How to transfer a boat to a new trailer?

[Poodroo]

Hello fellow Ausfishers, I am doing this thread on behalf of my brother who has a new trailer ready to be picked up. We haven't really come up with a concrete plan as to how we are going to get the boat off the old trailer and onto the new one smoothly. I have put in a couple of ideas but there are always a couple of floors in these ideas. I suggested to use two tow vehicles (mine and his) to get the boat into the water and then simply pull it slowly onto the new trailer but my brother said that whilst this is a good idea it will hold everyone up on the ramp while we stuff around adjusting rollers etc.(Fair comment)
Would be good if we had access to a huge crane and sling so we could suspend the boat in mid-air and simply back the new trailer under it and lower the boat down slowly but we don't know anyone with that sort of equipment. Main concern is getting the boat off without damaging transoms and transducers etc. The boat in question is a 15ft. Mustang fibreglass. Any ideas out there? Would love to hear them. Regards,

Poodroo

[Grand_Marlin]

if you cant do it at the ramp, which i would thoroughly recommend you do...then drop it on tyres on your front lawn... then winch the new trailer under the boat ( dont drag the boat up the trailer)

cheers

pete

[newchum]

poodroo, i have a haines V19R i took it off it's trailer by letting it back onto tyres as i drove away. when i had finished putting new roller setup on i backed the trailer under while winching the boat onto the trailer. i then adjusted the rollers. i also loaded the back of the Ute with the heaviest items i could find this included a 2h engine block. took three people to carry this out with no injury to people or damage to the boat or trailer
rodney

[Feral]

Yep drop boat onto 13" tyres (easier to dispose of later ;) ) on lawn.
Have trailer free (not attached to car).
Push it up to front of boat.

Set rear roller at lowest height that allows it to still turn. Adjust rest of centre rollers in straight line to the front.
adjust skids / free rollers so it looks like hull will clear mudguards on trailer
Start winching, the trailer will pull under the boat.
If you have skids on new trailer, winch on only far enough to see where skids will go, adjust left and right as necessary
Slowly winch whilst watching trialer frame under front of boat and guards to make sure you have at least 1" of clearance at all times.

If at any time you dont have clearance, loosen winch rope stand on trailer and gently push, trailer should roll out from under boat. Re-adjust rollers / skids as necessary.

Once it is all on crawl underneath and have a look. Adjust skids so boat is sitting flat on them, also make sure boat is level or slightly lower at back. loosen high rollers slightly, and let boat settle onto low rollers, and tighten. Make sure rear of boat is an inch or two overhanging rear of trailer, then adjust winch post so front of boat is snug against stop or roller.

Check balance of boat on trailer, if you have an adjustable axle, chuck you wives bathroom scales under the coupling, you want no more than 50 kilo's down weight (unless you have a heavly boat, and a heavy duty tow bar, then no more 120kg). If it is heaver, move the axle forward one notch at a time until weight on coupling is ok.

Then when finished chuck old tyres in 250 litre wheelie bin ;D and go fishing, checking launch and retrieval is ok at ramp.

[griz066]

Just did this very thing with my boat.

For a glass boat you must have side rollers not skids.

If you have a shed 2 endless chains(block & tackle) a few good ropes and a spirit level you are set.

All I did was positioned boat in shed hooked a sling under motor to chain 1 and hoked a sling through the eye on the front to chain 2 and took up the slack. I used rope slings 10mm anchor rope trippled held the weight no problems at all.

Take off all the tie downs you have holding the boat to old trailer and slowley winch it up end for end a bit at a time till you clear the trailer. I only had to lift mine 150mm.

Pull old trailer away and position new trailer under boat disconnect from car and fine tune the position by hand. Set the winch post first so that the boat sits on the rear rollers correctly and does not hang over the back of the trailer too much and is not too far forward, tighten winch post.

Now hook up the winch cable and snug bow into the v block or roller on winch post.

Using the spirit level check that she is level across the width of the boat, if not tie a rope from the tow hook to something, pull it level and tie it off. Now level up the length as well using the endless chains, I left mine about 50mm lower at the stern (not sure if good or bad but figured it would come off a little easier that way).

Now that you are level adjust the keel rollers to touch the keel, let the boat down a little so you cant turn the keel rollers at all, this ensures that the weight is on the keel rollers. Now you adjust the side rollers up to touch the hull and yibida yibada thats all folks.

Take all the weight off the endless chains and refit tie downs and you are away.

