Buying a trailer .Help!!

the supplier hadsa said it will be here on monday and ive got a friends husband and son to help me set up the trailer, which we'll be doing at itchenor hard so it can go in and out the water if needed.
to be honest if it doesnt arrive monday then im looking for a new supplier
 
oGaryo said:
just to be clear on this Chi (Quay) Girl:) if it's too light, I believe it burns out your clutch or something along those lines... needs to be balanced so you can lift the front of the trailer up by hand without busting a blood vessel..
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Like Lakesailor, I can't see how it can burn out your clutch.

But get the nose weight too light, and the trailer will be very unstable, and likely will snake at any speed.

That's a problem I had with my trailer, almost no noseweight as it was set up when I bought the boat, on the trailer. Anything over 50mph and it started snaking, making for uncomfortable and slow towing. not something I would want to do for any distance.

Not having (or wishing to pay for) the luxury of a lift and hold to sort out the trailer, I have done all my modifications by measurement to move the boat forward on the trailer by 6 inches. Next time I take it out, I'll find out if that is enough to get enough nose weight (if it's too much, is should be easy to move the boat back a bit)

In caravanning circles, they say you should aim to get 10% of the trailers weight on the tow hitch. Fine for a small boat, but try that on a 3 ton trailer and you will be well over the towcars hitch weight limit.

The other issue I had with my trailer is it's a 4 wheeler, and it's natural towbar height exceeded the height of my towball. I now have two towballs on my car, one at the normal height, and one higher up using a drop plate "upside down"
 
the trailer it's on now is too short for it and is Very unstable at speed.
It has a negative nose weight since i added a new 4s engine and it snakes at most speeds but i only tow it from birdham to itchenor.
on way back from having new engine fitted i had to do 40mph down m27/a27,
 
ProDave said:
Like Lakesailor, I can't see how it can burn out your clutch.

But get the nose weight too light, and the trailer will be very unstable, and likely will snake at any speed.

That's a problem I had with my trailer, almost no noseweight as it was set up when I bought the boat, on the trailer. Anything over 50mph and it started snaking, making for uncomfortable and slow towing. not something I would want to do for any distance.

Not having (or wishing to pay for) the luxury of a lift and hold to sort out the trailer, I have done all my modifications by measurement to move the boat forward on the trailer by 6 inches. Next time I take it out, I'll find out if that is enough to get enough nose weight (if it's too much, is should be easy to move the boat back a bit)

In caravanning circles, they say you should aim to get 10% of the trailers weight on the tow hitch. Fine for a small boat, but try that on a 3 ton trailer and you will be well over the towcars hitch weight limit.

The other issue I had with my trailer is it's a 4 wheeler, and it's natural towbar height exceeded the height of my towball. I now have two towballs on my car, one at the normal height, and one higher up using a drop plate "upside down"
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I would agree with this and would always lean towards heavier than lighter as the safer bet (Within limits of the tow vehicle). The other problem in being too light on the hitch is that every bump, pothole, braking and acceleration 'rocks' the trailer front to rear and thus 'stresses' or shakes the hitch and tow vehicle. Thus instability. More weight goes a long way to damping the worst of this effect and therefore makes a more comfortable drive! I've not heard mention of increased clutch wear before, but if the movement is significant then 'tugging' against the tow vehicle during acceleration/deceleration is likely to make gear changing more erratic/harsh and I guess ultimately impact on the life of the clutch?

Understanding a little of the physics and forces involved can make a much more informed, easier and safer tow! ;)
 
chi-girl said:
the trailer it's on now is too short for it and is Very unstable at speed.
It has a negative nose weight since i added a new 4s engine and it snakes at most speeds but i only tow it from birdham to itchenor.
on way back from having new engine fitted i had to do 40mph down m27/a27,
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The trailer can't be "too short" the boat fits it.

Lack of noseweight might be fixable.

On my own trailer, the two parallel spine members are attached to the frame containing the axles, just by nuts and bolts.

