Stainless steel launching trolley for my trailer sailer

[peterhull]

has any one ever built a stainless launching trolley for a 6m 750kg trailer sailer. ?

I have trailer sailed for over 5 years now and what worries me is immersing brakes and bearings in salt water. No matter what manufactures say the bearings on road trailers start to corrode quite quickly and have to be replaced quite often.

There was a firm in Cornwall ( subsequently gone into liquidation) who made galvanised piggy back trailers for Cornish Shrimpers. but they were quite expensive £3500. My idea is that if I could build a very simple launching trolley with no suspension no brakes and no sophisticated bearings and non pnuematic wheels I could winch it onto a simple low loading car trailer ( even hire one) and move and launch my boat that way.

Any thoughts about this approach. Picture attached of piggy back tariler for shrimper

 

[Daydream believer]

I see that yours is a road trailer, but is that because you take the boat home every sail or do you keep the boat at a club and only use the trailer as a road trailer to take it home. ie could you live with 2 seperate trailers & dismantle the launching trailer at start & end of the season.
I have 2 for my Squib & have details for a home made squib launching trailer that could be used for similar boats
I can post details if you want a launching trailer

 

[DinghyMan]

If you are not intending towing it anywhere then either pneumatic or semi-solid puncture proof tyres would give a little suspension and plastic bushes (Delrin/Acetal/PET/Oilon) would be OK instead of bearings.

Real issue will be the cost of the stainless

You could make a basic one with U bolts so no welding required either

 

[simonfraser]

wash the launching trailer wheels out with a hose, drill some holes in for access
next set of bearings, take the 'water proof' seal out, remove all the road greasy and refit with waterproof grease

 

[Daydream believer]

wash the launching trailer wheels out with a hose, drill some holes in for access
next set of bearings, take the 'water proof' seal out, remove all the road greasy and refit with waterproof grease

What about brake cables & brake drums? They can be more trouble than the bearings which can be simple to change anyway

 

[simonfraser]

unlikely to need any of that for a launching trailer ?

 

[longjohnsilver]

My mate and I made a simple stainless launching trolley for a 3.4m rib from stainless bought from a scrap yard for just a few quid. He did the welding, worked perfectly until some scrote stole it from a beach in Exmouth, pushing my immaculate rib onto the rocks and was then swept away by the tide. Until then , it all worked well.

 

[Daydream believer]

unlikely to need any of that for a launching trailer ?

Apologies I misunderstood the requirement
in that case why bother with stainless ? If made from T section all parts can be painted & easy to bolt together
Use galv scaffold pole for the guides
The axles are reversible to allow plastic or ball race wheels as we tow the trailer 300 yds up the road at the end of the season
the whole thing can be painted except scaffold poles which can be replaced and are galvanised . Bolts SS
I have a complete article on construction for PBO typed up in Word if the OP wants it
Cost me a couple of hundred squids but I had the wheels & ball hitch &n scaffold poles - Generally £1-00 per ft

 

[peterhull]

If you are not intending towing it anywhere then either pneumatic or semi-solid puncture proof tyres would give a little suspension and plastic bushes (Delrin/Acetal/PET/Oilon) would be OK instead of bearings.

Real issue will be the cost of the stainless

You could make a basic one with U bolts so no welding required either

Thanks for your reply, looks like it has generated some interest. many thanks. Peter

 

[peterhull]

wash the launching trailer wheels out with a hose, drill some holes in for access
next set of bearings, take the 'water proof' seal out, remove all the road greasy and refit with waterproof grease

Thanks Simon sounds a practical solution but My worry is breaking down on the M5 with a boat and I want to get away from maintenance issues for the road trailer particularly.

 

[peterhull]

wash the launching trailer wheels out with a hose, drill some holes in for access
next set of bearings, take the 'water proof' seal out, remove all the road greasy and refit with waterproof grease

There is also the iss

If you are not intending towing it anywhere then either pneumatic or semi-solid puncture proof tyres would give a little suspension and plastic bushes (Delrin/Acetal/PET/Oilon) would be OK instead of bearings.

Real issue will be the cost of the stainless

You could make a basic one with U bolts so no welding required either

Thanks the u bolt idea is good a good one thanks. I do like stainless, it doesn't need painting or any maintenance. I tend to do things for the long term, once it is built it will last almost indefinitely with very little maintenance. Stainless is cheaper than it used to be as well.

