Dunno how you dunkers do it!

[Getout]

I've never been a trailer dunker because I don't want to have to buy a new trailer and brakes every few years. A tandem trailer with breakaway brakes on four wheels costs a fortune!
With all the shite weather this year, my boat has been doing a fair bit of sitting around. On the last occasion that I used it, the trailer brakes had seized. Not the disc brake pistons, but the brake pads had rusted and bonded onto the discs!!
In the process of freeing them up by way of skull-dragging the trailer with the cruiser in low range, I tore the pads clean off the backing plates.

Today, I had the chance to pull them apart to find that new pads are required all round. cost =$140.00

I always rinse the trailer thoroughly in fresh water and it lives in a shed. There is no sign of rust apart from the disc drums.
I know I shouldn't have put it away wet but with all the wet weather we've been having it is sometimes unavoidable.

This trailer is just two years old.

At least the pistons are moving freely.

How do the dunkers keep operational brakes on a boat trailer?`

There must be an alternative to steel brake DISCS on boat trailers.

[FNQCairns]

Lot's of fresh water then never let them sit in the 'on' position, this will see them fine for months, they will surface rust and a scraping sound when first towed but it will clean up fast and as long as the slider/pistons are in good order they will be ready to repeat the process all over again.
Sometimes I will run slowly with the brakes on a little the first km from home to speed up the process.

This has always worked for me anyway, I am not scared of using some crc etc either but it must be burnt off some at the start of the journey.

oops just read they are brake drums, thats harder will leave that to those that deal with them, lot's of fresh water is still your only friend... i feel fo you I couldnt even get them to behave even when exclusively freshwater dunked!

cheers fnq

[jtpython]

I have to dunk mine and i wash down extremly when back at the ramp (social club members use wash down Facilitys) and Like Scott says not afraid of spending money on tins of INOX to spray everything down and my trailer is 2001 model
Cheers JT

[scrubba01]

How do you get a 2 tonn boat on with out dunking it? People who can't drive their boat on annoy me let alone some one who is going to winch it onto a trailer that is hardly in the water.

[Awesome]

Bainbridge technologies in Cleveland make bronze disc rotors for trailers. Calipers also I think.

[leezor]

I opted for full stainless discs and calipers with my new trailer and it is constructed from I-Beam aluminium.

[scrubba01]

I opted for full stainless discs and calipers with my new trailer and it is constructed from I-Beam aluminium.

What was the cost of the alloy trailer leezor?

[troy]

How do you get a 2 tonn boat on with out dunking it? People who can't drive their boat on annoy me let alone some one who is going to winch it onto a trailer that is hardly in the water.
There is a lot of boaties that prefer to winch there boats up for a number of reasons.
No need to get annoyed.
Troy

[Reel Nauti]

I've never been a trailer dunker because I don't want to have to buy a new trailer and brakes every few years. A tandem trailer with breakaway brakes on four wheels costs a fortune!
With all the shite weather this year, my boat has been doing a fair bit of sitting around. On the last occasion that I used it, the trailer brakes had seized. Not the disc brake pistons, but the brake pads had rusted and bonded onto the discs!!
In the process of freeing them up by way of skull-dragging the trailer with the cruiser in low range, I tore the pads clean off the backing plates.

Today, I had the chance to pull them apart to find that new pads are required all round. cost =$140.00

I always rinse the trailer thoroughly in fresh water and it lives in a shed. There is no sign of rust apart from the disc drums.
I know I shouldn't have put it away wet but with all the wet weather we've been having it is sometimes unavoidable.

This trailer is just two years old.

At least the pistons are moving freely.

How do the dunkers keep operational brakes on a boat trailer?`

There must be an alternative to steel brake drums on boat trailers.

So do you have discs or drums?

[leezor]

What was the cost of the alloy trailer leezor?

It cost me $5764aud which included Titan electric overide break away system and galvanised torsion axles, I brought this one in from the US a few months ago along with my Seaswirl.

