Beach launch

[8m weapon]

G'day all. I launch an 8m platey off the beach at home and when it comes time to tow the boat back up the beach I have to winch the whole lot up the beach. All tyres are down to about 12 psi. Its only about 20-30 feet at high tide. I would ideally like some 30 feet long maxtrax. I have seen timber slatted ramps and conveyor belt ramps which are fine if they stay but I really need something removable. Maybe some heavy duty trench mesh or really thick shade cloth or something like that. Any help or suggestions appreciated.
cheers

[Gon Fishun]

Tractor maybe?

[Chimo]

8th weopon

How long is the beach? That is can you drive along it?

Cheers
Chimo

[8m weapon]

Have a tractor but only two wheel drive and it doesn't like the beach.

[Chimo]

So can you drive along the beach or not?

[8m weapon]

Chimo I can get a run up when towing a small tinny and go up at an angle but with the big boat its not really an option. Too many trees and undulating ground.

[Chimo]

Not talking about a run up.

We used to shoot our trailers right down into the water using the trailer spare tyre on the front (not the jockey wheel) and we used a long rope to haul them out after the boats were loaded; about a meter short of all the way on to the trailer.. We didn't pull up the slope of the beach but drove along along the beach and the trailer eventually ended up parallel to the water. Then we backed up and hitched the trailer onto the car or 4WD and collected the long rope and stowed it. Now the reason for not pulling the boat all the way onto the trailer was to limit the weight on the front of the trailer so we could easily lift it onto the ball and then winch the boat all the way on. Much easier if you have roller trailers, Might work with wet bunks and a good winch too.

If it was rough we often ran the trailer in front first and loaded into the waves. In soft sand we made sure the trailer wheels were sitting on mesh before we loaded the boat. Our mesh had a tie rope on it so as the trailer headed up the beach the mesh was pulled along behind.

Hence the question about driving along the beach, if you have a 100 m or so it could work for you.

Thoughts?

Cheers
Chimo

PS Where are you by the way?

[scottar]

Not sure but I think the issue is getting the rig off the beach once loaded on the trailer. I know a lot of guys use a tandem tow up at Fraser for the tuff stuff.

[Chimo]

I didn't think it was Fraser based on "I launch an 8m platey off the beach at home" but I could be wrong. Time will tell............

[scottar]

LOL - wouldn't that be a nice place to live - suspect I would probably put a few more hours on the Vic. Purely used Fraser as an example of the tandem tow being a possible solution.

[Chimo]

My woman's brain side must have shut down for the nite, sorry......

[airlock]

a couple of long carpet rolls might be the go, if you can lift the buggers anyway.

[scottar]

I would be cautious about using something like trench mesh. If a corner or edge were to bend up from weight placement and then catch under the trailer you could be generating quite a bit of work with a cordless grinder or worse.

[Andy56]

Whilst trawling the internet looking at boats, I came a cross a video that looked very promising. For a beach launch 4 wheels is better as less weight per sq foot means less dig in. How about a set of wheels mounted on the draw bar? Simply roll the trailer to the water, load the boat and then winch it all back to the car. I wish I could remember what site it was. It loocked like oversized dolly wheels up front.

[Andy56]

111116this should give you an idea. I would have 4 wheels and the same size as the rear ones.

[Gon Fishun]

Whilst trawling the internet looking at boats, I came a cross a video that looked very promising. For a beach launch 4 wheels is better as less weight per sq foot means less dig in. How about a set of wheels mounted on the draw bar? Simply roll the trailer to the water, load the boat and then winch it all back to the car. I wish I could remember what site it was. It loocked like oversized dolly wheels up front.
..................

111118

[Andy56]

Thats it! Now could we have some info. Where to buy, how much etc. I may be in the market for such an idea too!

[Chimo]

Post 7 and you don't need to buy anything new.

[8m weapon]

Not talking about a run up.

We used to shoot our trailers right down into the water using the trailer spare tyre on the front (not the jockey wheel) and we used a long rope to haul them out after the boats were loaded; about a meter short of all the way on to the trailer.. We didn't pull up the slope of the beach but drove along along the beach and the trailer eventually ended up parallel to the water. Then we backed up and hitched the trailer onto the car or 4WD and collected the long rope and stowed it. Now the reason for not pulling the boat all the way onto the trailer was to limit the weight on the front of the trailer so we could easily lift it onto the ball and then winch the boat all the way on. Much easier if you have roller trailers, Might work with wet bunks and a good winch too.

If it was rough we often ran the trailer in front first and loaded into the waves. In soft sand we made sure the trailer wheels were sitting on mesh before we loaded the boat. Our mesh had a tie rope on it so as the trailer headed up the beach the mesh was pulled along behind.

Hence the question about driving along the beach, if you have a 100 m or so it could work for you.

Thoughts?

Cheers
Chimo

PS Where are you by the way?
Chimo thanks for the input mate. I am pretty well limited to straight up and down where I launch from. I will try and leave the boat a few feet from the winch post to take some weight off the rear wveels of the cruiser and see how that goes.
I live a bout an hr south of Mackay mate.

[8m weapon]

Not sure but I think the issue is getting the rig off the beach once loaded on the trailer. I know a lot of guys use a tandem tow up at Fraser for the tuff stuff.
I do the same but on occasion I am by myself.
thanks mate

[8m weapon]

Thanks Andy. I reckon I could knock one of those up with stuff laying around home. Worth giving a go I think.
cheers mate

[GBC]

Probably more worth having a go if you add a 4-5 metre extension drawbar to the wheel set and make the wheelset the same track as the trailer.

[Chris Tucker]

assuming your trailer never leaves the beach. Refit it for four of these: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/aircraft-tires

[scottar]

I would simply be inclined to use a decent length tow rope then so you can get the car off the beach and tow the boat out using more or less the same method with either a dolly wheel set up or a spare wheel on a hub attachment to keep your drawbar out of the sand as the guys have detailed above for getting the boat out of the water. Just be mindful of your attachment point - might be worth looking at a rated tow point attachments for the trailer and the car and make sure you use a dampner just incase it lets go.