Tunnel guide on cat trailer

[Mupster]

Just wondering what's the best covering to wrap my tunnel guide rails on my cat trailer. I currently have clear hose which has hardened and warped, it also has marked the gelcoat along the tunnel.

I've seen plenty with rope wrapped guides and some with the skid material fitted.

I'm in the process of rubbing back the gelcoat with wet n dry to remove marks and then cut n polish so want to get the tunnel guide rail done right so I don't have to rub it back again.

Thanks.

[Fed]

Mine had carpet Mupster, not marine carpet which is more like a green scotch scourer but a softer 'house' carpet.
Maybe look around for some outdoor soft carpet or feltex type of stuff?

[myusernam]

Id use silver rope (the real waxy stuff)

[Mupster]

Id use silver rope (the real waxy stuff)

Do you rope the whole way up!

[Mupster]

Anyone got some pics of their trailers?

[frosti]

mine is a fairly new trailer and it just has that white teflon plastic on it , it leaves no marks and the boat glides on it

[Mupster]

mine is a fairly new trailer and it just has that white teflon plastic on it , it leaves no marks and the boat glides on it

Thanks Frosti, do you have a pic?

[frosti]

i will get you one tomorow

[wahoofishingcrew]

114065
114066
Mine has rope on the hoop then blue teflon strip down the tunnel. No marks at all on the gelcoat. Works well

[Cape Crusader]

G'day
Mine has that blue teflon or hdpe strip held on by large stainless rivets.
Something like this stuff
Cheers
Rod

[frosti]

114075114076sorry about the lateness , hope this helps

[Mupster]

114065
114066
Mine has rope on the hoop then blue teflon strip down the tunnel. No marks at all on the gelcoat. Works well

Thank you it looks the goods.
My hoop is much rounder and wider so it should work fine.

[Mupster]

114075114076sorry about the lateness , hope this helps
Thanks Frosti, looks very different, but practical!

[Mupster]

Frosti, what kind of Cat have you got?

[frosti]

1900 kevlacat

[Mupster]

Nice one, notice you're in Melb might have to catch up one day and swap notes.👍

[frosti]

ok , where are you from ? what boat have you got ?

[John Buoy]

The rope works well but with gal trailers the fibres stay wet and rust the rails a lot quicker.
Teflon has worked better for me.
https://s3.postimg.org/dwvmh5sjn/Boat_Trailer_2.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/chu1sfrgf/)

[Mupster]

ok , where are you from ? what boat have you got ?

Melb north, Devilcat!

[Mupster]

The rope works well but with gal trailers the fibres stay wet and rust the rails a lot quicker.
Teflon has worked better for me.
https://s3.postimg.org/dwvmh5sjn/Boat_Trailer_2.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/chu1sfrgf/)
Wow! That looks the go, great photo. They are some big rollers there. What Cat?

[rexaway123]

this is standard Noosacat trailer setup on 2300. never had any issues

[Mupster]

Some shots of the tunnel guide on my Devilcat. As you can see it rubs the inside and the tunnel actually rests on it. So I'm thinking of spacing up the skids 15mm to get clearance.

[frosti]

i don't like the way it is supported by the hull sitting on top of the rail .

[Mupster]

i don't like the way it is supported by the hull sitting on top of the rail .

Yeah I'll be definetly be doing something about, either raise the skids or lower the guide.

[SatNav]

1. Teflon has no place outside of the tunnel strakes or keel support

2. Catcher? Either rope or plastic/rope compsoite

[PB]

We recently just delivered a new can with one of our custom trailers completely re designed the rear end to incorporate a new V entry and tunnel guide. It works great
In the first pic we are still installing the Angle HDPE to all the surfaces where the boat will make contact.

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Hemo1984_album/IMG_2712_zpsh0edys7o.jpg (http://s638.photobucket.com/user/Hemo1984_album/media/IMG_2712_zpsh0edys7o.jpg.html)

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Hemo1984_album/IMG_2891_zpsjbinxhdb.jpg (http://s638.photobucket.com/user/Hemo1984_album/media/IMG_2891_zpsjbinxhdb.jpg.html)

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Hemo1984_album/IMG_2893_zps6i5mdrsh.jpg (http://s638.photobucket.com/user/Hemo1984_album/media/IMG_2893_zps6i5mdrsh.jpg.html)

[Mupster]

Awesome looking trailer! Are they 2 x90hp Suzuki's?

[Lovey80]

Awesome trailer design. Any pics with the skids finished with the boat off?

[ryangler]

great looking trailer PB

[PB]

Cheers guys, sorry I thought I did have some but can't seem to find any.
It has twin Suzuki 80s on it, I had my doubts about going this small but fully loaded it achieved 30 knots and the little 80's did it with ease they are a great little motor.

[Mupster]

1. Teflon has no place outside of the tunnel strakes or keel support

2. Catcher? Either rope or plastic/rope compsoite
Sat Nav,
After the damage I found under my cat from the Teflon strips I'd agree. Today I had a wander through a boat ramp car park and looked at three different sized cat trailers and they all had skids. One was close to new and the other two much older, they all showed signs of gelcoat wear on the skids. Most including the newer one showed more after the third skid and I suspect that's due to more trailer flex forward. I'll definitely be fitting rollers now.

[Dean1]

Mate have a good think about that. Rollers need maintenance. Also you will have to sink your trailer alot more to get your cat off due to the boat sitting alot higher on trailer, car will be more exposed to salt water etc.
Im a skid man myself and would never go back to rollers on a cat trailer.
Cheers

[Dean1]

Sorry mate just realized this is a tunnel guide thread! Rollers are fine ha ha.
Dont worry aboit me i was having a man look...