[Spaniard_King]

I wash them heaps and the after a quick tow.. usually about 200m with several brake activations I lano spray em :)

[scrubba01]

It cost me $5764aud which included Titan electric overide break away system and galvanised torsion axles, I brought this one in from the US a few months ago along with my Seaswirl.

That sounds like a very good price should never have to replace it. I think I will be going alloy on my next trailer in the mean time I will keep coating mine in linseed oil. If you let it bake on in the sun it goes very hard and stays on for quite a while.

[scrubba01]

There is a lot of boaties that prefer to winch there boats up for a number of reasons.
No need to get annoyed.
Troy
Takes up a lot of time at the ramp. Should be taught as part of the boat licensing course.

[Scott nthQld]

Takes up a lot of time at the ramp. Should be taught as part of the boat licensing course.

And where did you come up with that bright idea? Launching/retreiving has nothing to do with safe operation on the water so why regulate something that doesn't need it.

[Mad-One]

So should patients and understanding

[danny412]

Sounds great to drive onto the trailer, but who was there to help you?? I am very new to this and drove my boat onto the trailer for the first time last w/e. The only reason was I had a mate I trusted there to help me. What do you propose I do when I am out with the wife and kids with no experience. Sorry mate but you're just going to have to wait.

Danny

[banksmister]

Try drilling a hole in top of backing plate and inserting some garden hose through it and fixing other end to box section of trailer.simply join to hose when u are ready to wash
Makes it easy to flush and u know your giving them a drink.
Has worked on mates boat very well

[Hamish73]

Sounds great to drive onto the trailer, but who was there to help you?? I am very new to this and drove my boat onto the trailer for the first time last w/e. The only reason was I had a mate I trusted there to help me. What do you propose I do when I am out with the wife and kids with no experience. Sorry mate but you're just going to have to wait.

Danny

We pull up at the pontoon and the mrs gets off.
The mrs then backs the patrol down the ramp (with a bit of trial and error, but she is improving)
I drive the boat past the rear rollers and she point left or right... Power it up and she hooks up the cable and winches the last 6" or so.
She justs in the car and drives to the carpark.
Being female isnt a valid excuse for being completely useless :)

As for dunking, I have no other option. Rear wheels 80% sumberged and it still takes a lot of throttle to get the big whittley off the trailer.

[UNCLE NUGGY]

Takes up a lot of time at the ramp. Should be taught as part of the boat licensing course.
only have small tinnies now that never get there hubs dunked,even with the old 5.6mtr tinny i would always winch on,geez that youst to take a whole minute or two.

it had to be dunked(then got half the local dam sprayed on the brakes & hubs)
cheers
UN

[finding_time]

Getout

Garry's advice below is spot on!;) He should be a mechanic!;D

Ian




I wash them heaps and the after a quick tow.. usually about 200m with several brake activations I lano spray em :)

[finding_time]

Ps.

I also find people who own trailers that are perfectally set up for driving the boat on, but for some reason insist on taking the MUCH slower approach of winching on annoying!

Fair enough if your trailer isn't designed for winching on, but if it is learn how to drive on and clear the ramp faster for your fellow boaties and accept that you have to do your bearings once a year( It's easy)!!

Ian

Ps. i drive my cat onto the trailer with out help and it's not real hard, i'm sure most wives can clip on the winch clip when the boat is on the trailer properly!

[scrubba01]

Sounds great to drive onto the trailer, but who was there to help you?? I am very new to this and drove my boat onto the trailer for the first time last w/e. The only reason was I had a mate I trusted there to help me. What do you propose I do when I am out with the wife and kids with no experience. Sorry mate but you're just going to have to wait.

Danny
When you drive the boat on to the trailer leave the motor in gear just ticking over, walk up clip the winch strap on snug it up, safety chain if you wish go back switch motor off and tilt it up drive out. Have used this method with 4.8m - 7m boats. Admittedly smaller boats do take more practice but as far as I am concerned it is all part of boat handeling. You don't cross a bar until you have learned the basics of boat handeling. Boaties are a pretty good crowd and some one will generaly give you a hand to clip it up if you are on your own.

