help? Heavy sailing dinghy launch trolley onto road trailer

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Swg

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I have a 250kg sailing dinghy which floats in 7 inches of water. I find it really difficult (heavy) to haul her up onto the road trailer. In addition I need what Mersey Trailers advertise as a 'simple' jockey wheel or a wheel on a shaft which attaches through a cylinder on the launch yellowtail and is held in place by a pin, rather than clamping on. It's not adjustable. Anyone know what this type of jockey wheel is called?
 
Thanks, the difficulty is getting my launching trolley with boat on, back onto the road trailer, maybe I need a winch...
 
It depends on the slope but may be impossible alone; if everything suits try standing on the front of the road trailer - wheels away from the salt water - and lifting the bow of the dinghy then pulling it complete with trolley onto the trailer.

It's a sort of balancing act as well as keeping weight on the road trailer; stones as chocks behind the trailer wheels to prevent it sliding into the water would be a good idea.
 
Swg said:
maybe I need a winch...
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You mean it didn't have one already?

No wonder you're struggling. Even the combi trailer for the lightweight inflatable catamaran thingy I'm involved with, has a winch to pull the trolley part up onto the trailer part.

Yes, you need a winch. Costs about £25, should be reasonably easy to mount with square U-bolts depending on the exact shape of the trailer and trolley.

Pete
 
For 250kg a winch seems likely.
But there are other things that can make a huge difference.
I added a few plastic guides, bits of angle section from B&Q to my road base, so the launch trolley was not scraping galv on galv if it was slightly off centre.
Also the roller at the back of the road base, I bushed and greased the bearing at each end, and increased the diameter a little by covering it in heat shrink tubing. This was more about stopping it clattering underway, but helped make it really easy to load the boat. I regret selling that trailer with my last boat!
Some combi trailers are almost effortless with 150kg of dinghy and trolley, others are a fight for two people. The devil is often in the detail!
 
Swg said:
Thanks again all, off to buy a winch etc today. Any advice on winch mounting position?
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Have you considered a tow ball winch mount rather than mounting it on the trailer? That way, you have it available for other purposes and other trailers rather than being limited to just the current trailer.
 
Can you describe the Launching Trolley and Trailer - are they built by the same manufacturer and designed for each other ?

If a standard Mersea combination ( and sorry for the "simplistic" question ) but are you lifting the front end of the trailer when mounting the launching trolley or have you already connected the the trailer to the car tow ball. ?

Pictures might help

Kevin
 
They are a compatible launch/ road combo. When hauling the launch trolley up the road base, the nose of the road base tilts up, unless I stand on it. I think I need the winch on the road base to haul the launch trolley up, not sure how that would work if on the car tow bar? Thanks for the thought though.
 
Swg said:
They are a compatible launch/ road combo. When hauling the launch trolley up the road base, the nose of the road base tilts up, unless I stand on it. I think I need the winch on the road base to haul the launch trolley up, not sure how that would work if on the car tow bar? Thanks for the thought though.
Click to expand...

The normal way then is to lift the front road trailer up and slide it under the the launching trolley until it will not go any further, this then gets the weight of the boat / trolley over the centre of balance on the road trailer. Then by pushing the front of the road trailer down you can pull the launching trolley forward using gravity.

If you try to winch the launching trolley over the back of the road trailer with the front of the road trailer on the ground you will a) ground the stern of the boat of the tarmac and b) break the back of the launching trolley

Kevin
 
Thanks all, lifting the nose of the road base makes an enormous difference. Added to that I've now bought a winch and the local blacksmith is doing some work on the road base to fit the winch tomorrow. Thanks for all of your advice.
MB
 
Swg said:
Thanks all, lifting the nose of the road base makes an enormous difference. Added to that I've now bought a winch and the local blacksmith is doing some work on the road base to fit the winch tomorrow. Thanks for all of your advice.
MB
Click to expand...

If you have a standard jockey wheel clamp on the road base, it will clamp on a standard scaffold pole. A good way to hold the road base at the best angle. With my trailer an actual jockey wheel (of the normal wind-up caravan flavour) is much too short. And you don't want it to move.
 
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