Hope this helps, if you dont have a shed 2 large trees would be ok as well, or anything that is the right distance apart.

Good luck.

[marlinqld]

Do it at a ramp IMHO. Surely there is a time when your local ramp isnt very busy?


Cheers


Mike

[steveg1100]

Ok guys when you see him at the ramp swapping trailers I don't want to see any abuse or threads on ramp rage again.

[mickstar001]

Agree with Marlin Mike, I'd be going down the ramp mid-week at midnight ;)

[Willdoe]

Dropped my 14' 6'' Haines onto a piece of old carpet on the lawn on the weekend to repair rollers.
My recommendations for this method other than what has been mentioned previously are;

Make sure you have room so the boat, trailer and vehicle are in a straight line when you start to winch it on.

Make sure the keel rollers on the new trailer are high enough so you don't foul the mudguards.

[Duyz72]

Choose a weekday, go fishing on the day you want to swap it over, launch as per usual, come back later and load up on the new trailer.
Should be quiet enough to stuff around for a bit in one lane on a 2 lane ramp.

[Spaniard_King]

Stuff the people at the ramp, tell em whats goin on surely it wont bother them

Garry

[Poodroo]

Thanks for the replies people. I am inclined to think that getting the boat off the trailer into the water is the easiest option too. Perhaps we should contemplate finding a ramp somewhere that rarely gets used so that there wouldn't be any ramp rage. Bottom line is I will be helping my brother regardless and will go with whatever he wants to do and how he wants to do it. Regards,

Poodroo

[marlinqld]

Ditto Garry.

BAck the old trailer down with the boat on it. launch the boat and immediately take the old trailer off the ramp.

Back the new trailer down and retrieve the boat.

Wont take more than 5 or 10 minutes..... i doubt soemone would get the irrits about it.....especially if done either very early or late afternoon, especially if its blowing and nobody goes out.


Mike

[fishing_mik]

mate do it at the boatramp midweek it doesnt take that long to do me and a mate did it to the old mans boat took about 40 min .we slid it off the old trailer put it on the new trailer got it out of the water then pushed all the side rollers up to the hull (the ones in the middle were spot on) then we put the boat back in the water then we lifted the side rollers up just a tiny bit more so ther was a bit more pressure on them put the boat back on trailer to check all she was all spot on

cheers mik

[marlinqld]

even better if you get a multi lane ramp

Raby Bay, William St Cleveland has 4 lanes.

Or try Wello Point, you could use the old ramp on the Northern side of the jetty at high tide, as it never gets used, But has to be high tide due to rocky nature of the bottom.


Cheers Mike

[krazyfisher]

use two cars one with the boat on drop it in to the water. drive the boat away from the ramp, when he returns with the other car with the new trailer put it on adjust all roller too high. than park out of the way somewhere and you can than slowly loosen the rollers and they will come down and the boat will sit in place final adjustments can be made latter.
this way will affect others the least.
But if it was me I would also try and do it on a windy day... shouldnt be too hard to find one of those

[Great_White]

Get some mates over to help, a few beers later GOOD AS GOLD. ;D ;D ;D

But the best Idea would be new trailer on Brian's car empty boat on his old trailer on your car and off to the nearest water (Logan River) :D :D :D

You come back with the empty old trailer and Brian has the new one with the boat on it ;) ;) ;)

Peter :)

[Poodroo]

Get some mates over to help, a few beers later GOOD AS GOLD. #;D ;D ;D

But the best Idea would be new trailer on Brian's car empty boat on his old trailer on your car and off to the nearest water (Logan River) #:D :D :D

You come back with the empty old trailer and Brian has the new one with the boat on it #;) ;) ;)

Peter #:)

Hey there Peter. Well you have almost got it right. Brian has a plan and it involves a mate and beer. (See if you can work out who it is) ;D ;D He will be in touch. ;D ;)

Poodroo

[Herm]

OR.......

Take the 2 cars one with boat on the old trailer and one with the new empty trailer, put the boat in.

Head off for a fish! :)

Come home, having bagged out, of course! ;)

Drive the boat onto the new trailer! :D :D :D

Cheers
:)Janine

[Scalem]

It's all a great guessing game isn't it? #Have you all worked it out?? #Who is the brother with the trailer woes?? ::) ::) ::)

Thanks Droo for raising this post, it was a great idea, and I have read everyone's suggestions. #This is the plan - I don't fancy the boat ramp idea for two reasons. #

1. I hate being rushed for whatever reason, boat ramps, and even if I find a two lane ramp that's not too busy, there's always someone who thinks you have no right to hog a lane for a longer than 5 min period of time. #Yes I know I should ignor it, but any form of pressure may lead to making a mistake - resulting in damaged gelcoat or even worse. #I think a tinnie is far more forgiving in which case I would do it by floating off and on.

