Rhosneigr, Anglesey - do I need tractor launch?

citygent111

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Hi all,

As per my other thread, we've this week got ourselves a bigger boat. We've been using a 3.8m rib which although a great boat, we've found we've outgrown it, so we're now (or will be this weekend) the proud owners of a Fletcher 19 GTS.

We've always trailer launched the RIB from Rhosneigr beach ourselves as it doesn't need much depth to get off the trailer, but for anyone that knows Rhosneigr, the incline at the beach seems to be quite gentle at certain points of the tide, so I'm concerned we won't be able to launch/recover from the trailer as the car would need to be quite a way into the water before the depth was sufficient to take the boat!

I know there are tractors launching boats off the beach there, but I cannot find anything online about who or how to use their service. I suspect they are from the local boatyard launching their customers boats, but ours will be stored elsewhere on the island so that's not ideal.

I'm hoping that there's a tractor service where I can slip the guy £20 to launch & recover for us! We'll be over there in the next few weeks so thought I might ask the council beach warden if they know who could help, but figured it made sense to ask you lovely boating folk too!

As an alternative, I'd considered getting an towing extension : Boat Trailer Launching Pole Retrieval Bar (4 Metre Extension Reach) Hitch Ball | eBay which would give me an extra 4m before the car wheels get wet!!

Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated! TIA

EDIT: Actually, I'm wondering if I might be fretting unnecessarily - looking at the rear of the boat/trailer, given it's on rollers, perhaps it doesn't need to be as deep as I think it does? Attached a photo to show the trailer set up...
 

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citygent111

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Check out the park and launch people they may be able to help.
Hi Mister E,

Thanks for the reply! I'm acutely calling in this weekend as we take the new boat to storage over there, so thought I'd ask the beach wardens if they knew who to speak to.

It's like fight club - there is nothing anywhere on the entire Internet!
 

dac31

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Hi, I launch and recover my 19ft bilge keel using a rope off the towbar. The launch poles are useless unless they have wheels, but a rope and sufficient jockey wheel work just as well. The longer the slip the longer the rope, car never touched the water.
 

citygent111

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Hi dac31, the problem I have is that it isn't a slipway, it's a beach launch with only a very slight incline. I just need to get the back end of the trailer fully underwater and the boat should push off ok, but I'm worried about the distance from the rear wheels of the car, to the rear of the trailer!
 

dac31

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No worries. The rope method requires the trailer to slide down and into the water. I have a 4m extension and that is the same. The extra point of articulation is tricky but the jockey wheel slides sideways. The club has a dolly which is a pole with wheels that prevents this but not something you can take with you. Hence the rope method works for me but for you cannot push the trailer over sand.
 

TwoFish

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Having witnessed a 4x4 getting bogged down and then swamped there, I would be very wary of launching or recovering from a trailer with a car close to the water, especially on or close to an incoming tide. I believe most of the tractors there are privately owned. You see a few of them on driveways (and what bloke doesn't want a tractor?). I was never aware of anyone offering a launching service, but it's a while since I was regularly there. You could call Funsport (the surf shop) and see if they know.
 

citygent111

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Check out as in go and speak to people, yes a very strange thing to do who remembers doing that?
Reading the whole thread before replying - a strange thing to do, who remembers doing that?
As I said, I was going to call in and speak the the beach warden. Had a great chat on Sunday morning - bottom line is that all the tractors are either privately owned, or are from a storage facility and are only licenced to launch their own boats.

Not to worry - the incline on the beach 2-3 hours either side of high tide should be more than sufficient.
 

dac31

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Not to worry - the incline on the beach 2-3 hours either side of high tide should be more than sufficient.

Let me know if you want more info on my setup. I can launch or recover 19ft single handed in 5 mins or less. We bought the boat specifically to sail around Anglesey so I would be interested in knowing of somewhere we could launch in the future.
 

citygent111

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Let me know if you want more info on my setup. I can launch or recover 19ft single handed in 5 mins or less. We bought the boat specifically to sail around Anglesey so I would be interested in knowing of somewhere we could launch in the future.
Hi mate, yes would love to know more, thank you!

Treaddur Bay has a decent slip, but once the tide is low, it's a beach launch. Also £20 for parking car+trailer is a bit much, although there is a good sized carpark about 100m down the road for the slip.

Only other place we launched the rib from was Treath Bychan, but it wasnt a good experience - slip is at the bottom of a narrowish lane, it's a dead end, there's often a queue, mostly jetskis, and if you don't secure a parking space big enough for the trailer too you're knackered!

Cheers 👍🏻
 

Skylark

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I’ve never launched from Rhosneigr but have, many times, from Trearddur Bay. 5.8m Seafury diving RIB. Car was RWD Volvo 900 series in the 1990s. I once buried the rear axle when trying to recover the boat. Fortunately, a 4WD, a Range Rover from memory, pulled me out, with boat attached, with no effort whatsoever.

I used a rope to extend the tow after this experience and had no other problems.
 

citygent111

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I’ve never launched from Rhosneigr but have, many times, from Trearddur Bay. 5.8m Seafury diving RIB. Car was RWD Volvo 900 series in the 1990s. I once buried the rear axle when trying to recover the boat. Fortunately, a 4WD, a Range Rover from memory, pulled me out, with boat attached, with no effort whatsoever.

I used a rope to extend the tow after this experience and had no other problems.
Yes Trearddur is a nice launch although again a shallow slope on the beach itself. Our 3.8m rib was easy, so light and a single axle trailer too. The new one is like trying to move a caravan!!
 

dac31

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Hi mate, yes would love to know more, thank you!

Treaddur Bay has a decent slip, but once the tide is low, it's a beach launch. Also £20 for parking car+trailer is a bit much, although there is a good sized carpark about 100m down the road for the slip.

