Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

The way my Jeep buddies say it "no one ever died, walked back, totaled a rig, or got yelled out because something was made 'too strong'". I think the same philosophy should hold true for a trailer. And the tow rig.

Thanks Jaysen. Sure enough. I can probably swing for a heavy duty trailer but my "rig" is only a 2 litre compact Suzuki SUV. All the limited hauling I have to hire someone who drives more horse muscle for that The marina offers that as a service, thankfully. They'll come to my build site and drive it to theirs or a few guys around the cottage with trucks are willing to. I don't plan on doing any trailering more than that - that was the plan from day one

One of the reasons I went with a single axle aluminum trailer for my P19 was that I could keep the gross weight under 3000lbs. It was close, but I weighed in on the scales with a dry boat at 2950. The trailer capacity is rated at 3500. Under 3000 lbs I would not need trailer brakes to be a legal tow between Texas and Maine and could get by easily with my 6 cylinder F150. Trailer brakes can be a regular maintenance item when you dip into salt water on every launch. I have logged 8200 miles on this rig with no hit of a problem. You can do it with a single axle as long as you pay attention to the details.

Marc, did you settle on a trailer? I didn't reply when you first were asking about trailers as my boat wasn't on the trailer yet. I have a roadrunner single axle, surge brakes, shallow v-frame, 3500# rating. I have towed the boat over some quite steep inclines/windy roads at highway speeds, using a ford ranger pickup without any problem with the trailer although the truck has now been replaced with an F150. The trailer is adequate for this but you will have a lot of fun (including strong language) getting it set up. The difficulty is with the shape of the hull and the bottom of the transom being quite a bit higher than the lowest part of the hull. The bunks near the transom are about 6" higher (at their centre and they angle up to the rear) than the ones forward. I had to do quite a bit of changing/adding more supports when I finally got the boat on the trailer. The trailer came with 2 short sets of bunks in the middle (4') and rear (3') of the trailer and I added a third longer (8') set forward. I can get measurements or pictures if it would help spec a trailer for you. Some vendors will have problems with displacement hulls. There was no support for the forward 8' of my boat on the trailer as supplied to me. It was spec'd for a displacement hull with the weight spread out more evenly than a normal power boat. The vendor was sent detailed drawings with dimensions taken directly off of the hull and they still missed almost half of an 18 1/2' boat.
If a person was used to trailers, and getting them setup, these may have been just minor adjustments to them. Never done it before. With the rear bunks as such it makes launching fun as you have to be in the water a fair ways to launch.
Perhaps a roller style of trailer might be easier to set up but I like the support the bunks give to the hull.
Hopefully you have already found a good trailer.
Doug

Doug N wrote: ↑Sat Oct 21, 2017 6:06 am Marc, did you settle on a trailer? I didn't reply when you first were asking about trailers as my boat wasn't on the trailer yet. I have a roadrunner single axle, surge brakes, shallow v-frame, 3500# rating. I have towed the boat over some quite steep inclines/windy roads at highway speeds, using a ford ranger pickup without any problem with the trailer although the truck has now been replaced with an F150. The trailer is adequate for this but you will have a lot of fun (including strong language) getting it set up. The difficulty is with the shape of the hull and the bottom of the transom being quite a bit higher than the lowest part of the hull. The bunks near the transom are about 6" higher (at their centre and they angle up to the rear) than the ones forward. I had to do quite a bit of changing/adding more supports when I finally got the boat on the trailer. The trailer came with 2 short sets of bunks in the middle (4') and rear (3') of the trailer and I added a third longer (8') set forward. I can get measurements or pictures if it would help spec a trailer for you. Some vendors will have problems with displacement hulls. There was no support for the forward 8' of my boat on the trailer as supplied to me. It was spec'd for a displacement hull with the weight spread out more evenly than a normal power boat. The vendor was sent detailed drawings with dimensions taken directly off of the hull and they still missed almost half of an 18 1/2' boat.
If a person was used to trailers, and getting them setup, these may have been just minor adjustments to them. Never done it before. With the rear bunks as such it makes launching fun as you have to be in the water a fair ways to launch.
Perhaps a roller style of trailer might be easier to set up but I like the support the bunks give to the hull.
Hopefully you have already found a good trailer.
Doug

A lift roller trailer gives you the best of both.

Newt

Hi Doug and Newt,

No, I have not yet but it will have to be done soon. Sure thing if you can take photos of yours, that would be great. The whole trailer thing is totally foreign to me and even towing to some extent. Not comfy with either I was looking at trailers with the flip up arrangement actually.

Marc

Some measurements. Frame rails just a little over 6' apart. Rear bunks at 4' apart. Forward bunks start at about 4' apart and taper towards the bow. The middle set of bunks are short and set more towards the centre of the frame. They could possibly be eliminated, but came with the boat. V in frame is about 6 - 7" drop. About 5" clearance between skeg and frame. The chines are about 2 - 3" inside fenders and about 2" lower than top of fender. Pictures of that are poor. The aft end of the rear bunks are about 10" higher than the aft end of the forward bunks. This is the only part that is out of the ordinary from most power boat trailers I think. Everything else is fairly standard. If you end up with the chines below the level of the fenders I think that you would want the horizontal guide boards to keep the chines from hitting the fenders. People a lot more experienced could sure chime in on this.
The first launch ramp I used I had to put the trailer wheels past the end of the concrete on the launch to get in far enough. I've heard others complain that this launch was short as well. Second launch ramp was much better and the boat came off/on well although more practice was definitely needed. Towing the boat was no problem. With a relatively light tow vehicle I had no problem with highway speeds, buffeting from meeting semis etc. I have just gone to a larger truck more for comfort and being able to take more people. My previous experiences from towing are getting to be almost 30 years old so this is relatively new to me again.
Hope this helps.
Doug

Haha. Should proofread more. Middle bunks came with the trailer, not the boat. Probably was obvious...

Many years ago I used to have a 25ft cabin cruiser. The trailer it came with was pants and really difficult to launch and recover the boat. I modified it with rollers to take the keel/skeg and a couple of bunks to take the bottom near the chine, really quite close to the bow. I then had adjustable/removable pads in the middle and towards the rear.

To launch, get boat lined up on the slipway and remove the middle and rear pads. Then back into the water a bit and give it a little shove. Didn't need to get the trailer wheels wet on most slipways and to launch, could almost avoid wetting the trailer at all. Go backwards and hit the brakes; boat would roll off the trailer and into the water sort of life-boat style. Many times when on my own, I would get set up, stand on the trailer and shove the boat off, follow it down the trailer and swing myself up onto the bow, climb round into the cockpit and drive the boat to a mooring before going back to park up my little LJ80 and the trailer.

The setup above looks like you pretty much have to float the boat completely over the trailer; the rear bunks could be put in place once the boat is on, and some keel rollers would allow the boat to roll on and off.

Hi Doug N, bigyellowtractor,

Thanks, this is really helpful and is what I wanted to see. I had started to look at trailers but fabricators / dealers were not particularly helpful. I will try to source the Roadrunner make around here. If not, this gives me a great starting point.

As an aside, where is your build on the site ? I would like to see another HMD19 during construction.

Marc