Retrieving to a trailer - is this a bad idea?

TSB240 said:
That slip is a nightmare too narrow too busy too steep....and its in Pwllheli!

The best slip in North Wales for Trailer Sailers is at Dinas Boat Yard Y Felinheli. It is not Public but it has a gentle slope, very sheltered and protected from cross winds, can handle three boats side by side so no queues.You can either self launch or Graham will help you.

Nothing wrong with your Trailer.

We dont have a winch on ours either. We do have a removable bow support for steep slipways and shaped bunks which guide our boat without need for side guides.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79352891/Trailer/BILD1084.JPG

She is a bit bigger and heavier than yours!
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Hello TSB2hom with keel up a flush bott40 nice photo nice boat. I especially like the colour stripes almost identical to mine While you say you can manage without a winch you could do it a lot easier with a bed of rollers and a winch. Mine is only 21ft and light but with keel up it can be winched on from very shallow water with the car still attached to the trailer. One trick was to tilt the draw bar down at the hitch so tilting ther boat more stern down. If I can float the first metre of the bow onto the back rollers it fairly easy to winch on. Indeed I did achieve recovery from dry sand. Not easily of course. Normally with water just below wheel hub.good luck olewill
 
MarcJ said:
Given that the trailer plus boat is probably going to be about 1000kg then 2000kg is fine, just need to get some brakes sorted!
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If the trailer is un-braked then it is unlikely that suspension, wheels or tyres are going to be suitable for the weight of your boat. Even if the rest of the trailer is sturdy enough.

I doubt if its just a question of fitting brakes. The suspension units probably wont accept brake assemblies .

Realistically you are likely to be looking at new suitably rated suspension units c/w with brake assemblies, hubs and brake drums..plus new larger wheels and tyres

and needing to modify the trailer chassis, even if it is suitable, to accept the larger suspension units.

I built my own trailer from scratch.
 
MarcJ said:
Yes a winch on the back of my van, probably 12V one that hangs off the tow bar, as I don't particularly want one fixed permanently as there's not much ground clearance.
"Strip, clean and re grease the bearings after every immersion before you tow away from the launching area" - this, I know, is best practice, the first time retrieved from salt water I hosed the trailer down, on Monday the trailer wheels got a bucket of fresh water chucked over them before a 3 hour drive. Time constraints unfortunately.
I haven't looked into how much work is involved in stripping the bearings - I guess you've got to take the wheels off?
The long term plan isn't to do trailer-sailing, although it's going to be the reality until next year at least.
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I used to have speed boats, I launched and recovered all year most weekends in the summer. I never stripped cleaned and regreased the bearings after each launch. I pumped grease in occasionally. After a couple of seasons they would start groaning and I would replace them.
Stu
 
Croak said:
Sadly, new legislation makes that difficult/expensive.
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Hardly; IVA trailer test is £70 and the rules are not much different from those which applied previously, the main difference being you need a man from the ministry to inspect it and issue a certificate.
 
Croak said:
Sadly, new legislation makes that difficult/expensive.
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It was not difficult , with the ( free) help of a professional welder nor expensive 35 years ago when Indespension sold all the bits to use old car brakes hubs and wheels for DIY trailer building.

A new 1 ton trailer bought with the boat would have been £326
 
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Croak said:
Sadly, new legislation makes that difficult/expensive.
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Only if you actually build a new trailer from scratch, and don't, ahem, rebuild an old one. Nothing to stop you blasting and painting or galvanising for a finish which looks, well, as good as new. Cough.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Only if you actually build a new trailer from scratch, and don't, ahem, rebuild an old one. Nothing to stop you blasting and painting or galvanising for a finish which looks, well, as good as new. Cough.
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Like I said before it isn't expensive or difficult; build a trailer to the rules(which aren't very different to the previous rules) and take it to a VOSA test centre and pay the man £70 for an IVA test certificate.
 
I'm told the trickiest thing is the brakes. VOSA will look for a "paper trail" showing that the brakes comply with the requirements of the EC braking Directive - 71/320/EC (as amended), for the maximum all-up weight of the trailer and load; they'll look for something (not quite sure what) for the tow hitch; and they'll look for a "compatibility report" for the two. Again, I'm not quite sure what this last one is, but I assume that it's something to establish that the pair are likely to work correctly with one another. It's certainly worth sourcing them all from the same supplier and asking about these bits of paper. The only other thing I don't know is how they treat the lights on boat trailer. Not only are the lights usually attached to the boat, but the lighting positional requirements relate to the overall width of the trailer (and unless you take the boat to the test station at the time, how are they going to know that)?
 
