Waterbuoy, we do fraser (waddy) with a 5.8 platey and a 609 stabi. No dramas for us as yet, fingers crossed. Couple of things that work for us that i recon make all the difference.
2m draw bar extensions
both car and trailer tyres well down
Both rigs have quick retreive surf winches (starter motors), takes about 15 seconds to get winched up. These are awsome. We put the boat nose on the beach, back the trailer in, hook up, take the tension up and get control of the boat in the back of the trailer, then we drive the trailer and attached boat back into the surf to get some water under it before we start winching up.
Be prepared to work in different gutters on different tides, often we go out of one gutter on a low tide but use another to pull out of on the high or vise versa. Be flexible, its often fine to mooch around in shore break looking for a slightly better spot in the gutter etc that can make life easier
High tide = not much hard sand to work with, the hardest sand is often under the water in the gutter so get the trailer back on that if you can.
If it looks really dodgy don't risk it, put the rig on the beach, pull it up the beach a bit and wind it on dry, hard to do with bigger boats but.
If you have an ok gutter and some hard sand to work with dont be afraid of getting the car and trailer back a bit to get some water over the trailer to help winching up
Push your ruts back out before you pull out
2 blokes is ok, 3 makes it 100% easier
This is what we have found anyway.
Scott
Can anyone show me some photo's of their extended draw bar setup?
What does the hinge set up look like that locks it onto the original trailer?
I'm thinking about fabricating it myself. So any other helpful points would be great.
Tight lines
Stop professional fishing... before it's too late!
Waterbouy, see pics below for the full monte, extension bar and surf winch. Unsure how big your rig is, but the way i look at it (based on typical fraser setup of gutter in close) is if your rig (loaded boat and motor) weighs less than 500kg i wouldn't bother with anything, pull it up the beach and put it on dry, 500kg to 1000kg i recon the extension would be handy and leave the boat in the drink, anything over the tonne the extension is a must if your leaving the trailer on the car and the starter winches make life much easier (particularly on the top of the tide and when its soft). Remember you could also set your spare up as a third wheel and run the whole trailer back into the surf on a stout rope Arrawarra style, that works fine to.
Scott
mmmm Arrawarra style haha its only for the 2WD cars beach launching or people who don't want to get salt water on their tyres
love those starter motor winches, was gunna but the evilbay electric winches won me over this time, there are dozens of diff starter motor winches at Woody head to get some info from
8 weeks till Fraser trip
cheers Murf
Nice set up there. Out Station would be sic if you had some photos of it attached/ extended.
I don't fully understand how the tow ball on the extension gets under the lock coupling???
Or does your lock coupling on the original trailer pivot 180 degrees or something?
Stop professional fishing... before it's too late!
What a great way to destroy your boat and car for a few shitt***y tailor.
You wont see me there
The boys aren't exactly after Tailor mate .
Waterbouy, where the extension attaches to the drawbar just behind the trailer coupling is a hinge, whole setup swings through 180 degrees, there's a ball welded on a little bracket on the side of the extension and this goes inside the trailer coupling once you swing it around.
Googarra, I love catching tailor at fraser
You have to have a beach launching permit to use cylinder or home beach on Straddie and you cannot use them on weekends and school holidays. I launch from the beach but have a tractor, but what the other guys say DO IT QUICK. And always use a rope and drag it up the beach no matter how good the gutter looks if you don't have much experience. And have a little wave under the boat to give a bit of a start of to help the boat get up the beach if it is heavy.
Dragging up the beach might work for the tinny guys, Don't think I would be doing that with a 6.5 glass job......
I have seen trailers with 2 poles vertical at the rear (as wide as the boat) couldn't something like that be used to hold the boat square in the ass with a small swell running on retrieval ??
They're the kind of Tailor im after Out Station!!!
Stop professional fishing... before it's too late!
Waterbouy, some really good advice here in these threads. After taking a boat to Fraser for over 20 years (without a extended draw bar) and launching both my old man's 6m plate and my glass 6m Mustang, my top tips would be..... Get the starter motor winch sorted out for a quick pull out of the gutter, time and time again you see trailers, as well as cars, spend too long in the water. With the waves going back and forward the whole lot slowly sinks and before you know it... BOGGED!!!!
The other thing I read which is important, is don't think you have to be in the same gutter all the time, be prepared to use different ones on different tides. Even if you come into the wrong one you often find you can drive from one to the other without heading back out to sea. Normally you should be getting your boat out at the top end of the gutter with nearly no waves as someone is handing you a beer.
Take your time, don't rush and you'll have a great time catching those red tailor
Tony