Some people do have a good system sorted for winching up and can clear the ramp quickly and I dont mind waiting it's the guys who don't and take 10 minutes to clear the ramp that annoy me. But still I wait patiently.

I dont see how you can winch a boat up on to a dry trailer in any sort of reasonable time frame. I have had to do it myself once at a shallow boat ramp when i timed the tide porely.

[UNCLE NUGGY]

When you drive the boat on to the trailer leave the motor in gear just ticking over, walk up clip the winch strap on snug it up, safety chain if you wish go back switch motor off and tilt it up drive out.

mmmmmmmmm ,oh nothing just thinking???

[johnny roger]

mmmmmmmmm ,oh nothing just thinking???

yeah me too....:-/

[PinHead]

Takes up a lot of time at the ramp. Should be taught as part of the boat licensing course.

Are you saying that everyone that goes for a rec. boating license should have launching/retrieving as part of the course? Surely you are not serious on that one??

I do dunk both axles on my trailer and I do winch the boat on...my choice and that is how it is.

[johnny roger]

being new to all this, i was wondering...how far do you power the boat up the trailer? surely the gradient of the ramp plays a major role in this? leg of the motor and all that scaping on the ramp etc etc.?
John

[TimiBoy]

I went over this in detail with Bill Corten. I figure he knows his stuff.

Drive on drive off is well described below, with one exception. I now fit the safety chains while still on the ramp, before I drive away. Bill has seen a Gooseneck collapse before, with the nett result of the boat lying on the ramp. Chains will guard against that, and a faulty winch/cable/latch.

I know of a CC685 that ended up on the ramp at Maloolaba because of a failed latch. I nearly bought it. NEARLY.

I use a heavy stainless latch on my chains which takes all of a minute to fit.

Mate, if you are launching at Raby Bay or somewhere near that, PM me, and I will come down and we'll do a few. Then you'll be right as rain.

Cheers

[Hamish73]

What Timiboy said about the safety chain before you drive up the ramp is a given IMO, especially with clutched electric winches.
The mrs connects the quick stainless clip and the 3 way turnbuckle before she drives up the ramp.


Johnny Rogger: We power all the way up, sometimes I actually touch the bow roller under power, sometimes the mrs winches the last few inches. I tilt the engine (sterndrive) up until the trim turns into tilt, then back down a fraction.
The steeper the ramp, the less dunking is required.

[Getout]

So do you have discs or drums?
Sorry discs not drums. Drums would be a worse nightmare i reckon.

[Getout]

How do you get a 2 tonn boat on with out dunking it? People who can't drive their boat on annoy me let alone some one who is going to winch it onto a trailer that is hardly in the water.

Power winch and a low-slung trailer. Takes about three minutes.

I have seen plenty of drive-ons go pear shaped. When I was looking at used boats, I saw some horrendous bottom scratching caused by drive on mishaps. Saw a boat towed up a ramp recently, cockeyed on the trailer. It had to be relaunched.
Where I launch, in a river, there is a lot of current. Makes driving on a real mission. I drive to the trailer which has been backed down the ramp, hold it up to the rear of the trailer, while someone connects the powerwinch cable and commences winching while I tilt the motor and get off. The whole process takes a very short time.
It can be done. Sure a drive-on is the macho thing and is a bit quicker. I still take less time than many of the tinny guys and I don't scratch the buggery out of my boat and rust my trailer unnecessarily. And my bearings last longer.

The point of my post was that there must be a lot of boat trailers with inoperable brakes. Mine get looked after and they are still stuffed. They aren't stored in the "on" position (not possible on hydrastar system) and they get a good wash down after use. They don't even sit in the trailer park all salty because they didn't have a salty swim at launch time.

I'm going to look into bronze discs because I really want to have trailer brakes that work without having to be too fussy with them.

