No trailer brakes

May 16, 2011
555
Macgregor V-25 Charlton, MA- Trailer
My factory trailer has no brakes. I towed with a Honda Odyssey for years with no problem. My pop up had surge brakes that would hang up. The tires exploded and caught on fire on Rt290 after a 3.5 hour tow from Maine. We were 15 mi from home. Cant say that I like them but if you need them maintain them. Dunking them in the ocean every weekend every weekend would take it's toll so still stock for now. Oh..and the new Tundra is better than the Odyssey.
 
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Bugzy

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Apr 9, 2019
22
MacGregor 26 Vancouver
Looks like it is fairly heavy at around 4600#.
The 26S is 1650 lbs and the trailer is 750 or so. I will see if they sell a hitch scale at our local canadian tire this afternoon so I can load the boat evenly. No more than 300 lbs downward pressure at the hitch, it is rated to 350 or 400.
A good suggestion to move things into the Van though, that should cut down the weight a bit.
 

Sumner

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Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country
The 26S is 1650 lbs and the trailer is 750 or so. I will see if they sell a hitch scale at our local canadian tire this afternoon so I can load the boat evenly. No more than 300 lbs downward pressure at the hitch, it is rated to 350 or 400.
A good suggestion to move things into the Van though, that should cut down the weight a bit.
My suggestion on moving weight to the boat wasn't so much to make it lighter as it was to make the tow vehicle heavier. The greater the difference in their weights the safer one is. I also change tires on anything that I tow if they are over 5 years old regardless of tread left on them. I currently have 5 trailers so this gets expensive but I do it. If I'm only using the trailer 50 to 100 miles from home I'm not too worried but on a longer haul an old tire is very likely to come apart regardless of the tread....

https://www.google.com/search?q=how...hrome.0.0l6.8646j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Sumner
==================================================================================
1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...

MacGregor 26-S Mods...http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/endeavour-main/endeavour-index.html
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, Bahamas
 
Aug 1, 2011
3,972
Catalina 270 255 Wabamun. Welcome to the marina
The 26s is likely more than 1650 if there’s anything at all in it.
 

Bugzy

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Apr 9, 2019
22
MacGregor 26 Vancouver
Just a few drizzles when we arrived at the sellers place this morning. He spent some time showing me how to put the mast up with the included winch and it started to hail. Temps plunged, but it stopped after a bit. Went to transfer insurance for trailer and on the way back it started hailing again, then it turned to snow.
Back at his place, we quickly completed the transaction and loaded everything into the van, then hooked the trailer up. The lights worked (yay). Pulled out, everything good. Did a quick check, all safeties on, seems fine.
Drove home no issues other than the odd feeling with the van and the boat interacting, one pushes, and the other pulls, will need to get the feel of that.
It took a few tries in the driveway to get it close to where I wanted. One issue is that our driveway slopes down, and the bottom of the hitch hits when I try to back up. Had to leave the boat pretty close to entrance. I may need to move it one more time since I want it over about 5 more inches and cannot think of a way to move it without reconnecting it. Need to borrow Superman for just a second. :)
Anyways, long story short, the Van had no problems pulling the boat. Now putting it in the water, and taking it out again could be more interesting with 2 wheel drive.
 
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chp

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Sep 13, 2010
418
Hunter 280 hamilton
Just a few drizzles when we arrived at the sellers place this morning. He spent some time showing me how to put the mast up with the included winch and it started to hail. Temps plunged, but it stopped after a bit. Went to transfer insurance for trailer and on the way back it started hailing again, then it turned to snow.
Back at his place, we quickly completed the transaction and loaded everything into the van, then hooked the trailer up. The lights worked (yay). Pulled out, everything good. Did a quick check, all safeties on, seems fine.
Drove home no issues other than the odd feeling with the van and the boat interacting, one pushes, and the other pulls, will need to get the feel of that.
It took a few tries in the driveway to get it close to where I wanted. One issue is that our driveway slopes down, and the bottom of the hitch hits when I try to back up. Had to leave the boat pretty close to entrance. I may need to move it one more time since I want it over about 5 more inches and cannot think of a way to move it without reconnecting it. Need to borrow Superman for just a second. :)
Anyways, long story short, the Van had no problems pulling the boat. Now putting it in the water, and taking it out again could be more interesting with 2 wheel drive.
I had a ford ranger 2 wheel drive. There was no problem towing, but pulling the boat up a ramp with the ballast water not fully drained presented some problems. Ramps can get pretty busy and to wait until the water drained was pissing people off. I still have a Ranger, however now its a 4X4. Never a problem now.
 