What I have done, is unclamp them, move the spine forwards 6" and clamp them back up. In effect what I have really done is move the axles both back 6" This will move the COG, forward relative to the axles and increase the noseweight.

This might be achieved much easier, just by moving the winch post further forward, but in my case the winch post was already as far forward as it could go. Again, my winch post just bolts on and is fully adjustable.

Is your trailer, like mine, a big mecano set and adjustable? if so give it a try. If it's all welded, then obviously much harder to adjust.

Perhaps just getting the existing trailer altered a bit might be a lot easier and cheaper than a complete new one.
 
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Often the winch-post/bow snubber is attached with U-bolts which will allow you to move it nearer the hitch, along the drawbar. If the boat is on the trailer and you are not near a slip, play a hose over the boat/trailer contact areas (rollers, pads etc) Then drive forward and brake sharply. You may need to build up speed in a few attempts to get the boat to move forward.
You will need to slacken off your usual straps and apply some ropes to prevent the boat falling off the back of the trailer and stop it moving too far forwards (like climbing the bow snubber)
It's not as tricky as I make it sound, all happens slowly and takes only a few minutes.

Before anyone comes along to say it's dangerous I will get in first with "Cobblers. Done it loads of times"
 
the rear most part of the trailer is at least 3ft short of the transom, ie the last 3ft of the boat have no support at all.
if i move the winch post forwards anymore the bow of the boat will be touching my rear window.
 
chi-girl said:
the rear most part of the trailer is at least 3ft short of the transom, ie the last 3ft of the boat have no support at all.
if i move the winch post forwards anymore the bow of the boat will be touching my rear window.
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The overhang, in itself is not a problem. Getting the centre of gravity relative to the axle(s) is.

Unable to move the winch post forwards any more is exactly the same problem that I had.

Here's a pic of my trailer
attachment.php


The central spine (two parallel box sections) is merely bolted to the axle frame, so I simply moved the axle frame back 6 inches.

Is something similar possible with your trailer?
 
Frolic,
Just a comment on your trailer (I Know your boat is small) But the tubes are pretty weak in the vertical stress area. Pitch is a big problem on trailers, esp those with sailing boats on keels. i.e. high CofG. Your tubes should be about twice as high as wide to counter-act the pitching moments. In reality the wt is taken by the spine on the axles, depending on the rollers/props supporting the boat. So, the two spine tubes should be around 80x40mm and the cross members similar.
Ch-G is not about to build a trailer, so I hope she gets a better result than so far.
A
 
DownWest said:
Frolic,
Just a comment on your trailer (I Know your boat is small) But the tubes are pretty weak in the vertical stress area. Pitch is a big problem on trailers, esp those with sailing boats on keels. i.e. high CofG. Your tubes should be about twice as high as wide to counter-act the pitching moments. In reality the wt is taken by the spine on the axles, depending on the rollers/props supporting the boat. So, the two spine tubes should be around 80x40mm and the cross members similar.
Ch-G is not about to build a trailer, so I hope she gets a better result than so far.
A
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I've never claimed my trailer is a good one, in fact I've openly said it's pretty rubbish, but it's the one that came with the boat, and it's what I have, so I'm improving it to make the best of it. The boat is a lifting keel, so sits low on the trailer.

The spine tubes are indeed 80X40mm, and I share your concern the cross tubes are under sized, but as yet no sign of them bending.

I wasn't suggesting the OP builds her own trailer, just suggesting in light of all the difficulty getting a new one and getting it set up, she might want to investigate the prospect of simply altering (or paying someone to alter) the trailer she already has. If the existing trailer fits the boat, and the only problem is lack of nose weight, then surely it can be altered to move the axles further back to sort that out.
 
Lakesailor said:
I'd be interested to know the train of logic that's involved there.
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If it's anything like the one case I've seen then you need a bit of lateral thinking. A Merc 300D estate with 20,000km (the W123 models that go round the world three times before they're properly run in) had a burnt out clutch after towing a glider across Germany to the Swiss Border. It shouldn't even have noticed the thing was on the back but we could smell the clutch as soon as he pulled up alongside us. We worked out what was happening when we unhitched the trailer as one of us had to stand on the drawbar before we could undo the latch. He'd got so little traction on the rear wheels he had to slip the clutch all the time just to get moving. I have no idea how he didn't crash quite frankly - I'd have thought it would be undriveable.