[FNQCairns]

How is your washdown procedure before storing? Best to attack it the same way as a car start at the top and work down if you do the trailer before the side and planning portion of the boat then all of the salt washes down onto the trailer and leaves people wondering why their trailer is looking crusty or rusty.

Since living in fnq I had no idea what a wet area was like, up to 6 months of the year under the boat was a muddy mess or a puddle the water table was so high, dries out for 4 months of the year and the trailer brakes took all this + the humidity + the constant wetting rain in it's stride, There could be a difference in steel rotor composition between brands also, very hard to compare apples to apples these days.

cheers fnq

[NAGG]

Sounds great to drive onto the trailer, but who was there to help you?? I am very new to this and drove my boat onto the trailer for the first time last w/e. The only reason was I had a mate I trusted there to help me. What do you propose I do when I am out with the wife and kids with no experience. Sorry mate but you're just going to have to wait.

Danny

Practice makes perfect ( as they say) ...... Practice as often as you can:)
I feel that if a boat can be driven onto its trailer .... then it should !

Corrosion & Salt water boating go together ...... you can limit it , with good a wash down & the use of fish oil / Inox sprays ........ but I doubt you can stop it all ( unless you are totally fastidious..... & spend hours cleaning down after each trip):-/

Nagg

[Donny Boy]

Takes up a lot of time at the ramp

We were all first timers or new to the game once.................Remember ????

For whatever reason.............. preference, or lack of experience in dunking, does it really take that much time out of a day out ?

[Donny Boy]

I went over this in detail with Bill Corten. I figure he knows his stuff.

Drive on drive off is well described below, with one exception. I now fit the safety chains while still on the ramp, before I drive away. Bill has seen a Gooseneck collapse before, with the nett result of the boat lying on the ramp. Chains will guard against that, and a faulty winch/cable/latch.

I know of a CC685 that ended up on the ramp at Maloolaba because of a failed latch. I nearly bought it. NEARLY.

I use a heavy stainless latch on my chains which takes all of a minute to fit.


Mate, if you are launching at Raby Bay or somewhere near that, PM me, and I will come down and we'll do a few. Then you'll be right as rain.

Cheers


Jeez Tim, I might take you up on that one myself, could always use some practice.

[TimiBoy]

Go ahead Mate!

I was having a chat with Troy at Wondall Rd Merc Dealer today, and asked his advice on what to coat the trailer/brakes with to minimise corrosion. His answer?

"Fresh Water. Anything else does a lovely job of sealing the damage in. Bung a sprinkler under it."

He doesn't even favour using CRC or similar on brakes. I will keep doing that, though.

[SeaHunt]

Well I dunk the trailer, usually most of it, sometimes the back tyres of the ute as well. :-X
When I get home I hose it all off with fresh water and don't leave the brakes on, I also now give it a bit of a spray with WD40 or similar because they did sieze up slightly once.
It never occurred to me that skull dragging it around with the 4B was the best solution though. :-/ A few taps with the hammer some WD spray sorted it out.

After nearly 6 years of dunking, I have never had to replace brakes or bearings, and the galv on the trailer still looks pretty good too.
One roller on the trailer siezed up and had to be replaced and I got so sick of fixing or replacing the lights I upgraded to LED Autolamps about 2 years ago and have never had to worry about them again either. 8-) 8-)

[Roo]

I have to dunk to get my boat in at my local, the ramp has a shallow gradient at mid to low tide phase so i even winch the boat off the trailer other wise when it tips off the end of the trailer the stern can bump the bottom of the ramp(engine fully tilted up).....it's practically flat for the last 2m of ramp. plenty of people use this ramp to drive on and off but the trailer design for mine doesn't suit. no rollers just skids for a the polycraft, i drove on once, went ok except themissus hooked up the winch strap but didn't have it locked in gear so when i throttled off she nearly got walloped by a high speed spinning winch handle, thankfully she had the sense not to try and grab it. Another time while waiting at the ramp, i was chatting to another fella with the same boat, he had driven on the last time out and whacked the ramp with the skeg, again due to the trailer design not being suitable.
I give the brakes(simple cable override type) a spray with Inox when i park the trailer after launching. Inox is a water dispersant so it won't "lock in the salt". it will encapsulate it but due to corrosion requiring the presence of Oxygen to occur, it can't while it is smothered in Inox. everything gets a good flush with freshwater at home and brakes left in the "OFF" position, Use chocks to prevent it rolling away. Inox up into the taillights (old style Bell type) keeps them from suffering corrosion issues too. I've got a 5ltr bottle of inox, had it for about 2 years, still have 4 litres left. i use a trigger spray bottle that came with the big bottle. cost about $60 bucks i think. worth it.

