Dunno how you dunkers do it!

[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 .

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