimentary, but probably adequate.

So rollers it is, probably a few more than I have at the moment, maybe some teflon on the skids I have now, and an ezy-loader type set-up at the back or wobble rollers to spread the load and keep the keel centred.

David - is your photo showing the actual tilt hinge? - it looks just like a bolt running through the main beam and through two bits of angle on the cross member. Can you tell me more about how it's put together?

Hey Pedro I'll give you a buzz about that bulkhead, in particular about how high it would have to be.

Thanks heaps guys,
Ian

[Chimo]

Hi Ho

Your right about the retrieve problem with waves smashing over the transom.

I used to push the trailer (29 rollers, cable override brakes, direct 5:1 & 10:1 winch ) into the water with the winch to the front in those conditions and have the waves work for me. If the trailer was pointing directly into the waves the boat was then winched onto the rollered trailer that was sitting flat.

Then I'd leave it all there and walk out taking the end of the long tow line (trailer end attached to the safety chain "dee" ) and hook the other end to the tow ball of the car and pull it out and hitch up on the beach.

No water over the transom and the waves get you wet but other than than that no real hassel.
Full chest high waders were very useful in the southern temperatures tho.;)

Good luck with whatever you end up doing.

Cheers
Chimo.

[dnej]

Ian,
You are on the money.Angle welded on,then a high tensile bolt,acting as a draw pin.I put on a safety chain as well,just in case anything ever happened.You can just see it at the bottom of the pic.
At the locking end,I added that short post,and another pin,as additional safety measure.
Now ,my memory escapes me,but the actual angle,was not actually a munufactured angle,but a bent bit of flat,or the other way around.
Something to do with strength.
I will have a gander,and let you know.
David