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Trailering


WakeDaddy

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The bunkers on my trailer (Extreme) are lined up such that I only have about 3 inches to play with to get the boat lined up exactly right when pulling it out of the water.

If I'm lucky it goes on correctly, but usually it will not line up right and one of the ridges along the bottom of the hull (don't know the technical term Dontknow.gif ) is sitting directly on the bunker, so I have to back the boat back in the water and retry. Becomes frustrating and looks real dumb :( .

Does anyone have this problem or know of a solution to get it to line up just right?

I have tried taking everyone off the boat, or having the lone remaining person stand dead center of the boat, both with no consistent success. The other idea i have been working on is to use a pair of those elastic dock tie downs and hook them one end to the trailer guide and the other to the post where the ski rope attaches.

Edited by WakeDaddy
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I don't normally drive our boat onto the trailer like most, but I have someone hold the guide poles so the boat is more or less centered as I pull out the trailer. Make sure the boat is winched up all the way on the trailer before pulling out :)

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I don't normally drive our boat onto the trailer like most, but I have someone hold the guide poles so the boat is more or less centered as I pull out the trailer. Make sure the boat is winched up all the way on the trailer before pulling out :)

Yea, not a real fan of driving the boat on to the trailer, too many things can happen imo. I have tried having people hold the guides but that is usually a 50/50 kind of thing too.

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I don't normally drive our boat onto the trailer like most, but I have someone hold the guide poles so the boat is more or less centered as I pull out the trailer. Make sure the boat is winched up all the way on the trailer before pulling out :)

Yea, not a real fan of driving the boat on to the trailer, too many things can happen imo. I have tried having people hold the guides but that is usually a 50/50 kind of thing too.

One other thing is to make sure your rudder(or steering wheel) is straight not turned, that will make the difference in which direction it will want to go. I just figured that one out not to long ago but we got it down where once out of every 6 times it will be off and we just push it over while the bunks are still wet, it slides right back into position.

Edited by 68Slalom
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I don't normally drive our boat onto the trailer like most, but I have someone hold the guide poles so the boat is more or less centered as I pull out the trailer. Make sure the boat is winched up all the way on the trailer before pulling out :)

Yea, not a real fan of driving the boat on to the trailer, too many things can happen imo. I have tried having people hold the guides but that is usually a 50/50 kind of thing too.

One other thing is to make sure your rudder(or steering wheel) is straight not turned, that will make the difference in which direction it will want to go. I just figured that one out not to long ago but we got it down where once out of every 6 times it will be off and we just push it over while the bunks are still wet, it slides right back into position.

The rudder! :Doh: Thanks....

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I don't normally drive our boat onto the trailer like most, but I have someone hold the guide poles so the boat is more or less centered as I pull out the trailer. Make sure the boat is winched up all the way on the trailer before pulling out :)

Yea, not a real fan of driving the boat on to the trailer, too many things can happen imo. I have tried having people hold the guides but that is usually a 50/50 kind of thing too.

One other thing is to make sure your rudder(or steering wheel) is straight not turned, that will make the difference in which direction it will want to go. I just figured that one out not to long ago but we got it down where once out of every 6 times it will be off and we just push it over while the bunks are still wet, it slides right back into position.

The rudder! :Doh: Thanks....

:) I thought the same thing when I thought of it, when you drive it on it forces you to turn the wheel straight because your under power! Don't get me wrong we power up sometimes on steep ramps or if there is lots of current on the river but its hard on the bunks and the hull if your not careful!

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I power it on or just winch it up. It's a 50/50 split. When I winch it on, as long as I actually have to winch it from about 4 feet out, I never have a problem with it being straight. If I'm able to just turn a few cranks, then it has more of a chance of being crooked.

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I have the same problem with my Extreme trailer but actually only have about 2 inches to play with. What I find works for me is to have the trailer deep enough so that I have to only power it up the last 1 or 2 feet. I attach the winch then check the guides to see if the boat is centered. If not I am able to push or pull on the guides to center the boat on the trailer.

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It depends on how far off you are. if you are only about half an inch or so then all you have to do is just put on your tie downs, and it will slide back into place as you leave the lake. We did this for the first time not to long ago and the boat was right where it needed to be before we even reached the main road, about a mile and a half from the ramp max.

