Help keep my car out of water !

  • Thread starter Edward Steenstra III
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Edward Steenstra III

Need to devise a way of keeping car out of salt water at boat ramps. Strap system perhaps or bar with ball at one end and receiver at other? Don't want to cut trailer up for a tongue extension. Thoughts are a vang type arrangement 5 to 1, the bar idea, or something you may suggest. Car is '98 Maxima, auto tranny, 6 cyl, boat is new Hunter 216, aprox. 1200 to 1500 lbs.. Any and all ideas will be appreciated, thanks in advance!!! ED
 
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Ed Allen

steeper ramp

You need to use a steeper boat ramp or you need to make and expenstion for the trailer. In hawaii on a shallow ramp they had long poles made up to hook between the car and trailer. some were pipe and some were steel beams but it takes two men and a boy to hook one up and then the trailer wheel wont work very well to steer it. backing it up is a bear so they had hitches on the front bumper to help that. all in all id look for a hoist or a steeper ramp if it were me.
 
B

Bill O'Donovan

Alternative

Borrow a dude's 4x4 truck at the ramp and toss him a six-pack as thank-you.
 
K

Ken Cobb

Agree, new ramp

As a former trailer sailor, I say don't go for any time-consuming gimmick like a trailer extender. Remember, to make trailer sailing work, you need to be able to launch and recover quickly and repetitively, or else you will gradually sail less and less because it is too hard to do. My tow vehicle was a car much like yours, and I found on a normal ramp that the rear two-thirds of my boat became water-borne at the moment when my rear car tires were in water just to the bottom of the hubcaps. The bow was still dry, on the forward roller of the trailer. Then I would winch out the bow line, allowing the boat to be pushed back so that the bow was in the water, too. For recovery I did everything in reverse, winching the boat the last foot or two to the front roller of the trailer. A steeper ramp is the only good answer with your car as the tow vehicle.
 
J

Joe Boyette

get an old pickup truck -

- that can be used to launch. They come in handy for many other things...
 
B

Bob

Go to the trailer sailer archives and

search the entry for "check out this cool trailer mod" from February of this year. It's a pretty neat tongue extender that simplifies the process. I used to allow about 10 feet of slack in a line tied to my trailer and to my tow hitch, then uncouple the hitch and let the trailer roll back into the water, backing up the truck as necessary. Worked great for launch and retrieval, just took about 10 minutes longer. I now have a bigger boat and trailer and a 7' tongue extender, and it's more of a hassle.
 
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