Avocet said:
If the OP wants to go the IVA route, the IVA inspection manuals can be downloaded here:

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-approval/individual-vehicle-approval-manuals

That trailer will be a Category "O2".
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I'm going to have a word with my mechanic, see what he says. The trailer is very strongly built, seems totally up to the job - it's just going to be a question of how easy/hard/expensive it'll be to but a new set of wheels on it with brakes. The boats parked up on the trailer in mid wales, I'll bring the trailer back here over the next few weeks to get it sorted.
 
MarcJ said:
I'm going to have a word with my mechanic, see what he says. The trailer is very strongly built, seems totally up to the job - it's just going to be a question of how easy/hard/expensive it'll be to but a new set of wheels on it with brakes. The boats parked up on the trailer in mid wales, I'll bring the trailer back here over the next few weeks to get it sorted.
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Looking at perhaps something like £250 for a pair of 1000kg suspension units with brakes, hubs, and drums. £70 each for wheels and tyres to fit, £160 ish for a spring damped coupling and a few more £s for cables and other bits and pieces for the braking system.

Depends what you can get cheap or second hand but it might be cheaper to be careful and pay the fine if caught by plod.
 
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VicS said:
Looking at perhaps something like £250 for a pair of 1000kg suspension units with brakes, hubs, and drums. £70 each for wheels and tyres to fit, £160 ish for a spring damped coupling and a few more £s for cables and other bits and pieces for the braking system.

Might be cheaper to be careful and pay the fine if caught!
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Lol you're not wrong! :D I was thinking more along the lines of a second hand axle with bits to suit, the mechanic does quite a bit of agricultural work and has a lot of contacts.
 
penfold said:
Like I said before it isn't expensive or difficult; build a trailer to the rules(which aren't very different to the previous rules) and take it to a VOSA test centre and pay the man £70 for an IVA test certificate.
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In my book that would be more difficult and expensive.
 
What sort of suspension does the trailer have at present? Is it the "Indespension-type" rubber sort, with two completely separate bolt-on units, one each side? If so, I think the braked equivalents have similar fixing plates, and might be a direct swap, if the OP is lucky. I reckon they'll be a bit more than VicS was suggesting, unless you can get second hand. I recently paid £220 for a Knott tow hitch (OK, it was a 2 tonne one, but I'm not sure they're that much different). I think the Indespension units are more like £250 per side. I was lucky enough to get a couple of 1 tonne Avonride axles, brand new, with braked hubs, for £100 each on eBay, but had to do a lot of work to make them fit, and put up with more ground clearance.
 
1000kg isn't going to be much better. The dry boat is 800Kg and the trailer will be more than 200Kg. Busted again

But this kit gives 1300kg capacity http://www.indespension.co.uk/Bundle-Deals/1300KG-Suspension-Package.html

With a hitch at a couple of hundred pounds it'll still be more than the minimum £500 I suggested. However you will get a full paper trail for VOSA, except you won't need one as it's not going to be a new trailer.
 
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Avocet said:
What sort of suspension does the trailer have at present? Is it the "Indespension-type" rubber sort, with two completely separate bolt-on units, one each side? If so, I think the braked equivalents have similar fixing plates, and might be a direct swap, if the OP is lucky. I reckon they'll be a bit more than VicS was suggesting, unless you can get second hand. I recently paid £220 for a Knott tow hitch (OK, it was a 2 tonne one, but I'm not sure they're that much different). I think the Indespension units are more like £250 per side. I was lucky enough to get a couple of 1 tonne Avonride axles, brand new, with braked hubs, for £100 each on eBay, but had to do a lot of work to make them fit, and put up with more ground clearance.
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Lakesailor said:
1000kg isn't going to be much better. The dry boat is 800Kg and the trailer will be more than 200Kg. Busted again

But this kit gives 1300kg capacity http://www.indespension.co.uk/Bundle-Deals/1300KG-Suspension-Package.html

With a hitch at a couple of hundred pounds it'll still be more than the minimum £500 I suggested. However you will get a full paper trail for VOSA, except you won't need one as it's not going to be a new trailer.
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The prices I suggested were based on prices on the Trailertek site

Took 1000kg just to get ballpark figures...... I agree probably not high enough but 1300kg susp units are still within my "ish" price range
 
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