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I tend to agree sounds like you are backing your trailer in to far and the bunks are not being able to do there work. I put the trailer in till the wheel wells are just out of the water then I guide the boat in, as the trailer guides go by me (as the driver) I reach out and grab the guide and either push or pull to align the boat into place (do the find alignment). If the boat is not able to guide is way in its because the hull is not engaging with the bunks.

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I don't normally drive our boat onto the trailer like most, but I have someone hold the guide poles so the boat is more or less centered as I pull out the trailer. Make sure the boat is winched up all the way on the trailer before pulling out :)

If your doing this by yourself, make two figure eight ropes and loop over the guide to the cleat on both sides. this would hold it center or close enough when pulling out - our drive it up on a shallow load.

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Your trailer is too deep. You need to have it deep enough so that you have to drive or winch the boat up the final 2-4 feet. If you have someone centering it between the trailer guide poles you are hopeless, it will never work consistently.

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Just try and load it a little less deep - there is a fine line between lots of powering on needed, and having the back of the boat floating around too much. If you need to move the back of the boat around, the trailer is too deep.

What can go wrong power-loading? If the ramp has debris on it, then I could see that being a problem, but it isn't like you have to really POWER load it..

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Had the same problem with our boat when we first got it. I think the trailer was to deep. Now when I back the trailer in I back it down far enough the get all the bunks wet, then pull it out untill the front (top) of the fenders are out of the water a bit. I think I read that here somewhere. Wife drives the boat on the trailer and I winch it in the last 2 or 3 feet. At most a couple of inches of center. By the time we are out on the road its centered.

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Also depends on if you are in a still lake or in a river with a strong current; a river current will push the boat down stream. I personally idle the boat onto the trailer, but I never power it on; too hard on the bunks, boat, and the person hooking up the winch/innocent bystander if something were to go wrong and the boat takes off into the back of the truck. I would suggest idling it onto the trailer, then kill it and use the winch to pull it in tight. If a rib is still sitting on a bunk, bump it over a couple times with your shoulder, and it will drop into position. Technique over power tend to work best.

Best of luck.

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Also depends on if you are in a still lake or in a river with a strong current; a river current will push the boat down stream. I personally idle the boat onto the trailer, but I never power it on; too hard on the bunks, boat, and the person hooking up the winch/innocent bystander if something were to go wrong and the boat takes off into the back of the truck. I would suggest idling it onto the trailer, then kill it and use the winch to pull it in tight. If a rib is still sitting on a bunk, bump it over a couple times with your shoulder, and it will drop into position. Technique over power tend to work best.

Best of luck.

Even idling, the boat is going about 2x as fast as I would like. Unfortunately there is that fine line also of losing directional control if you are not in gear. My wife has been the expert and driving our previous boats onto the trailer - I/O and a Whaler before that, still dialing in the inboard. I have found that moving the boat in and out of gear as you get closer lets you slow down, but still maintain some direction. Basically, once the boat is between the guides, we let it coast in, then power up the last 2-4' once it is settled. That puts us on basically perfect every time. With the Ryan trailer, the fenders are about 1-2" under water.

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It depends on how far off you are. if you are only about half an inch or so then all you have to do is just put on your tie downs, and it will slide back into place as you leave the lake. We did this for the first time not to long ago and the boat was right where it needed to be before we even reached the main road, about a mile and a half from the ramp max.

I agree with this. There are factors such as current and depth of the trailer, but those can be out of your control. If the ramp is very steep or shallow, you may not have much control of how deep the trailer is when it is in position to load the boat. The ramp we mostly use is on the shallow side and I know the trailer isn't in too deep. It seems like the boat is more likely to go off center when it is power loaded. Maybe this is due to some prop walk when power is applied. I have found that by winching it on the last few feet, the boat always stays centered.

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If a rib is still sitting on a bunk, bump it over a couple times with your shoulder, and it will drop into position.

Spoken by a guy that loads an echelon... No way will my boat "bump" into position. Maybe on the ride home, but you can't just push it over.

Also- the discussion around idling it onto the trailer.. that isn't "power loading". I'm not suggesting you slam the boat onto the trailer.. :unsure: You ease it into position, let it settle into the bunks, bump it in and out of gear as it works it way up the trailer, and then just some smooth application of a little throttle, and you're up into position.

At no time is there a risk of the boat shooting over into the tow vehicle or squishing someone standing there... Dontknow.gif This is just a nice gentle scooch up the bunks into place

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If a rib is still sitting on a bunk, bump it over a couple times with your shoulder, and it will drop into position.