 

[peterhull]

My mate and I made a simple stainless launching trolley for a 3.4m rib from stainless bought from a scrap yard for just a few quid. He did the welding, worked perfectly until some scrote stole it from a beach in Exmouth, pushing my immaculate rib onto the rocks and was then swept away by the tide. Until then , it all worked well.

Thanks for your reply sorry to hear about theft.

 

[lw395]

There is a firm in Cornwall, Gecko Trailers, who make alloy trailers.
One point with a trolley piggy backed onto a flat bed, the pneumatic tyres on the trolley can make the boat move around in a scary fashion.
Maybe ideally, you'd do like a dinghy combi trailer, with rigid rollers supporting the trolley frame?
A galv trolley should last 10 years easily..
I've seen some stainless dinghy trolleys, they are very light but allegedy prone to fatigue?
For a 750kg boat, maybe plain metal bearings would be better than plastic wheels or acetal bearings on the trolley?

I suspect however, that building a combi trailer takes you into type approval territory, while a trolley which is just a load on a standard flatbed would not?
There could be grey areas.

 

[crewman]

My Sonata came with a launching trolley. In essence the normal cradle for onshore storage is on wheels and can be winched on and off the road trailer. In practice at low tide (it is fin keel) offload boat and trolley onto slipway. Wait for tide to float boat off, recover trolley. Reverse for recovery. The trolley can be very basic, but will add weight - check your towing weight.

 

[peterhull]

I see that yours is a road trailer, but is that because you take the boat home every sail or do you keep the boat at a club and only use the trailer as a road trailer to take it home. ie could you live with 2 seperate trailers & dismantle the launching trailer at start & end of the season.
I have 2 for my Squib & have details for a home made squib launching trailer that could be used for similar boats
I can post details if you want a launching trailer

neither of the pics is my trailer just examples I have seen on the net. Yes 2 separate trailers would be OK the new trailer shown has a launching trolley on it. The wheels of the trolley just perch on the two small ramps which can be raised for road transport.

 

[peterhull]

My Sonata came with a launching trolley. In essence the normal cradle for onshore storage is on wheels and can be winched on and off the road trailer. In practice at low tide (it is fin keel) offload boat and trolley onto slipway. Wait for tide to float boat off, recover trolley. Reverse for recovery. The trolley can be very basic, but will add weight - check your towing weight.

Thanks yes that is exactly what I had in mind.

 

[peterhull]

There is a firm in Cornwall, Gecko Trailers, who make alloy trailers.
One point with a trolley piggy backed onto a flat bed, the pneumatic tyres on the trolley can make the boat move around in a scary fashion.
Maybe ideally, you'd do like a dinghy combi trailer, with rigid rollers supporting the trolley frame?
A galv trolley should last 10 years easily..
I've seen some stainless dinghy trolleys, they are very light but allegedy prone to fatigue?
For a 750kg boat, maybe plain metal bearings would be better than plastic wheels or acetal bearings on the trolley?

I suspect however, that building a combi trailer takes you into type approval territory, while a trolley which is just a load on a standard flatbed would not?
There could be grey areas.

Yes I have been in touch with Gecko Trailers but they are very expensive. I would aim for rigid wheels yes to avoid the swaying you mention. i don't see a problem with winching a trolley onto a type approved low loading road trailer. As long as it was secure well, it would just be a load carried much like a car except two wheels instead of 4!!. The pics I have shown secures the drawbar of the trolley with an additional ball hitch fixed to the bed of the road trailer.

 

[peterhull]

Thanks for all your posts, it has given me some ideas to go on, to make a launching trolley at a reasonable cost. Many thanks. Peter

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

The "scary movement" caused by the pneumatic wheels can be prevented by building in something to take the load off the wheels, once loaded onto the road trailer, screwjacks come to mind. The ones used for levelling scaffolding might work, or perhaps the type used for steadying trailers, e.g. burger vans and the like. The structure would have to be robust, with a boat weighing 3/4 of a ton.

 

[Kelpie]

I think you will hard pushed to do this any easier/cheaper than using a caravan chassis for the road trailer, and a simple galvanised trolley.
Caravan chassis do get a bad rep when used as the basis of a trailer, because they are very wobbly and insubstantial, but in your case you can design the trolley to only load it at certain points, i.e. most of the weight goes on to the axle.
A flatbed trailer is going to be far more substantial (heavy+expensive) than a caravan chassis. This is because it is designed to take loads all over its bed and so it has to be quite strong and stiff. Likewise car transporters, where the weight is all concentrated on the four corners, as far from the axle as you can get. There's no need for you to take the cost and weight penalty of that.