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Air Ride boat trailer? w/dump valve


NHolladay

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I posted this pic on a square body addicts FB page because it was the only pic of the truck I had.  I launch on an irrigation lake that fluctuates dramatically and does not have ramps.  very shallow fall in grade, and usually if I do have an issue it is too flat and I end up swamping the motor to get it in.  One guy suggested I put air ride, with a dump valve and just drive in dump the valve and the boat floats off right?.

Maybe not that easy, I was thinking the draft is what matters if it is not floating then it would just fall with the trailer and not make a big if any difference.  Am I thinking right on that?

I have never measured how much water it takes to get off the trailer, but this may be a sweet addition.  not to mention the benefits of an air ride system less baring on the boat, in this price range 100k+, it cannot be that big of a stretch to add air ride.

I have bags on my truck so I could the into that system to provide air.

 

BTW, I just fell in a hole this is typically not what happens and I fully realize there is no reason to be as deep as I am in this pic.  It was kind of fun though.

32248.jpeg

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Holy crap that’s way too deep. Looks like a few “boat launch fail” YouTube videos I’ve seen. That can’t be good for the truck. I’ve launched tons of times on a ramp at low tide with very little grade and I’ve never had to be that far in. Typically having the fenders just below the waterline is enough

Edited by svnfightsvn
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28 minutes ago, svnfightsvn said:

Holy crap that’s way too deep. Looks like a few “boat launch fail” YouTube videos I’ve seen. That can’t be good for the truck. I’ve launched tons of times on a ramp at low tide with very little grade and I’ve never had to be that far in. Typically having the fenders just below the waterline is enough

I know it looks bad, but it was a hole the ads end fell into.  like I said I know that I want opinions on air ride.  thanks though.

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I guess you could do air lift with torsion bars but to get the desired effect, you'd have to reduce the tension on the bars so the bags hold the weight so it could then be lowered. Interesting project, not sure how much it will give you though, maybe 3" of travel??

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I'm not sure that you could really implement air bags on one of these trailers, or that it would even solve your problem. I lowered my 2012 Boatmate trailer about 1.25" by re-indexing the axle trailing arms on the splined torsion shaft. This allowed me to get it into my garage without letting air out of the tires.

That is about as low as I could go without having the tires bottom out in the fenders from bumps while towing. I would guess you could only go about an inch or so lower than that before the tires bottom out while stationary. I haven't noticed any difference with how easily the boat launches at the ramp with the lowered height, I think you would have to do some drastic changes to the trailer construction for that to happen.

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1 hour ago, Falko said:

I guess you could do air lift with torsion bars but to get the desired effect, you'd have to reduce the tension on the bars so the bags hold the weight so it could then be lowered. Interesting project, not sure how much it will give you though, maybe 3" of travel??

Would the torsion bars even be required anymore. The air ride replaces the springs in most applications.

 

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2 hours ago, kerpluxal said:

Would the torsion bars even be required anymore. The air ride replaces the springs in most applications.

 

No they really aren't required, except that is the way the torsion axles work. They are the axle, sort of. You can't really get rid of them.

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air ride would be sweet for highway  but not practical for launching  at  max you might get 3"  and the would ride horrible    i would suggest extending your toung

Edited by robertstone9
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