2. Who fancies crawling under a half submerged boat trailer to adjust rollers? #Not this little black duck that's for sure! #I know I could get the boat on basically, and adjust the rollers up accurately once I pull it out of the water, but there is a small amount of risk involved here if I have not carefully measured the right fit as far as roller postioning and weight is concerned.

I have some old tyres, I need a bit more room around a bigger yard ::) ::) where I can methodically back the boat off the old trailer, then while a couple of mates steady the boat, ( possibly the fairer sex will be there too to give their assessments, second by second, inch by inch, cocktails in hand ;) ;) ;D ;D) reverse the new trailer slowly under the boat, checking roller alignment for height to #the mud guards, then side roller alignment to the chines, ensuring the side rollers don't carry any/minimal weight until after the boat is fully on the trailer. #I will take basic measurements before starting to make the tranfer.

That's the plan Stan, and I thank everyone for the advice on this thread. #It's helped me formulate this plan, I don't want to stuff it up, It makes me nervous to think I could cause more expense if not approached correctly..... but slowly slowly is the go.

And I appreciate the suggestion of having the trailer off the car and whinching it on. The reason is obvious if you think that the trailer will then tilt slightly as if on a sloping boat ramp. Just how much it will tilt I don't know, so long as I can still reach the whinch it should be OK...

Scalem

[Scalem]

I picked up the new trailer today!! :o :o :o :o

[Scalem]

Try again!

[PinHead]

Franna crane..about $125 / hour

[Great_White]

Very swish!!!!! :)

[Adamy]

Hi Brian shes a beauty mate!! But you know you cost Droo a fishin trip with yours truly last Saturday... Bugger for both of us... I didnt go the early option either and missed out!!

Anyway mate if you need a hand - let me know... I had it done to my boat and your plan is the way to go... and yes the trailer will tip up - DONT be standing over the top of it as you're winding it back up because if it tips up faster than expected you could cop a trailer hitch under the chin. NO it didnt happen to me... :P but I was warned about it.

Oh... and the guy that did mine used a chain to tie the back end of the boat (to motor) to a pole (a fence post will do) and gradually (i.e VERY slowly) drove the trailer away from the boat which slowly dropped the boat onto the tires.... have to adjust and readjust tires as needed. Dont forget to have the outboard raised to full tilt.

If you dont need a hand - good luck!!

Adam

[a_big_red_1]

poodroo, do you know anyone that has a 2 post car hoist?
a very simple way of changeing trailers on a boat and adjust all the rollers

Daz

[Poodroo]

poodroo, do you know anyone that has a 2 post car hoist?
a very simple way of changeing trailers on a boat and adjust all the rollers

Daz

Daz if I did know someone with hoists this thread wouldn't have existed because there would be no doubt in my mind how we would be doing the transfer. Would make it easier and safer I think.

Brian I love the trailer pic. As Peter said, very swish indeed. I think you need to put a newer looking boat on it now to have a matching set. :D :D ::)

Poodroo

[Scalem]

Brian I love the trailer pic. As Peter said, very swish indeed. I think you need to put a newer looking boat on it now to have a matching set. :D :D ::)

Poodroo
[/quote]

Yes yes, steady as she goes, maybe I can do some major whining to the other half in a few years time, and find something drastically wrong with the old Mustang to substantiate replacing it, but for now I think I want to stay married. ::) ::) It floats doesn't it? Although last time I let you put the bungs in, and the ol girl got a severe testing of just how well she does float!! ;D ;D No wonder she was slow out of the hole!! :-/ :-/ Still managed to put some distance on Pete however ;) ;)

Scalem

[Glenn_Woods]

Once the boat has been launched into water and onto new trailer, I'd drive to car/trailer park to adjust the rollers by useing the car jack. by simply placing the jack under the roller that needs adjusting, the jack can take the weight to be lowered or raised.

Woodsy.

[Great_White]

Brian , you would get no more enjoyment out of a new boat than the old stang IMO ;) ;) ;)

Bet you I get hammered on this one ;D ;D ;D

I forgot to ask who's yard are you planning on using ;) ;) ;)

Mates rates ;) ;) ;)


Peter ;D