Trailer winch and bow eye

[48dodge]

I'm still in the middle of getting my Oday 222 ready for paint and repairing the trailer. I have a question about how the bow eye lines up with the trailer winch. I believe it was off level a little bit due to a busted bunk and the boat not being quite centered in the trailer. Also, I would guess having the winch on level with the bow eye is ideal, but is there a little bit of wiggle room? The winch strap was at about a 30deg angle when it was winched all the way up. Do I need to get a new mounting platform for the winch? Thanks in advance,Brad

 

[Clark]

Brad, you do have a little wiggle room there. With that said, 30* is quite large

winch lead; especially if the winch drum is below the bow eye. That puts a fairly large downward force on the bow when it is near the winch and may put undue stress on the hardware and forward sections of the bunks. If the winch is above the eye, the detriment is not so much. Could you not just reposition the winch on the vertical support?

 

[48dodge]

May change after rebuild

I'm hoping the angle will decrease once I've rebuild the trailer. The winch is on a platform on the winch stand so there's not way to move it up or down. I may have to track down a support that allows some vertical movement if I'm not able to get it where I need it to be.

 

[watercolors]

Higher is better!

The winch pull on the bow eye must be level to a little up pull for your boat to stay tight against the bow chock on the trailer. If it is below level, the bow will pull away from the bow chock when the stern settles down on the bunks as you pull the trailer out of the water.When you float your boat onto the trailer the bow has to be lifted a little, the stern is still floating above the back of the bunks because of the angle of the launch ramp. If the winch is not at the proper height you'll never get this little lift on the bow when still in the water.

 

[Benny17441]

Remeber basics, you float a sailboat unto its

trailer bunks, you do not winch it. Any adjustments you do prior to start pulling out of the water. Under certain conditions you may not be able to bring the bow on to its desired point but don't worry the weight of the boat and the curvature of the bunks will keep it in place. If you try to slide it by winching it you may only succeed in pulling the U-Bolt out of the fiberglass. Slamming on the brakes to adjust boat placement is also unnecessary.

 

[Brian M H23]

Easy way to slide boat!

When i pull my 23 out of the water, often it is difficult or impossible to get the boat fully onto the trailer. The solution? A long, 10,000 lb tie-down strap. I go from the gooseneck, around the keel, back the the gooseneck. snug up the bow eye plus a few clicks, nothing ridiculous. winch the tie strap tight (nothing will happen). Then- the magic! Pull on the tie-strap SIDEWAYS (like a bowstring) with just you arms (a quick jerk is good) and the boat will slide forward under immense force, with very little effort! continue tightening and repeating as many times as necessary.

 

[Joe11688]

Getting the bow against winch stand roller

A friend of mine has come up with an idea on how to keep the bow up against the roller on the winch stanchion of a bunk trailer when you pull it up the ramp. We've all experienced the problem of getting the boat up the ramp and discovered that the bow is about 2 or 3 inches away from the roller. This as you all know, is because the trailer is on a down hill pitch on the ramp, and the boat is floating. Consequently, the bow eye is lower than it would be in relation to the winch and bow roller when it's on level ground. So my friend Wayne took an ordinary hydraulic bottle jack, and drilled and tapped the top for a bolt and attached a roller bracket to be attached to the trailer under the bow. The only down side is that you must get into the water to jack up the bow so that the winch cable and bow eye will be in the right place before you pull the boat up the ramp. This rig seems to work. Maybe he's hit on to something. I'm going to wait until he gets it perfected, then I'm going to build one. It sounds quite plausible to me though. Think about it. When you pull your boat out of the water, the bow eye comes up as the hull starts to sit down on the bunks, but because of the angle of the winch stanchion along with the keel hitting the keel board on the trailer, the bow never gets up against the roller. But what if the bow is raised a little before you pulled the boat out of the water?Joe

 

[caguy]

The Macgregor bump still works for me.

Liquid rollers helps.

 

[Dennis]

Getting the bow into the bumper

I find that if the boat is pulled up into the bumper, and then you go aboard and drop your keel down onto the trailer, it no longer pulls the bow back when you leave the water......... It is that counter weight that pulls the bow 2 to 3 inches away from the bumper!! At least that is how it is in my case.... Might work for someone else too...... I have a V222!

 

[Joe11688]

You probably have something there--

Dennis, I think that you are probably right about that. It's possible that the keel being at an acute angle of the trailer's keel board, might be getting caught on it, and not sliding forward on the board when you pull the boat out of the water. I'm going to try using something like a Formica on my keel board so that the keel will slide. What is happening is that when get aboard, your weight may be getting the keel to slide forward. They sell some kind of white plasticy stuff that is used to prevent chafing on docks and pilings, but a friend of mine has been using Formica and adds grease to it. This may be a better cure for this problem than getting in the water and operating a bottle jack. Thanks for pointing this out. I'll give it a try.What are liquid rollers?Joe

 

[48dodge]

Oday 222

Not much weight with the Oday 222 centerboard, so I don't think it'd help me out a whole bunch. Anyway, in one of the magazines i have collecting dust (either Sail or an old Boatworks), there's an article about slicking up your trailer. The guy used vinyl gutter cut in half to wrap around the bunks, and I'm trying to remember what they used for the keel. The way my trailer is built, I don't see any room for a keel board on my trailer. I think I might be stuck with the keel roller unless I do some major mods.

 

[Brian M H23]

Tandem

Tandem, and only good for 4600 lb? I would expect more like 7k.

 

[Brian M H23]

Interesting

I'm workingon converting my 23 trailer to tandem axles, and I was going to spec out a twin 3500lb setup, which seemed the axle most common stocked at the trailer places (two axle/spring/spindle assemblies) . You're making me think about this,though. Perhaps with all the extra spring, I won't have much suspension travel and the boat will be in for a rough ride. Hmmm..I like the little tires though - what size ar they?

 

[Joe11688]

Long Tandem Trailer

Brian, The tires on my Long Mfg. trailer are 14" and that's about average for a tandem trailer of that size and weight. The tires on my old Load-Rite single axle roller trailer, were 15". Joe