[The-easyrider]

Takes up a lot of time at the ramp. Should be taught as part of the boat licensing course.
I winch my 650 sealegend and befor that my 5.25 and a lot of the time just as quick or quicker than guys driving on plus i've seen some good stuff ups with drive ons

[Hamish73]

I winch my 650 sealegend and befor that my 5.25 and a lot of the time just as quick or quicker than guys driving on plus i've seen some good stuff ups with drive ons
I have always wondered how you winchers line your boat up and hold it on line, especially with some cross wind :-/
I had enough trouble when I have a 5m CC

[The-easyrider]

Same way drive ons do it bit of timeing and use the wind and current to your advantage

[ozscott]

Scrubba - I have a high speed 4wd winch to get my Vagabond onto the dual axle. I prefer it - I said somthing a bit rude here but changed it because I read your recent post that said you wait patiently anyway - well done mate :)... I dont take long. In cross wind I have 30 feet of remote control cable and just walk out and hold the old girl fair.

I only have mechanical brakes with loose callipers so I never have pad seizure problems. I use fresh on them when I get home. I recently replaced my pads, but the discs are looking good (they could do with machining, but they seems to work well enough without).

Cheers

[ozscott]

Roo makes a good point - I never park mine with the brakes on...always chocks of old railway sleepers and on the flat and that will do her.

Cheers

[johnny roger]

Ok so never having done a 'drive on' before, you guys tell me if this is a good and safe way of doing it, as i will be practicing this method soon......
Reverse trailer down ramp. pull out winch cable so it is 3/4 of the way down the trailer. then i would use a good rope that is secured to the gooseneck somewhere, and run that all the way down the trailer with a bowline tied on the end.
next, here we go....drive the boat up onto the trailer. with motor just ticking over, lean over the bow with a boat hook and hook onto the rope through the bowline. make fast onto the forward kleat. turn off the motor and tilt it all the up and secure. next climb off the boat and hook up the winch and start winching.
would this be the safest way of doing it? the rope is used as an added safety measure as apposed to the way some of you do it by getting out of the boat with the motor still ticking over in gear to hook up the winch.
John

[tenzing]

Just had the brakes replaced last week. Carbon fibre pistons and gal calipers.
This was a fraction of the cost of all stainless setup. (S/S quoted at $500 per wheel X 4 ) Leo at united Brake and Clutch did a Beautiful job. His suggestion on preventive maintenance was to let em cool a little if possible before dunking in the briny,(I Just cant come at the recommended 15 mins though Leo!)then lots of fresh water , and drown the suckers in as much inox as you can afford.
It is difficult to tell onlookers that your wheels are really not on fire as the inox burns off though.
Brendan

[Kevaclone]

Practice makes perfect ( as they say) ...... Practice as often as you can:)
I feel that if a boat can be driven onto its trailer .... then it should !

Nagg



I will never risk scratching the sh!t out of my hull by driving on
you'll be waiting for me to winch on every time
it only takes a a sudden gust or wave to have your boat gashed against the trailer
I've seen it many times' I've also seen most people take more than a couple of goes at getting the boat lined up with a bit of breeze blowing. All this takes much more time than just running the winch cable down, hooking it up and winching away

Kev

[Kevaclone]

I have always wondered how you winchers line your boat up and hold it on line, especially with some cross wind :-/
I had enough trouble when I have a 5m CC

The winch will always pull it straight, the trick is to have the winch cable just tight enough when first hooked on that it holds the bow in the first roller while you walk back to the winch handle, tide and wind won't affect it

single handed winching is easy


Kev

[Hamish73]

The winch will always pull it straight, the trick is to have the winch cable just tight enough when first hooked on that it holds the bow in the first roller while you walk back to the winch handle, tide and wind won't affect it

single handed winching is easy


Kev
for a small boat I'd agree Kev. A bifferent story trying to man handle a 6+ metre boat IMO.

