Camperback Usage

rob bauerle":2rhamjcg said:
Sigh, good advice. Hate to take it down each time for trailering

Yep. A PIA but...

When we leave the bimini portion up I close/cover it and lean it onto the cabin w/ a bungee holding it to a grab handle. So far, so good.
 
Just leave it in the water where it belongs and you don't have to worry about it. :wink: or the truck, or the trailer, or launching, or .... one of these days I am going to start an convincing thread to sway most of you over to the other wet side of boat storage. We all own boats that are very well suited to the lifestyle. Secure, limited through hulls, motor that tip up, limited zinc surfaces, short lengths,.....
 
Aurelia":1b03bxlb said:
Just leave it in the water where it belongs and you don't have to worry about it. :wink: or the truck, or the trailer, or launching, or .... one of these days I am going to start an convincing thread to sway most of you over to the other wet side of boat storage. We all own boats that are very well suited to the lifestyle. Secure, limited through hulls, motor that tip up, limited zinc surfaces, short lengths,.....

Wild Blue does spend more time in the water than on the trailer... but, it's gonna take a LOT of convincing on your part to get me to do away with the trailer. We've put over 35,000 miles on that trailer so far, allowing us to get to some really great cruising areas when it suits us. We bought this boat because of the trailerability.

Given enough time, you could get your boat from the PNW to the Florida Keys without a trailer... but, it's gonna be damn hard on the bottom to get it to Lake Powell, Lake Tahoe, Flaming Gorge, Yellowstone Lake, Jackson Lake, Lewis & Clark Lake, etc, etc. 8)

But I absolutely agree: very well suited to the lifestyle. :D

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Aurelia":eupb9m4t said:
Just leave it in the water where it belongs and you don't have to worry about it. :wink: or the truck, or the trailer, or launching, or .... one of these days I am going to start an convincing thread to sway most of you over to the other wet side of boat storage. We all own boats that are very well suited to the lifestyle. Secure, limited through hulls, motor that tip up, limited zinc surfaces, short lengths,.....

Having owned boats over the last 25 or 30 years. I have kept boats in the water and on a trailer. Just being able to climb on is great but there is the part about humping all your stuff to the boat. Then when storms come the fun of pulling it out being at someones mercy. Hauling out charges,bottom paint, etc. Not having the ability to take the boat to someone else other than the folks at your marina. In water fuel at the marinas is always a real good deal. :roll: I can do most of my own service, I store the boat in my driveway, I service most everything on the trailer and my truck such as brakes, oil and fuel filter changes. It's not about saving money as much as I know how things get done. I do things on my schedule not the marinas. For me I have other uses for our pickup truck besides pulling the boat around. Launching and retriving is pretty easy if you know what your doing. For me going to the same places all the time is a bore. Sure you can go to different locations within your range but it's kind of the same scenery. To be able to go from tempertures in the 20's to where it's in the 70 and 80's with in a couple of days is what dreams are made of for us. When it gets hot you can head up to Maine or Yellowstone, Grand Teton. The biggest advantage I see is time. The trailering allow you to get real close to where you want to be much faster and cheaper than you do by boat. Besides I love blowing the doors off the guys in the little subcompact cars going up hills pulling the boat and showing the people at the the boat ramps how easy trailer boating can be. We bought our boat because it was trailerable. The last thing we want to do is leave our boat in the water somewhere to become a scum magnet. :lol:. On second thought maybe when I get too old to drive and then just maybe I'll put the boat in a marina. :wink:
D.D.
D.D.
 
we use ours all the time. we store by rolling up then putting in a hammock type storage bag we attached to deckhead against side of hull over berth. Keeps bed free for other clutter
 
My wife's biggest fear ( and she has a lot of them about me) is that if I every get to a point that I can retire and step on a boat I will never come off it again. I really don't see a down side :wink:

we plan to one day trailer to the east coast and cruise the loop, the keys and anywhere else I can get with in range of my fuel tank. but its nice to get off work and just stop of at the dock and go.
 
I went to Lake pend oreille yesterday intending to give my wife a ride in our new to me C-dory.(as she says all the time when she wants something,"It doesn't cost as much as that boat"). I rolled up the overhead canvas as you folks have mentioned. However I neglected to make sure all the bolts on the trailer were secure. The side bunk came off the supports to the trailer in the middle of the trip and I was dragging the bunk down the road. Didn't hurt the boat but in did hurt the bunk and left me with the metal attachement on the stern of the trailer. I was afraid I would scratch the boat upon launching so we had a picnic and came back home. Oh well there is always another trip
 
Rob, sorry to hear about your mishap. It sounds to me like you will need to surprise your wife with some sort of pendant from the jewelry store to adorn your wife's neck before you shell out the cost of boat trailer repairs.

(Guess, I'll double check my nuts and bolts, before it becomes costly for me......and I do mean MY NUTS...LOL..... :mrgreen: ).
 
Here in Va. Beach it too gets very warm and humid.

Since we leave Sea Angel in dry storage at he marina, no trailer, it is best for me to leave the camper back top up all the time. This keeps the "stuff" out of the cockpit while in the 'barn'. It also helps keep the sun from the aft deck when underway

I have both the 'glass' and screen side and back panels. These have only been used when doing an overnite; otherwise I store them at home and rolled in protective wraps.

If I were to do the camper back over I would have it set like 'THATAWAY' has where the top panel can be opened so as to gain better access to the forward deck when not at the dock. Right now I have to roll the top back to be able to 'duck' around the top to step up to the side gunnels - at 6'2" this is a difficult.

As to the side panels; the screens offer the least windage for me, but are still enough to be a challenge when backing into the finger docks for retrieval. I would definitely take these screens to keep the flying teeth away when we do any overnights during our spring-to-summer outings.
These screens are fine enough that they do keep most of the water/rain out of the cockpit.

So, if you can add a camper back - think of it as a sun room addition.

Art
 
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