Sitting a little crooked on the trailer

[scuzzlebutt]

I was tired after sailing Saturday and had a nasty crosswind that made putting the cat22 on the trailer kind of a chore. When I got the boat on the trailer and pulled it out of the water, the swing keel was not in its bracket and the boat was a little bit crooked (just a little but crooked, not much)on the bunks. I was too tired to back the boat back in and retry and proclamed "screw it".

Is this going to hurt anything?

 

[watercolors II]

Not on trailer straight.

I’ve read a lot of blogs on how fellows load their boats and many of these procedures are far more damaging to the hulls than maybe your situation. Guys who do not want to get their tires wet and winch the boat up out of the water like a power boater or have to slam on the brakes in the parking lot to slide the boat forward on the bunks to name a few.

You will have to do your own evaluation on how crooked your boat can be without causing damage. With a swing keel the bunks carry the load of the hull and the keel is let down on a trailer cross member after the boat is recovered and out of the water but, a wing keel sitting on this cross member at such an angle that it lifts the hull off one of the bunks can cause problems.

Look at the bottom of your wing keel, is it sitting nice and flat on it’s own bunk or cross member?

Now look at the hull bunks, does the hull seem to fit the curves of the bunks?

Take a thin plastic ruler, can you slide it down between the hull and bunk many places as compared to the other side?

Placing a boat on a trailer without guides is a real pain!

Powerboat's have nice straight sides that allows easy placement of hull guides on the trailer but, the shape of sailboat hulls and keels really creates many problems on guide placement, one has to be very creative.

 

[piedpiperIII]

My cat22 is in the water year round now but when I did trailer it each time I had to make sure it was strait. Being that I have a wing keel and the ramp I used is very very steep a keel guid would have caused more trouble than help as I know the wing would get caught. When I had a swing keel I did have guides and they were nice, perfect laod every time. I have read that the keel takes 60% of the weight of the boat out of water so my concern for you is that if you have a swing keel and it is not resting on it's support then there would be more weight on the hull then should be. my opinion , Alan

 

[Ray Bowles]

Trailer guide boards.

The trailer for my 1980 C22 was the standard Catalina factory supplied trailer. The way these trailers were built allowed a person to mount 2 2x6 boards at an angle running from the furthest back outside steel beams forward into the center of the trailer. These boards ran about 6 feet forward at about a 45 degree angle and stopped close to the keel. They guided the keel straight forward to the center of the trailer every time.
Now all you had to do was pull the boat forward on the trailer and it aligned itself into the center.
On my trailer the spare tire was mounted on the winch tower pulpit. I removed the tire and welded a 8" by 12" plate where the tire rested. Now I could stand on the dock while pulling the boat forward on the trailer. When it was centered and almost all the way forward I stepped onto the bow, crossed to the starboard bow side and stepped off the bow onto the welded step and hooked the bow eye on the boat to the trailer winch cable. Then you easly cranked the winch until the boat was all the way forward.
Step back onto the dock, climb back into the truck and pull your rig out of the water. It is actually that easy!
I am now modifing my new trailer and boat to do this same thing. I'm tired of putting on my waders to pull my SJ23 out of the water. Damn, I loved that C22.
Ray
Ray

 

[txtowman]

I wish you had some pictures!

 

[eddyguevara75]

that is how I feel about most of the post that I read..
since I don't understand all the terms.. I wish there were pictures...

-eddy

 

[scuzzlebutt]

No pictures were taken. If I was too tired to re-load the boat, I was definately too tired to take pictures.

Would it make a difference (i.e. take weight off of the rest of the hull) if I put some padding below the keel and lowered it on to the axle?

 

[piedpiperIII]

Doesn't you trailer have a keel rest? You say lower your keel to the axle, I would not tow it that way as the axle moves or at least it should? and that would beet the tar out of your boat. My swing keel trailer and a support for the keel and my fixed keel trailer does also. Was this trailer home made do you know? Any way I would not sweat it now but I would think of setting it up better for the next time, it would be a shame to damage the hull. Also some keel guides would keep the boat loading straight. I am going to search for some pics of my old boat on it's trailer and post them. Alan

 

[piedpiperIII]

I did find the pic but it won't help sorry and that boat is long gone. Alan