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Sep 24, 2018
2,549
O'Day 25 Chicago
Knuttle is spot on. Its amazing how big of a difference moving a boat 2" forward can make. I was hauling a bunch of equipment from Ohio to Illinois. The trailer was swaying quite a bit. I pulled over and moved about 100-150lbs of stuff to the front of my cargo trailer. It wasn't perfect but it was good enough to drive across two states
 
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Sep 24, 2018
2,549
O'Day 25 Chicago
Somehow I overlooked two days worth of posts. I have a two wheel drive xterra and havent had any issues pulling my Starwind 19 out of the water. My tires are ALWAYS in the water. I'm very gentle with the throttle. The previous owner of my boat has a FWD Ford Escape. He said it worked fine as well. Perhaps FWD would be better since the tires stay dry even though there's less weight on those them?
 
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Bugzy

.
Apr 9, 2019
22
MacGregor 26 Vancouver
Somehow I overlooked two days worth of posts. I have a two wheel drive xterra and havent had any issues pulling my Starwind 19 out of the water. My tires are ALWAYS in the water. I'm very gentle with the throttle. The previous owner of my boat has a FWD Ford Escape. He said it worked fine as well. Perhaps FWD would be better since the tires stay dry even though there's less weight on those them?
I am certainly tempted to give it a try. I would only put the boat in the water at high tide, to eliminate the slime on the ramp, which should make traction good, just worried about the weight thing, with full water ballast (1650+1200+gas+trailer+extras etc.), would really crunch on the trailer hitch, lifting the front possibly. Wouldn't that look funny, well, until the van rolled into the ocean anyways. I can just see the look on my wifes face as I turn to her and tell her to open her window and get out before she drowns. <lol>.

It must be possible to drain the ballast tank while in the water right? or no?
 

Sumner

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Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country
....It must be possible to drain the ballast tank while in the water right? or no?
It is quite easy.

We use a 12 volt air pump like above to blow the water out of the ballast tank while the boat is still in the water. Put the pump into the ...

... hole in the ballast tank and turn it on. We do this as soon as we are tied to the dock and getting the tow vehicle but you could do it just before coming in. Don't do it far out as the boat isn't as stable without the ballast in. In just a bit bubbles will come up along side the boat. Close the valve to the ballast tank and pull the boat out without the water in it,

Sumner
=====================================================================
1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...

MacGregor 26-S Mods...http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/endeavour-main/endeavour-index.html
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, Bahamas
 
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Sep 24, 2018
2,549
O'Day 25 Chicago
Going back to towing... If you feel like your boat is hoping all over the place on the trailer use a large strap around the boat and trailer. 1" straps dont do much. Those 10,000 lbs straps for semi's do the job. Hell, I used them to hold the boat upright while replacing a bunk! Regardless, the 2" strap made a significant difference. As a reference, my 19 footer needs a 20ft strap
 
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Bugzy

.
Apr 9, 2019
22
MacGregor 26 Vancouver
Going back to towing... If you feel like your boat is hoping all over the place on the trailer use a large strap around the boat and trailer. 1" straps dont do much. Those 10,000 lbs straps for semi's do the job. Hell, I used them to hold the boat upright while replacing a bunk! Regardless, the 2" strap made a significant difference. As a reference, my 19 footer needs a 20ft strap
I didn't notice it hopping, just lurching, if that makes sense. I see some trailers have a shock attached to the front to prevent this which would be cool. I wonder if there is one of those combined with hydraulic actuator? That would be ideal on a trailer.
I do have a large diameter strap though, bought it before we went to pickup the boat, but it already had one on it, so didn't bother. The one on there currently is a 1" one. :)
 

Sumner

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Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country

A very common situation with the Mac and the trailer is than you can pull the boat into the "V" block on the trailer, but once up in the parking lot you will find that the boat is back a few inches from the V-block as shown above. If you drive down the road like that the boat can hobby-horse up and down on the trailer which sometimes can be felt in the tow vehicle.

To get the boat into the V some people do the Mac-bump. They drive forward and put the brakes on hard and slide the boat forward. I am not a fan of this at all since it is a pretty uncontrolled situation.

I modified the V-block bracket so that it can slide fore-aft. I move it forward to retrieve the boat and then push it back into the boat once up on level ground. It takes about a minute with two 3/4" wrenches to do this. Now the boat doesn't move around going down the road.

More on why the boat won't stay up in the V-block on retrieval and how to fix it here...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor-trailer/trailer-mods-17.html


I also strap the back of the boat down, except when I forget :(.

Sumner
========================================================================
1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...
MacGregor 26-S Mods...
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, Bahamas
 
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AndyVS

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Sep 4, 2015
56
Corsair 31 UC 179 Port Sanilac
I also use an air mattress pump to pump out ballast. I don't like waiting for ballast to empty at a busy launch.
I have always had to do the Mac bump but last fall when pulling the boat for the season I accidentally discovered an easier way. When I arrived at the dock, I turned on the air mattress pump and walked to get truck & trailer. My adult son was still in the boat. After backing in and most of the water was out of the ballast, I noticed that as he moved the bow height would change considerably. I had him stand as far back in the stern as possible and keep the boat centered on the goalposts. With his weight in the stern and some ballast water sloshing to the stern, I would lift the bow a bit with one hand and winch with the other. When the boat was pulled out, no bump was needed.