[SatNav]

Rollers on a Cat trailer? Well heaven help us .... but two (2) are allowed, in the right spot for the right purpose of course

[Noelm]

Had both, skids and rollers, can't say either is a huge advantage over the other, as far as the tunnel guide goes, slippery nylon rope is very good, had rollers, rope, plastic tube and skids, best in order, rope, rollers, plastic then Teflon.

[Mupster]

Had both, skids and rollers, can't say either is a huge advantage over the other, as far as the tunnel guide goes, slippery nylon rope is very good, had rollers, rope, plastic tube and skids, best in order, rope, rollers, plastic then Teflon.
Thanks Noelm,
I'm reluctant to leave the Teflon skids under the cat hulls because of the damage they have caused and all the work I'm going to need to do to rectify it, last thing I want is doing repairs like this on a regular basis.
Changing rollers over is easier the filling and rubbing back!
I only use ramps to launch and if I need extra depth my trailer has a 10ft slid out draw bar.

[Mupster]

What's wrong with rollers on a Cat trailer, am I missing something?

[Fed]

What's wrong with rollers on a Cat trailer, am I missing something?
Holding the boat to stop it rolling off with one hand while trying to get the winch hook off with the other hand.
As far as depth goes it doesn't matter, either way you need enough water to stop it going "bonk" on the ramp.

[PB]

Thanks Noelm,
I'm reluctant to leave the Teflon skids under the cat hulls because of the damage they have caused and all the work I'm going to need to do to rectify it, last thing I want is doing repairs like this on a regular basis.
Changing rollers over is easier the filling and rubbing back!
I only use ramps to launch and if I need extra depth my trailer has a 10ft slid out draw bar.

Gday mate is that damage only in 1 spot or is it the same at every crossmember?

[Lovey80]

Thanks Noelm,
I'm reluctant to leave the Teflon skids under the cat hulls because of the damage they have caused and all the work I'm going to need to do to rectify it, last thing I want is doing repairs like this on a regular basis.
Changing rollers over is easier the filling and rubbing back!
I only use ramps to launch and if I need extra depth my trailer has a 10ft slid out draw bar.

any of those high density poly plastics are fine as skids as long as they don't stay there too long. I just replaced mine after 18 years also as they had gone hard and begun to do damage that would have ended up like yours. If you replaced skids every 8-10 years I think the boat bottom would look just fine once you finish the bottom with flow coat.

[frosti]

my plastic skids show no wear or damage to the hull what so ever

[Mupster]

Gday mate is that damage only in 1 spot or is it the same at every crossmember?
PB,
It's at every point the hull rests on the skids!

[Mupster]

any of those high density poly plastics are fine as skids as long as they don't stay there too long. I just replaced mine after 18 years also as they had gone hard and begun to do damage that would have ended up like yours. If you replaced skids every 8-10 years I think the boat bottom would look just fine once you finish the bottom with flow coat.
Loevy80,
Sounds like a plan! The White Teflon skids on the trailer are 27 yrs old and do look dry and hard, but the the cat trailers I looked at on the weekend showed gelcoat residue from friction and one was a very new trailer.

[Mupster]

Don't get me wrong fellas, I love the simplicity of skids but if it's going to cause this sort of headache I'm a little reluctant.

[Mupster]

Holding the boat to stop it rolling off with one hand while trying to get the winch hook off with the other hand.
As far as depth goes it doesn't matter, either way you need enough water to stop it going "bonk" on the ramp.
Thanks Fed,
I had that same problem you described with a mono Signature so all I done with that was start her up and put it in gear until I unhooked her!

[PB]

So am I right in thinking the damage is caused from the boat moving around quite a lot on the trailer while being towed and not to do with Loading and Unloading?
If this is the case you will need to use a soft polly roller if you really want to go down that path. The big challenge you are going to have is getting to sit low enough so you don't increase the overall height by too much.
The big problem you might find is if you don't fix the side to side movement you still could end up with the same result.

[Noelm]

I have found that older boats don't like skids all that much, not too sure if it's just the hardness of the skid or what, plenty of old Sharkcats with hull damage from skids, decent big rollers are no problems with loading or launching, and very little maintenance really.

[Dean1]

Last cat trailer i owned a few years ago had rollers (bought it that way and never got around to changing to skids) and it was a pain to get off the trailer. Didnt want to come off with motors in reverse and car wheels in the water from aggressively reversing!
Skids all day!!

[Lovey80]

Last cat trailer i owned a few years ago had rollers (bought it that way and never got around to changing to skids) and it was a pain to get off the trailer. Didnt want to come off with motors in reverse and car wheels in the water from aggressively reversing!
Skids all day!!

Wish now you'd done a precautionary skid replacement before you sold me the a Black Marlin lol. I got to it just in time before it started doing serious damage. All good now though, the whole bottom of the boat has new Gelcoat like a sheet of glass. I'll definitely have to lower the engines and put it in forward just to be able to get the chain off at the ramp.

[Mupster]

Started the trailer rebuild on the weekend. Cut the old winch post off that was bent and welded in a much better one. Re welded mudguard supports and straightened guards out.
Cut out two cross members that where rusted out due to poor drain holes. Welded in new pieces but lower down to allow no water or salt to be trapped.
Now for the steel wool clean down and wire wheel springs and axles, then under coat and paint.
New rollers and guide rubber is ordered so hopefully they arrive this week too!