Only other place we launched the rib from was Treath Bychan, but it wasnt a good experience - slip is at the bottom of a narrowish lane, it's a dead end, there's often a queue, mostly jetskis, and if you don't secure a parking space big enough for the trailer too you're knackered!

Cheers 👍🏻

No worries.

The combined weight for mine is about 1200kg and a 2:1 purchase makes this more than manageable, i would certainly use it for something a bit heavier.

You could use a block or recovery ring instead of the carabiner.

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The launch process is;
1. reverse the trailer to the top of the slip
2. hook up the rope as per above, but tied off
3. unhitch, the trailer will roll back a foot or so but gathers very little moment
4. with one hand on the rope and the other on the trailer, slowly guide it down into the water
5. release the boat and secure to jetty etc
6. tie off the rope as shown in photo, drive car forwards so that the trailer is out of the water
7. use bricks to chock the trailer wheels
8. hitch trailer back up

The recovery process is basically the reverse of the above.

I have an electronic handbrake and trust this 100% as they have powerful servo motors and fine threads which crunch the pads, i've never had a cable handbrake I would trust the same way so would be inclined to chock the car wheels also if so.

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citygent111

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That's very clever dac31, thank you for sharing!

Won't work on the beach alas, there's not enough incline to let gravity pull the trailer downhill.

I've ordered a 4m extension bar to add between car and trailer hitch. Without the car going in the water, that puts the back of the boat 10m out into the water, so if I need to get the car wheels wet I could in theory get it out further.

If that's not enough, a tractor operator is getting a crisp £20 note!!
 

citygent111

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Afternoon all, so I thought I would update the thread after our first visit to Rhosneigr with the new boat.

And the short answer for those in a hurry, is...YES, we DO need a tractor launch!!

What a carry on!!!

Firstly, if any readers here were the guys on the beach yesterday that helped us, I wanted say Thank You again - hope the wine went down well!!!

For anyone who knows Rhosneigr beach, the access can be "tricky". The sand is getting so soft that my heart rate jumped at the thought of pulling a twin axle trailer with about 1700kg of boat through it to the hard stuff on the seaward side.

And I was right to be worried. The nose of the car (VW Touareg) dipped and I knew straight away we were stuck.

Beach warden was amazing as always, he pointed out a tractor driver who was happy to help. He dragged the trailer to the hard packed sand, where we discussed launching. It was about an hour after high tide so he said it was worth a go.......it wasn't. Not shallow enough for the boat to slide off the rollers, so I added my newly acquired 4m extension bar. That needs the jockey wheel down to maintain the hight of course - and the jockey dug into the sand.

So a quick smile to said tractor driver and he threw us out in deep enough water.

All is good. A fun day on the water was enjoyed by all. 220hp is a LOT of engine compared to my previous 30hp Tohatsu! Wife told me to slow down at 29kts and we were only at 3000rpm 😊😊😊

Anyway, tractor driver said give me a call when your back in the bay and I'll help you out. I did. No answer.....

Asked around, no-one knew where he was! His tractor was there but he'd vanished. Ah well, the low tide had turned so let see what we can do.

Car in water upto it's wheel arches (never again...), 4m extension attached - nothing. Nowhere near deep enough.

2 lovely blokes put their beers down to help me push the trailer out to the boat, then we used the 4m extension, the winch strap, a spare tow strap and some general rope to fasten the boat to the car, to try pull it onto the trailer. Nope - rope snapped!!

At that point dear reader, it was decided enough was enough. Boat was deep enough, anchor was deployed and I tucked her in to spend her first night on the water at anchor.

Then the beach warden appeared - he'd found us another tractor!

Tractor reversed in with trailer attached. I was towed out to the now tiny boat in the distance by a kindly jetskier, stowed the anchor and drove the boat to the waiting trailer. Which it turned out, wasn't quite deep enough!

"Give it full thrust" said the tractor pilot - I did and felt the rocking sensation of when the bottom of the boat hit the sand. He reversed a bit more, and I gave it one more thrust - with hindsight I should have got out and attached the winch, but you know....

And that was it, the boat was in the trailer and on solid ground.

Prepped it for the road, then remember the soft sand at the entrance...... I drove on the hard stuff as far as I could, then floored it, and we flew over the soft stuff with no issues.

That feeling I had when the boat hit the ground - was actually the prop hitting something, so apart from a little backhander to the first tractor driver and 2 bottles of wine for the assistance on the beach, I know need to think about buying a new propeller!!

I've attached some pics of the blades. None of them are bent, but they are clearly chipped. My question is, do I NEED to replace it?? I know I should for optimum performance etc, but I'm skint and could do with a few weeks to save up! What do you guys think??
 

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citygent111

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Can't upload the other pics, file size ia too large, but all 3 blades are identical with a small bite out of each blade and general putting along the edge of each blade.
 

dac31

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Wow the beach launch turned out to be some adventure then! It sounds like the warden was quite helpful though. Glad you got everything recovered mostly in tact!

If it's of any help from the pictures of my boat with the previous owner he had a portable crane made from scaffolding that sat under the trailer. I suspect he dropped it on the sand at low tide and waited. Not sure if this method may be of use to you.
 

citygent111

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Wow the beach launch turned out to be some adventure then! It sounds like the warden was quite helpful though. Glad you got everything recovered mostly in tact!

If it's of any help from the pictures of my boat with the previous owner he had a portable crane made from scaffolding that sat under the trailer. I suspect he dropped it on the sand at low tide and waited. Not sure if this method may be of use to you.
It was definitely an adventure!

Car was silent on the way back, except when the Mrs said "that's it - we need to find a marina"! 🤣
 
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