Centering hull on trailer tips please

[Asmodeus2112]

I'm busy scheming, but thought there might be some standard methods to this. Our new to us SSLX only has about 2-3" clearance between the bunks and the chines. Both times that I've pulled it out we had to back back in several times and try to hold the stern exactly centered while pulling out, or else it would be resting with a chine half way on a bunk. Wife and I were thinking of making some foam blocks of the proper space to put in between the trailer guide polls and hull. I was also hoping to move the bunk boards apart a few inches to make it less sensitive. Any ideas?

[shawndoggy]

drive down a bumpy road?

[Bill_AirJunky]

Don't be moving the bunk boards or you risk hitting the prop on the prop guard. Sounds like your too deep. Are you power loading or winching up on the trailer? Either way, the last foot or two the boat should be sliding the bunks as it comes up to the bow stop. In doing so, it should center itself. If needed, you can back in a bit & push the boat whichever way to center it. Then pull out slowly.

[RTS]

I certainly understand that you would like to get you new boat perfectly centered on the bunks before you leave the ramp, but it has been my experience that with a properly set up trailer, the first little bump I hit in the road centers the boat right up if it was off when I pulled out of the water.

[jwl019]

I only back the trailer down until water just barely comes over the top of the fender (single axle), and mine centers up every time with no problems. If I back down any further, I have that problem. On my old 97 SSLX with tandem axle, I had to leave just a little fender showing in the front out of the water. I guess a lot will depend on the grade of the boat ramp.

[kclakerat]

Sounds like your trailer is too deep

[Wakesetter67]

I use to worrie about the same thing, Just get it close, by the time I pull out and on the road it centers every time,

[apwrx]

We pull out slowly and it centers 95% of the time when it doesnt i can push the boat and rock the trailer a few times and it centers before i strap the back down.

[Steve B.]

I only back the trailer down until water just barely comes over the top of the fender (single axle), and mine centers up every time with no problems. If I back down any further, I have that problem. On my old 97 SSLX with tandem axle, I had to leave just a little fender showing in the front out of the water. I guess a lot will depend on the grade of the boat ramp.

Mine too exactly.

Steve B.

[dlb]

You are to deep. The trailer is a drive on, not a float on. Don't be afraid to drive the boat "up the bunks". It will center.

[obski]

You are to deep. The trailer is a drive on, not a float on. Don't be afraid to drive the boat "up the bunks". It will center.

[Asmodeus2112]

Awesome responses. I'm so excited to try it I'm gettin' the kids out of bed and we're heading to the ramp to give it a try. Not too deep: drive it on. Don't worry if it's not centered, it will down the road. Got it!

Edited May 3, 2012 by Asmodeus2112

[sabre]

I certainly understand that you would like to get you new boat perfectly centered on the bunks before you leave the ramp, but it has been my experience that with a properly set up trailer, the first little bump I hit in the road centers the boat right up if it was off when I pulled out of the water.

Agreed, if it's close when you pull it out of the water, by the time you get a mile down the road, it's perfectly centered.

[Nitrousbird]

I had the same problem when we first got our Malibu. Trailer is too deep.

The centering itself method won't work if you are doing what you are SUPPOSED to do and tying down the back end with the transom straps.

[Bozboat]

Drive on carefully, I crank the last two feet or so after somehow hitting the prop on the cage once.

[Ottomatic]

I had this problem my first year and I found that I was too deep make sure the front bunks have about 6 inches out of the water and it should center up!!

[Wakesetter67]

I had the same problem when we first got our Malibu. Trailer is too deep.

The centering itself method won't work if you are doing what you are SUPPOSED to do and tying down the back end with the transom straps.

I dont crank mine down I tighten them and it still centers itself down the road, Now we are only talking it's off a few inches or less, But the boat will still center even with straps tight.. 30+ Years of boating haven't lost one yet... Edited May 3, 2012 by Wakesetter67

[JB-FOOT]

Modern trailers on today's ski boats are FLOAT OFF and DRIVE ON style trailers....

Back your trailer in until the ENTIRE set of bunks and FENDERS are under water...(now your bunks are TOTALLY wet and not dry resulting in a much slippery bunk)...slowly pull back out of the water until a few inches of fender are out of the water....now the boat will be able to self center itself instead of you Floatin`and Hopin`, plus with your totally wet bunks... it will drive up or you can winch it up pretty easy (remember now why you TOTALLY submerged your trailer and got the bunks wet) See if this works better for you....

I personally am not a fan of driving any boat with it not correctly sitting on the trailer any distance other than the distance it takes to get it back in the water and do it over until you get it right.... You don't want it sitting too far left or right as it may have the water intake pick-up on a bunk or a center hull mounted speedo /paddle pickup on a bunk....neither of which are any good for the boat or the bunks... if a chine or rail in the hull, or the water intake pick-up continually scrapes the bunks carpet, it will wear it out prematurely and expose the wood bunk to the bottom of your gelcoat....Not good...

Also, make sure that boat FENDERS are TOTALLY equal in the amount they are out of the water, if one is out more than the other one. the boat can not self center very well it at all.....

hope this helps....

