dunk your trailer axles...or not?

Dogon dory thanks for telling me the downside of the plastic glides chafing the
boat bottom. I had looked at the bottom of my scratch-free C-Dory bottom, and
wondered if the glides would mar the finish. Now, I know.

Also, the picture of your dogon dory running over the lake with the wisp of
low-lying cloud cover in the background is dogon incredible. As an amateur photograher,
I do the photography for my web site, and can appreciate a good picture.

I have the disk brakes, not the drums. SeaRam: OT, but are the stainless L-bracket
mounts for your Scotty downriggers stock, or custom-made. How do you like
your Scottys? What model are they, & cable length? Thanks.

There is some concern with the liquid rollers, which with its use, means the
boat is primarily held down with a bow hook, stern strap and gravity. In the
event of a hard turn or braking, it would be good to have friction on the list.

Joe, thanks for the web site. I was quoted a lot more for the stainless brakes,
so that will be useful for the future. Thanks to all for your replies with some
very helpful suggestions.
 
I've been worried about the truck rims being in the water, let alone the boat brakes. I do many, many vessel exams at our local launch ramp for the CG Aux and see almost all trailers with water over the tires. I think for Dive Cat it will surely be that way since the bottom of the hull is right at the tire tops.

One neat thing I haven't seen mentioned is a hose connection built into the trailer that aims directly at the springs and brakes. This does a great job with boat on. A few folks take the time to wash their trailers after they launch, but it isn't much appreciated by their fishing buddies waiting to get going!

Scaley
 
Just a passisng observation of the been there, done that variety:

Do any of these apply to you?

1. You can't feel your brakes come on and off when you step on the brakes and then resume towing.

2. You don't notice any resistance to backing up in reverse.

3. You notice the boat and trailer pushes hard on the vehicle trying to speed it up going down steep grades.

4. When making an emergency stop, the trailer pushes the tow vehicle much further than when operating the tow vehicle alone.

5. Thumping noises are heard coming from the brake surge actuator when steping on the brakes or accelerating. Perhaps the fluid reservoir is found to be frequently low.

6. Strange clicking or dragging noises are heard coming from the brake system when you're in a position to hear them over the road noise, such as at low speed or when rolling along up against a wall.

7. You haven't inspected the brakes shoes and drums or discs and pads within the past year or so.

Well, Skipper, you may not just have any brakes at all! Brake problems usually develop slowly as they wear out or become corroded / rusted to the point of failing, and the onset is more often therefore gradual rather than dramatic. Often folks fail to notice the loss of braking ability.

If you don't know your brakes are working properly, there's a good chance they're not, check them out or have someone qualified do it for you. Clould keep you out of an accident and / or save your boat and trailer a lot of trouble.

I'm not trying to be a wise-guy here, just advising everyone to become and stay fully award of their brake status! Especially when you're new to towing a larger trailer, not all of this is self-evident. Joe.
 
This is why roller bunk trailers are made. We don't have any brakes on our lil' trailer but I prefer to keep the hubs dry. And the bearings and spindles!

-- Chuck
 
Hi All;
There was a discussion of dunking the trailer axle off the end of the ramp on another site that got me to wonder if there were any thoughts about how to retrieve/recover from this event.

I have found a successful procedure for helping the trailer owner with the misfortune of dropping the wheels off the ramp edge. The procedure here was done with a Searay 18' bowrider with an outboard and has worked for single axle trailers and one dual axle.

Center up your vessel without securing the engine(s) with the centerline of the 'stuck' trailer. Position the bow of the vessel directly over the axle of the 'stuck' trailer; or if preferred, the furthest point away from the coupler. Line(s) are passed from my bow cleat, under this trailer's point and back to the cleat. If you have, or can get , extra crew on board, have them come to the bow to help lower it in the water, 'jack' the line tight and then have everyone go to the stern. This way you are using the lifting/bouyancy power of your boat to raise the rear of the trailer.

Here is where you have to be VERY careful! Be patient! Have the tow vehicle try to pull the trailer SLOWLY over the edge and back onto the ramp. Release the line from the cleat as soon as practical and back out of harms way! If bouyancy allows, I have stayed at the bow controlling the lifting line with a turn around the cleat to affect a fast release when needed. Most times you only need to raise the trailer abt 1', if it has springs.

Talk this over with all parties so everyone knows what to expect when the trailer starts to surge above the ramp dropoff and to be prepared to NOT allow the tow vehicle to have TOO much pull up the ramp.

When the water is low, don't do this! Check the layout!! And water depth!!

This has worked dozens of times for me. I have been very fortunate, with the safety issues and the lack of damage. This could reopen a 'closed' ramp so you won't have to wait for that tow truck.

For the honest side of this, I have not done this with my CD25. I do not have a trailer any more and keep Sea Angel at a marina so I would not have to fight 'stuck' ramps. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it.

Has anyone else tried this?
 
Art / Sea Angel

No, I haven't tried it, but it sound like a perfectly logical approach!

I wish I had known about this technique back in 1970 when we needed it!

We backed the trailer and the rear wheels of the car as well off the perpendicular end of the ramp at Richmond, Ca., at the end of an afternoon fishing trip.

It was already after dark, and the tide was coming in after a very low low tide , explaining how we got down to the very bottom of the ramp. The low-high tidal difference eventually came up to almost 8 feet!

By the time we could call a tow truck, the incoming tide was in the back seat of my new Volvo.

We kept her running to keep the salt water out of the engine, but the electroysis on the current carrying wires to the rear of the car's signal lights did a real number on them.

In such a situation again, I wouldn't wait to try to get it out with my own efforts, but call for the big wrecker immediately!

The other way out might be to disconnect the trailer from the tow vehicle, leaving it attached with a line to at least get the tow vehicle into a safe position.

You might even be able to use a very long tow rope to get a run at it and pop the trailer up over the vertical end of the ramp.

Fortunately, many tidal ramps have a line on the dock and/or a sign in the water along the side of the ramp marking the end of it so that one can stay on the ramp and not get into such trouble!

Another thought would be to use the windlass on a boat so equipped.

The chain portion of the rode ought to be in the gypsy affording extra grip, and a good 500 watt or more windlass should be able to put at least 450 or more pounds of lift on the chain to help lift the trailer over the hump.

One could additionally use the boat motor to push forward on the trailer, a 90 hp outboard providing about 2000 lbs of forward thrust! Kind of dangerous, however!

Thanks for sharing this with all of us!!!

Joe.
 
Joe;
The windlass sounds like a possible approach to give you the extra pull/lift. Lifting the wheels above the ramp edge is the main purpose, followed by the tow vehicles effort to get them back over and on the ramp.

Control is most important and the means to quick release. A remote windlass would work and allow you to be at the helm to be ready to reverse the engine to keep from being pulled up the ramp with an energenic driver pulling the trailer. Most rodes are at least 100'.

Sorry to hear of your experience with the Volvo. I learned a few other tricks, like letting the air out of the tires a little bit for folks who launched off the beach and got carried away with gas pedal. This gave more surface area for the load on the beach sand.. and it worked, just as it does in the snow.
 
Back
Top