With wobble rollers all you need to go is get the nose in a 50cm wide gap. If you cant do that, you probably shouldnt have a licence. (not aimed at you Kev, just a gemnmeral comment)

[bigtez]

My old man rigged up his 5.5m SeaRanger C/C so that he could drive on and off by himself. It had a fancy hook that would catch the boat when you drive on and it had a rope that you could pull to release the boat when putting it in. Unfortunately the hook failed due to a lack of use.
He also made skids at the back of the trailer to align the boat when driving on. You could approach the trailer from about 45deg and still drive on straight. Sea Link have since copied the design.
The boat is currently for sale in Cunninghams Marine's yard if you want to have a look. Its called the Lone Ranger, it was the only C/C made by Sea Ranger. For what is a fairly simple design it is incredibly effective.

Terry

[Horse]

People who can't drive their boat on annoy me let alone some one who is going to winch it onto a trailer that is hardly in the water.

I have spent a lot of time around boat ramps over the last 30 years or so and have seen a lot of boats trying to drive on boats onto trailers that were not purpose built or set up properly:-/ . The results were not good and in some cases held up ramps a looooong time more than winching would have :P .

Most new boat/trailer setups along with cats and trihulls lend themselves to this technique but to suggest that every boat should do it is pretty lame ::) .

I hope you don't get too annoyed waiting for me to winch my boat up. Perhaps if you took a couple of deep breaths and relaxed for a moment then I would be finished and on my way and your blood pressure won't get into the red zone>:(

Cheers

Neil

[tenzing]

Neil, While your point is well made , it does seem equally lame to suggest that a trailer that is designed for a particular boat to drive on to , at the right ramp and in appropriate conditions should not be used in the manner for which it was designed.
Son gets trailer in position , I drive boat on , He hooks up, We drive up ramp.
Cant get any simpler than that .
I dont believe you can winch up a boat faster than you can drive it on,
REALLY??
I'm with Hamish. Its not that difficult.
Brendan

[Horse]

Brendan, I would drive on your boat (in your avitar) any time as it looks like it is reasonably new and setup properly. Many boats are not so fortunate in hull design and trailer configuration

[UNCLE NUGGY]

Neil, While your point is well made , it does seem equally lame to suggest that a trailer that is designed for a particular boat to drive on to , at the right ramp and in appropriate conditions should not be used in the manner for which it was designed.
Son gets trailer in position , I drive boat on , He hooks up, We drive up ramp.
Cant get any simpler than that .
I dont believe you can winch up a boat faster than you can drive it on,
REALLY??
I'm with Hamish. Its not that difficult.
Brendan
so you must have the right ramp & the right conditions(sorry appropriate)ok i get it now.

[tenzing]

Brendan, I would drive on your boat (in your avitar) any time as it looks like it is reasonably new and setup properly. Many boats are not so fortunate in hull design and trailer configuration
Thanks Neil I appreciate that, and understand what you are saying. The boat is only 4 yrs old and I hope to keep it looking thaty way. Still and all it is a fairly big target to aim at and I'm sure that well set up combinations should be able to tackle it "in appropriate conditions".
Cheers Brendan

[tenzing]

[quote=UNCLE NUGGY;832569]so you must have the right ramp & the right conditions(sorry appropriate)ok i get it now.[/quote
Am I missing something mate?

[danny412]

Son gets trailer in position , I drive boat on , He hooks up, We drive up ramp.

My sons 4yrs old!!!

Danny

[tenzing]

Son gets trailer in position , I drive boat on , He hooks up, We drive up ramp.

