Trailering

[vette-ski]

Haven't read all of the replies but what I do is back in deep to get the bunks wet and then pull forward until about 2" of the wheel fenders are out of the water. The carpeted guides on the inside of the fender is what locates the boat side-to-side on my trailer. I'm also one of those that put it on under power. You'll have to choose the lesser of two evils for you. If you trailer deep, you can pull it up to the winch easier, but harder to get centered. If you trailer shallow, it will center, but require loading under power or a lot of winching. If I trailer deep and it doesn't pull out centered, the boat will be sitting on top of the carpeted pad or on the fender if it's way off. That's not a good thing.

Edited September 4, 2008 by vette-ski

[Killer]

I find most people don't load the trailer in the water enough. you should be able to load the boat on the trailer by hand without power. I back the trailer up regardless of ramp pitch, so that the bow stop is roughly at the same height, or a bit higher than the rubrail on the tip of the bow. then crank the boat a few turns until its rested properly on the bow stop and slowly drive out...

trailer guides are mandatory IMO and not only can you do some serious damage by driving it up, but you'll also scrap the bottom of the boat up pretty good...

I center the back end of the trailer (because the boat is floating) by using the 2 stern ropes I have handy, looping them on the stern tow eye and then around each boat guide, tying a knot in boat ropes so the boat is centre. takes all of 1min and its always perfect. this is of course if I launch by myself.

[NorCaliBu]

I back the trailer up regardless of ramp pitch, so that the bow stop is roughly at the same height, or a bit higher than the rubrail on the tip of the bow.

On the steep ramps at Englebright if I put my trailer in that deep the guides would be completely under water...that would not be good.

If the bow roller is sitting higher than the rubrail but the trailer is in deep enough that the boat isn't going to run up the bunks......doesn't the nose go under the bow roller? Maybe our trailers are different.

[Killer]

I back the trailer up regardless of ramp pitch, so that the bow stop is roughly at the same height, or a bit higher than the rubrail on the tip of the bow.

On the steep ramps at Englebright if I put my trailer in that deep the guides would be completely under water...that would not be good.

If the bow roller is sitting higher than the rubrail but the trailer is in deep enough that the boat isn't going to run up the bunks......doesn't the nose go under the bow roller? Maybe our trailers are different.

i don't like sinking the wheel wells, but I have to, so I get the bow roller as low/high as possible and I put the boat on by hand when I winch it up the few pulls it needs. the rubrail usual hits the roller, so you have to just pull it up a bit for the boat to roll on. if I tried to drive the boat on it would go under the bow stop...

using an elete SA trailer.

the ramp I use is steeper than most I've seen as it drops off to about 20' deep with the lake being over 230' deepest, so I can't imagine what this englebright ramp is like?!! any pics??

[Bill_AirJunky]

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.

Interesting. We bumped a 23' LSV about 2" over just last night. The guy loaded the boat & the bunk was on top of one of the chines. He dipped it back in & pulled it out a 2nd time & it was in the same place. So 2 of us put our shoulders down & scooted it over so the chines were below the bunks...... no problem at all. I would think that an LSV would be a lot harder to move than an Echelon.

[Sandbagger]

I like dropping the trailer in a little deeper for several reasons, the first is because I avoid scratches to the hull from forcing the boat on the bunks with power or winching and the second is because the rear of the trailer is deeper resulting in less chance of prop damage in the event the driver brings the boat in at an awkward position. I like to bring the boat onto the trailer at as slow a speed as possible. (I am still winching the last one or two feet with wetted bunks).

I center the boat by using my rear view mirror and seeing how far the hull is resting from the inside of the fender (about 2 inches or so for my setup). I pull out slowly and if I do not like the boat position on the trailer I just back in a little to float the boat enough and then pull out again slowly until the position is correct.

Has worked well for me and no scratches on the hull.

[jim05rlxi]

Don't back your trailer in so deep. Drive the boat on the trailer and it should line up every time.

i agree keep your front smaller bunks out of the water and just have your longer bunks under the water and don,t be a fraid to give it a little throttle i do it everyweekend only my extreme trailer has rollers and bunks it lines up perfect everytime

[zad0030]

Just drive faster over the train tracks, that will straighten it out.