[rmarch]

When we load the our boat on the trailer it has become some sort of family (Son/Wife) challenge to see how straight it is on the trailer. After I back the trailer into the water and my wife is moving towards the trailer I can see my son teasing/hassling/directing her about what she is doing. He is 13 and this has been going on for at least the last 3 or 4 years. Since the stakes are high, here is what works the best for us. I back the trailer down until the bunks are completely submerged then pull back out until the fenders are an inch or two above the water. My wife drives onto the trailer and I crank it on the last couple of feet until it is tight. She then centers the rudder and I drive up the ramp slowly. Seems like it is always within an thickness of my index figure or so from centered. Then when I strap the stern straps down I will tighten the one that is the furthest from centered a bit tighter then the other. By the time we get home it sits on the trailer centered and there is peace in the family.

Edited May 3, 2012 by rmarch

[GreenMan]

This used to be a pain for me too.

My trailer has to 'forward' bunks that are relatively inboard. The rear most pair of bunks are outboard of the outer strakes. Originally, if the boat was centered, there was probably two inches clearance between each bunk and strake. This left scope for maybe four inches travel left to right for the boat to settle. Was often very off-centre.

One day in the garage, I just got under the trailer, removed the screws from the bunks and tapped the bunks inboard until there was barely half an inch clearance to each bunk and re-screwed them.

Works a treat, The boat lands between the bunks and is automatically centred. Too easy.

Edited May 3, 2012 by GreenMan

[nyryan2001]

I had the same problem when we first got our Malibu. Trailer is too deep.

The centering itself method won't work if you are doing what you are SUPPOSED to do and tying down the back end with the transom straps.

Nope. When the boat is off center on the trailer, ie slightly jumped track, you can crank those transom straps down till your hands hurt.. 10 mins down the road and a few decent bumps, the boat will likely have cenetered and you"ll have 2 loose straps with slack. Center is right, crank down the transom straps, and they stay put no matter what.

mine is a monster to get right, often very windy here in late afternoons, pulling out slow is NOT enough to fight the wind pushing the side of the boat over to one side. very tight tolarances like in the pics above, maybe an inch or so clearance in the rear bunks from the curves in the hull.

Normally I stay in the boat as it is pulled out, I sit on the sun pad with my hand on one of the guide poles and keep it at 4" from the rub rail as someone else pulls the boat up the ramp. thats what works great for me.

If I am trailering by myself, I get it on there the best I can, truck running, pull the boat just a little forward so it puts a little more friction on those forward bunks, I'll wade out to that first cleat, pull the boat to center, and then a little past that, then quickly hop in the tuck and pull it up. That seems to work best when by myself.

If its not windy, usually just having the bow strap real tight and pulling it up slow is enough to center it.

Edited May 3, 2012 by nyryan2001

[Asmodeus2112]

Thanks All. I'm glad I'm not alone in confronting this issue. Next time we're out we have some techniques to try out!

[Deephaven]

Pretty easy way to tell if your trailer is too deep. If you load the boat and can move the back end, you are in too far. The boat should not be floating at all, but resting nicely on the trailer. This way it will stay straight as you pull it out. If you do happen to be in too deep and are crooked to get it straight you have to push the boat back a bit, pull the trailer forward and drive it on. Sure beats fiddling in the water trying to muscle something around.

[wakeboarder3780]

I purposely put my trailer in "too deep". I don't want to have the possibility of hitting the prop on the trailer prop cage like I've heard happen to some other people. I would say 1 out of 10 times I have to back down the launch to get the boat centered (people in the boat handle centering by just grabbing one of the trailer guides and guessing where transom needs to be and push it to the correct area).

As I said they get it right 9 out of 10 times. Yeah I kind of feel like a jerk if we have to back down once but honestly even if we had to back down 3 times total I'm still faster at putting in / taking out than 85% of the people around that area because of practice. At the end of the day if you trash a 600 dollar prop because you were trying to be fast for someone else will you be ok with that?

I also don't like the "drive up the bunks" (aka powerloading) because the prop pushes all the dirt away from the edge of the pad. So when people show up with long trailers (me) they have the possibility of "dropping off" the concrete pad which blows tires (been there done that).

I know I don't agree with the masses here, but wanted to throw in a different opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

Edited May 4, 2012 by wakeboarder3780

[Asmodeus2112]

I purposely put my trailer in "too deep". I don't want to have the possibility of hitting the prop on the trailer prop cage like I've heard happen to some other people. I would say 1 out of 10 times I have to back down the launch to get the boat centered (people in the boat handle centering by just grabbing one of the trailer guides and guessing where transom needs to be and push it to the correct area).

As I said they get it right 9 out of 10 times. Yeah I kind of feel like a jerk if we have to back down once but honestly even if we had to back down 3 times total I'm still faster at putting in / taking out than 85% of the people around that area because of practice. At the end of the day if you trash a 600 dollar prop because you were trying to be fast for someone else will you be ok with that?

I also don't like the "drive up the bunks" (aka powerloading) because the prop pushes all the dirt away from the edge of the pad. So when people show up with long trailers (me) they have the possibility of "dropping off" the concrete pad which blows tires (been there done that).

I know I don't agree with the masses here, but wanted to throw in a different opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

Maybe there's a happy medium. This was never a problem on our previous SSLX, but this new to us one is a pain. We've sat in the stern and held the boat as close to centered as we could and still end up backing back in 4-5 times, which is embarrassing and would not be acceptable at a busy launch. We're going to try different techniques and hopefully zero in on one that works.