Spoken by a guy that loads an echelon... No way will my boat "bump" into position. Maybe on the ride home, but you can't just push it over.

Also- the discussion around idling it onto the trailer.. that isn't "power loading". I'm not suggesting you slam the boat onto the trailer.. :unsure: You ease it into position, let it settle into the bunks, bump it in and out of gear as it works it way up the trailer, and then just some smooth application of a little throttle, and you're up into position.

At no time is there a risk of the boat shooting over into the tow vehicle or squishing someone standing there... Dontknow.gif This is just a nice gentle scooch up the bunks into place

Plus1.gif It would take three men and a boy to get my boat to bump into position. I do it the same way Troy does it, and once or twice it has ridden up on a chine out of the lake. A mile down the road it settles in nicely.

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If a rib is still sitting on a bunk, bump it over a couple times with your shoulder, and it will drop into position.

Spoken by a guy that loads an echelon... No way will my boat "bump" into position. Maybe on the ride home, but you can't just push it over.

good point. I wasn't thinking about the big boats.

Also- the discussion around idling it onto the trailer.. that isn't "power loading". I'm not suggesting you slam the boat onto the trailer.. :unsure: You ease it into position, let it settle into the bunks, bump it in and out of gear as it works it way up the trailer, and then just some smooth application of a little throttle, and you're up into position.

I was referring to some people who idle it up, then when the boat stops on thr trailer, literally powering up onto the remainder of the trailer into position.

At no time is there a risk of the boat shooting over into the tow vehicle or squishing someone standing there... Dontknow.gif This is just a nice gentle scooch up the bunks into place

I've actually seen pics of a boat that ended up in the back of a truck due to accidentally hitting the throttle too hard when trailering. Not a pretty pic, and more prone to happen when powering too hard to get it into position rather than just winching it the last 1-2 feet. JMHO.

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What if you are at a lake that won't let you power your boat on ? We aren't but I have heard of this.

The people who power on their boat have wrecked the boat launch we go to because at the back of the trailer when it is in the water there is a huge hole 6 feet deep but about a boat length away from the trailer the lake bottom comes up to about 1 1/2 to 2 feet where all the "hole bottom" rocks and sand get pushed. A couple of Centruion owners that don't know the lake have wrecked props driving on or off the trailer. I only push the boat on and off the trailer and winch it up. Sometimes during the push I can hear rocks "dinging" on the prop / rudder. Drawback is after a long days riding it can get pretty difficult to winch the boat up with out putting the trailer deeper in the water. But you guys are correct if it goes in the water a bit too deep then the boat doesn't line up properly so I am backing in again to try line er up. Looks dumb but still better than damage to the prop etc.

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Also depends on if you are in a still lake or in a river with a strong current; a river current will push the boat down stream. I personally idle the boat onto the trailer, but I never power it on; too hard on the bunks, boat, and the person hooking up the winch/innocent bystander if something were to go wrong and the boat takes off into the back of the truck. I would suggest idling it onto the trailer, then kill it and use the winch to pull it in tight. If a rib is still sitting on a bunk, bump it over a couple times with your shoulder, and it will drop into position. Technique over power tend to work best.

Best of luck.

Even idling, the boat is going about 2x as fast as I would like. Unfortunately there is that fine line also of losing directional control if you are not in gear. My wife has been the expert and driving our previous boats onto the trailer - I/O and a Whaler before that, still dialing in the inboard. I have found that moving the boat in and out of gear as you get closer lets you slow down, but still maintain some direction. Basically, once the boat is between the guides, we let it coast in, then power up the last 2-4' once it is settled. That puts us on basically perfect every time. With the Ryan trailer, the fenders are about 1-2" under water.

Thanks for the info.

I guess I should clarify, I do drive the boat on to the trailer as described above (idling on by moving in and out of gear). Its when I see drivers giving serious gas to move the boat further up their trailer.... At that point you just have to stop and watch, it's like waiting for the train wreck to happen.

Seems like the consensus is that I am too deep. The lake I go to has a steep ramp, but I have been using as my guild the "V" on the front of the trailer where the front of the hull rests, I usually get that to just touch the water. When I attach the winch I only have to pull the boat up a foot or two but I know the back of the boat is still afloat when fully winched; this results in the back of the boat moving around as I pull out.

I will try the not so deep aproach.

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