Launching trolly - carpet?

Mirror Painter

Mirror Painter

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I was recently given a Mirror dingy. It doesn't appear to need much more than a coat of paint and varnish but it's been too wet to do much at all. So on the one dry day I had this month I took the rusty launching trolly back to steel. Then painted it with Hammerite. The painting was done in the kitchen. Wife grumbled.

It looks good now but there is a wooden board cut to fit the hull. This was covered with bits of sponge and then carpet but, because my Mirror must be stored outside, and probably on the launching trolly, I would like something more waterproof. Rubber, e.g. old inner tube, might work but I'm concerned that might mark the hull.

Any suggestions please? I have had some great advice here beofre and then wonder if I should bump my own thread just to say thanks or not. So I'll say thanks in advance.

Perhaps if the weather was better I'd have bigger things to worry about...
 
Man man fibre carpet should be fine. If it goes a bit whiffy you pull it off and cover it again. I made this launch trolly (which could also be converted for road use) and covered the timber bunks with carpet.

launchtrolley01.jpg
 
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Foam pipe insulation is common, it won't last that long but is cheap as chips.

Carpet is also common but can retain sand & gravel to damage your paint.

I am currently looking at using vinyl flooring (lino like) on the wooden posts my boat leans on at the quayside. It is cheap, very like the stuff fenders are made of & smooth enough to not hold grit or sand. For what you have an old split fender might work.

If you don't mind spending real beer tokens you could always get a couple of the hard black rubber bumps sold for the purpose.
 
I have a Traiload Rapide purpose-made Mirror road trailer, the boat supports of which are made from heavy duty polyethylene tubing. The problem with this material is that it rubs through the paint if you trail for any distance. When I re-painted mine white, I gave the areas where rubbing had taken place 2 coats of white Hammerite, which doesn't show, and tolerates the abrasion, well .. it has so far.
 
Thistle said:
Astroturf?
Click to expand...

This is the material of choice for many people.
It allows water to drain away and small sand or grit drops through it.
GRP boats are prone to osmosis from stuff like carpet holding water against the gel coat, which is oftenmuch thinner than on yachts.
A ribbed rubber is an alternative, but this can stick to paint sometimes, a coat of car wax on the paint helps.
I think basic astroturf is only about £10 a sq m from BeanQueue.
The main down side is it collects weed.
It's probably only good if the weight/wear is spread over a fair area by a good cradle, which should have some closed cell foam (camping mat?) to distribute the weight.
several layers of foam also helps with isolating vibration if you tow the boat a lot.
 
scaffolding pole safely foam tube

Hi, I have a Firefly dinghy and I used some foam tubing on my road trailer, it is like pipe insulation but thicker and stronger. It was used on some scaffolding to stop people bumping into the upstands and is bright yellow. Because it is quite large it spreads the weight well and the dinghy slides onto it easily. I asked for a length when scaffolding was taken down and it is great, am now trying to find some more for my launching trolley as the pipe insulation on that is wearing down and the boat never slid on as easily.
 
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