belay trailer down slipway?

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MCL

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I have a small trailer sailor with a total weight of approx 250-300kg (including trailer). I want to launch it single handed down a steep slipway (Suffolk yacht harbour slipway). It has the usual green slim at the bottom, meaning my 1.2 ltr polo is best left at the top of the slip due to fear of traction issues.

Singlehanded launching means that reversing the boat down a slipway on a long rope with no one guiding the trailer results in it veering off course, although it does track well behind the car when being pulled up.

This leads me to my question, could I use a climbing belay device attached to the trailer to lower the boat down the slip with the other end of the rope attached to the car at the top? Or would the weight of the boat be to much for a friction device / me to control.

Thanks
 
Could you use a sheet winch bolted to a tow hitch to snub the line and let it out relatively slowly, and a long rope ?

Just a thought, and I'd think good protective gloves might be an idea in case the boat and trailer ran away.
 
MCL said:
This leads me to my question, could I use a climbing belay device attached to the trailer to lower the boat down the slip with the other end of the rope attached to the car at the top?
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Yes - but use chocks for the car wheels. See eBay/Halfords et cie....


This shows one of the many 'descendeur' devices you could use effectively, for that ( pu****se ) purpose.... as used by RAF Mountain Rescue teams.

descendeur.jpg


More here: http://esccany.free.fr/techsecu/06_autobloquants_arret_auto_ass/chapitre_6.htm
 
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MCL said:
would the weight of the boat be to much for a friction device / me to control.
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The force in the rope will depend not just on the weight of the boat, but also the angle of the slipway.

That said, your boat only weighs a little more than twice what I do, and I can abseil down my mast on a figure-8 quite comfortably. I can't imagine a slipway would be so steep as to put more than half the weight of the boat into the lowering rope (probably far less) so you should be fine.

For what it's worth, I've done something very similar with a mate's much heavier motorboat (not sure of the exact weight but probably at least a ton for boat and trailer). We were halfway down a fairly long slipway when we decided that due to the tide we were going to need a rope between car and trailer. So I took a mooring line, made one end off to somewhere under the trailer hitch, and put something approximating a munter hitch around the stem of the car's towball. Then we released the hitch and I was able to smoothly lower the trailer to the end of the rope while my mate guided it.

Putting the friction device at the trailer end so you can both belay and steer seems a good way to do the same thing singlehanded.

Pete
 
MCL said:
Singlehanded launching means that reversing the boat down a slipway on a long rope with no one guiding the trailer results in it veering off course, although it does track well behind the car when being pulled up.
Click to expand...

Any idea why that is? My wee Hunter tracks very nicely down the launching ramp on the end of a rope, but that may be because teh joskey wheel castoring has seized, so once I have it set straight it doesn't have much option about which way to go.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Any idea why that is? My wee Hunter tracks very nicely down the launching ramp on the end of a rope, but that may be because teh joskey wheel castoring has seized, so once I have it set straight it doesn't have much option about which way to go.
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I was wondering if a fixed jockey wheel would help.


It may be possible to jam/ lock a standard wind up/down wheel so that it does not pivot

Mine if wound up fully will jam. (I normally jam it like this when towing). It is still possible to adjust the height with the clamp .
 
if the ramp surface is ribbed or in any way uneven, a small trailer will wander R or L with frightening ease and intention, when being eased down with a rope through the tow hitch area.

I like the use of a mountaineering device as Bilbo has shown, but not sure of the best way to rig it so that you can stand at the head of the trailer and apply a little gentle steering, as you ease the trailer down the ramp. Anyone got a diagra=m of how the device attaches to the trailer pls ?
 
VicS said:
It may be possible to jam/ lock a standard wind up/down wheel so that it does not pivot

Mine if wound up fully will jam. (I normally jam it like this when towing). It is still possible to adjust the height with the clamp .
Click to expand...

I've seen jockey wheels designed to do this. The tube has a couple of slots in it with which the fork for the wheel engages when it's fully up. Is that the sort of thing you have in mind?

OP, does your trailer have brakes? When I'm on my own I guide my trailer down by hand (as I said, once set it doesn't need much guiding) and control the speed with the brake. Once the boat's afloat I pull her off the trailer and run her aground next to the ramp - the joys of a lifting keel - then take a rope from the trailer to the car and pull it up.
 
Unfortunately my trailer does not have brakes. I can lock the jockey wheel straight and this is something I need to try on the slipway, chances are it would track quite well, but if the boat was to bounce at all or the slipway was uneven it may still loose track so I would prefer to be at the trailer to guide it down.

When I am sailing on the local lake, I launch like this http://bit.ly/1aimIJr

However I am reluctant to have my car at the waters edge on a tidal slipway as I am concerned that it might be very slippy.

I like the idea of this if I can get one cheap on ebay: bit.ly/1bFqmxe
 
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Do you even need a descender?

If there no T bar or handles on the front of the trailer you can use like a cleat?/ turning bollard? Put a turn or two round the relevant bit then slack down and steer?

The Jockey wheel post could be a good bet?
 
I do have a handle on the trailer, so maybe I could get away with a few turns around the handle would give enough friction
 
Shouldn't be any problem at all. Used to do this with a large speedboat. Just make sure the rope is suitable and keep bystanders back in case something snaps.

You could give it a few practice trials without the boat on first just to get the routine right.
 
MCL said:
I have a small trailer sailor with a total weight of approx 250-300kg (including trailer). I want to launch it single handed down a steep slipway (Suffolk yacht harbour slipway). It has the usual green slim at the bottom, meaning my 1.2 ltr polo is best left at the top of the slip due to fear of traction issues.

Singlehanded launching means that reversing the boat down a slipway on a long rope with no one guiding the trailer results in it veering off course, although it does track well behind the car when being pulled up.

This leads me to my question, could I use a climbing belay device attached to the trailer to lower the boat down the slip with the other end of the rope attached to the car at the top? Or would the weight of the boat be to much for a friction device / me to control.

Thanks
Click to expand...

You could use a descender as mentioned (though not intended to take these loads) at the trailer end or more simply just use an Italian hitch or a couple of turns round something suitable. Doing it this way of course, you need to ensure that the rope will run clean to your lowering system because you don't want to get into a fankle - as well as watching your footing and steering. The amount of braking you need is not huge and dictated really by the steepness of the slip.
 
I used to launch my Jaguar 22 that way. I had a long climbing rope and used the tow ball on the car with a couple of turns around it as the belay. Never had a problem.

I liked to leave the car on the level at the top of the slipway after seeing a car and trailer slide off the ramp at Troon.
 
single said:
Launching will be fine with a figure of eight but what about recovery?
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Recovery I am happy to pull it out on a rope single handed (as long as everyone is well clear of the slip) the boat tracks a lot better behind the car when going forward.
 
Is there a winch on your trailer?

There is on mine, and to avoid dunking the car in the drink, once I have gone as far as I can keeping the car wheels dry, I unhitch and lower the trailer the last bit by winding it down with the winch on the trailer. you are at the front of the trailer so can steer it if you need to (though a 4 wheel trailer does tend to naturally keep in a straight line)
 
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