Too much noseweight is bad - too little is lethal because, when you back off, the weight transfer takes even more weight off the rear wheels.
 
DownWest said:
Frolic,
Just a comment on your trailer (I Know your boat is small) But the tubes are pretty weak in the vertical stress area. Pitch is a big problem on trailers, esp those with sailing boats on keels. i.e. high CofG. Your tubes should be about twice as high as wide to counter-act the pitching moments. In reality the wt is taken by the spine on the axles, depending on the rollers/props supporting the boat. So, the two spine tubes should be around 80x40mm and the cross members similar.
Ch-G is not about to build a trailer, so I hope she gets a better result than so far.
A
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FWIW
My trailer is made to a similar design with 3" x 1½" tube, 1/8" thick as far as I know, except for the axle cross members which are each two pieces of 2"x 2" x ¼" angle.

My boat is however a bilge keeler so the weight is distributed across all the transverse members by two light channels.

The chassis is all welded.
 
i've been at looking at trailers today to hire or purchase. if you're going to hayling trailers you could also check out blendworth trailers. they are 10 mins drive north away ! google them. ps: someone hear said about towing over 50 - tut tut pps: i've read somewhere on ybw of a bod on who will tow your boat for you at reasnable rates - depends on your requirements
 
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ps: someone hear said about towing over 50 - tut tut pps
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What are you suggesting. That the limit for a car towing a trailer on dual carriage ways and motorways is not more than 50mph?
 
ProDave said:
I've never claimed my trailer is a good one, in fact I've openly said it's pretty rubbish, but it's the one that came with the boat, and it's what I have, so I'm improving it to make the best of it. The boat is a lifting keel, so sits low on the trailer.

The spine tubes are indeed 80X40mm, and I share your concern the cross tubes are under sized, but as yet no sign of them bending.

I wasn't suggesting the OP builds her own trailer, just suggesting in light of all the difficulty getting a new one and getting it set up, she might want to investigate the prospect of simply altering (or paying someone to alter) the trailer she already has. If the existing trailer fits the boat, and the only problem is lack of nose weight, then surely it can be altered to move the axles further back to sort that out.
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Quite agree with you. It was just a comment on the pic. The periferal frame is not doing a lot as the wt. is on the join of the spine to the axle tubes. What might be more use is a couple of diagonals from the front axle to the spine to counter the flex from bumps which would wring the axle/spine joint.
A
 
Another way of increasing hitch weight and inproving recovery of a boat is to extend the box section tubing from the hitch to the start of the trailer sections.

I just unbolted mine, discounnected the brake section pulled the section out and away from trailer, went to a metal supply company and brought a longer box section and reinstalled to the trailer, and then adjusted the brake rods to extend to the damper on the hitch.

mark
 
grumpy_o_g said:
He'd got so little traction on the rear wheels he had to slip the clutch all the time just to get moving. I have no idea how he didn't crash quite frankly - I'd have thought it would be undriveable.
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That is quite different. It's not as a direct result of the incorrect noseweight.
If the clutch was slipping to get moving that indicates the clutch had no bite anyway. The weight of the trailer was a bridge too far. The clutch slip was probably out of his control. Instead of using more power he should have, once getting any forward motion, backed off the throttle allowing the clutch plate to grab and then gently accelerated.

If the rear wheels were actually spinning as a result of the negative noseweight then the clutch would not need to spin as well.
Doing huge mileages can be less stressful to a vehicle than town driving, but doing high mileages including lots of town-work can jigger the cover plate. It used to be common to replace just the friction plate, but for a long time the clutch covers (the pressure plate) have not had enough durability to last two friction plates so they are changed in entirety.

Very few cars are rear-wheel drive these days. Merc, BMW, bigger Jags erm, any more?
 
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