My sons 4yrs old!!!

Danny
And Danny, I am sure that when He is old enough to drive the two of you will still be boating together and enjoying each others company as much as now.
I am also sure that he will help you retrieve your boat (or his) as the two of you will be able to manage it in the most efficient way.
I am grateful for the help I get From my sons . I've got four of them and no farm for them to labour on, so they come out fishing with their old man. I hope I havent offended with the earlier post. Not the intention
Brendan.

[UNCLE NUGGY]

tenzing,
no,
just making observation that at the same ramp with appropriate conditions always, it is easy to drive on to trailer.
cheers
UN

[trueblue]

Yep, what Gary said

lots of water, then spray anti corrosive of some sort on them

don't worry getting the spray on the pads, won't affect them. Just do some heavy braking when first towing the boat away from the house and they will be gripping just fine.

I dunk my dual axle trailer very deep (front axle is even under water) and it is now 6 years old and is only of heavy box section that is well galvanised.

no dramas. worst I have had is one brake caliper getting seized on the slide pin which took 1/2 an hour to strip, clean and regrease.

cheers

Mick


I wash them heaps and the after a quick tow.. usually about 200m with several brake activations I lano spray em :)

[danny412]

Thank you tenzing, I hope we all will be able to go fishing with our sons for a long time to come, at least we can discuss winching a boat onto a trailer not trying to wheel each other onto a boat.

Danny

[trueblue]

I will never risk scratching the sh!t out of my hull by driving on
you'll be waiting for me to winch on every time
it only takes a a sudden gust or wave to have your boat gashed against the trailer
I've seen it many times' I've also seen most people take more than a couple of goes at getting the boat lined up with a bit of breeze blowing. All this takes much more time than just running the winch cable down, hooking it up and winching away

Kev

Not if the trailer is set up correctly. I have a trailer that is not technically a drive on trailer, yet I can still drive on no worries.

I have 5 sets of centre keel rollers, but only 2 pairs of tilting rollers at the stern to hold the boat vertical on the trailer.

Because I don't have tilting rollers all the way up the guts of the trailer like a true drive on trailer, risk existed for driving off the centre rollers so I installed two timber skids withthe blue poly strips like used on tinny trailers. These don't actually hold any weight, but if I come on to the trailer crooked, they straighten the boat up before it deviates off the centre rollers.

The guts of driving on to any trailer is simply to get the bow onto the centre of the trailer just as you run up onto the trailer, and then if the wind or current gets you just steer the boat up and onto the trailer.

If you are going to scrape things by driving on, you need to look at some simple modifications to the trailer to eliminate that potential.

Cheers

Mick

[boats]

Hi
With all you experts around, can I get a bit of advice, please
Just purchased a Powerwinch 912 and originally had "studs" mounted on the trailer from a very cheap "Supercheap" Chinese winch [which I sold including the studs from the trailer - silly me].
Now I cannot find those same 3 studs to fit the Powerwinch [except Whitworths @ $50.00 or on the internet from o/seas for $19.00 US + P&H]

ANY ideas or nice suggestions

Mike

[Chimo]

Gee Mike your every where!!

Chimo

[seabug]

Hi
With all you experts around, can I get a bit of advice, please
Just purchased a Powerwinch 912 and originally had "studs" mounted on the trailer from a very cheap "Supercheap" Chinese winch [which I sold including the studs from the trailer - silly me].
Now I cannot find those same 3 studs to fit the Powerwinch [except Whitworths @ $50.00 or on the internet from o/seas for $19.00 US + P&H]

ANY ideas or nice suggestions

Mike

Hi Mike
If you mean the 3 locating pins/studs then try making your own.

I did by sitting the winch where it was to be used.

Carefully marking the centres of stud positions

Drilling these holes and tapping them

Buying HT engine bolts and grinding the heads of bolts untill they would just fit through tthe holes in winch base

Fit studs into base plate and tighten with Vicegrip wrench

Regards
seabug