Setting up the trailer in advance of collection

[oGaryo]

Hi, I'll be picking up the new (to me) Rinker 250 Fiesta Vee on the 1st Nov.. I've purchased an Indespension Super Roller Coaster 10 trailer to transport her and use in a store and launch facility near me..

Does anyone have the settings for a similar trailer that I can use to get my trailer setup for a boat with similar hull dimensions to the Rinker i.e. 25ft deep vee. The official LOA rating of the trailer is 7.3m but after speaking to Indepension they reckon my 7.6m boat will easily fit as they are conservative with their maximum numbers.

Meaurements such as bow eye to transom distance, roller spacing, keel roller height etc would be good as would general advice on getting the setup right.

I will be seeking advice from the boatyard too on the day as I'm sure it'll need tweaking but as this will be the first time I've purchased a boat seperate to trailer, it's the first time I'll be trying to adjust the trailer to a boat and I think it just makes sense to setup the trailer as near as damn it prior to going to collecting the boat... if nothing else, it will familiarise myself with the various adjustments

I'm aware of things like tongue weight being 7% or so of overall weight and ideally having the rear rollers level with the transom but that's just about the limit of my reading so far... I'm not looking for the perfect roller positioning template but if someone with a Rinker 250 or similar (mines a year 2003) has theirs on a trailer and would be willing to let me know the setup they have, that would be greatly appreciated.

I've also sent an email to Rinker UK asking if they can provide the details.

I've attached a couple of shots of my trailer

Many Thanks Gary

 

[Jim@sea]

Your trailer. Dont do as I did. I bought my "new"trailer with the boat off the boatyard. They made a mistake (by 900 kilos) when they advised as to which trailer I bought as they did not realise that the weight of the boat as listed in the boat brochure was BEFORE engines were fitted as people had the choice of different engines. Anyway my boat was was "supposed" to weigh 600kilo less than the maximum trailer load weight. Anyway when I collected the boat I noticed the tyres were bulging and towed the boat to a weighbridge and found that the boat weighed 300 kilo more than the trailer was legally allowed to carry. This was of course after engine 300k, gearbox 50k, fuel 200k, water 50k, anchors, chain,ropes,fenders,idingy, auxiliary outboard 80k etc etc. So all I am saying is just check with Rinker what your boat weighs FULL. and check with your trailer specification.
Ps I would buy a better Wheel Clamp than one shown in your photo, Get a Bulldog Titan perhaps £130. I sold a horse trailer with a clamp as shown in your photo and the trailer was stolen.
PPS On setting up your trailer, I use a trolley jack and put it under each roller leg to get it tight. Ps. where is your spare wheel

 

[oGaryo]

thanks for the advice, the trailer's fine for the boat and the shots were from the previus owner, I have a couple of very good wheel locks that'll get fitted and the coupling is a triple lock.

to be honest, I'm happy with all that, I just need help setting up the boat support side of things and balancing the load correctly before collection.

cheers Gary

 

[BartW]

I'm afraid nobody is able to tell you in advance the settings of the trailer.
When you load the boat the first time, hopefully with a crane, you should take some time to check if the boat rests on every roller.
You might need some help checking and adjusting.

take a bathroom scales with you to weight to load on the trailer hook,
don't weigt the jocky wheel, but put some wood blocks on the scale, and let the hook rest on these wood blocks.

now you can correct the front - rear position of the boat,
weight on the trailer hook should read 80 to 120 kg's. (mine is 100kg's)also look at the specs from the car manufacturer.
when this weight is right, you can fix the bow stud, this wil hold the boat in this position.
The winch support tube should be raised so that the which cable is horizontal when it is fixed to the boats bowring

On my boat the bowring is quite high, I believe its the same with the rinker, On mine the bowstud with the winch is about 1.2m above the trailerframe.
you might need to make a longer tube on the winch support. (I had to do this on a previous boat)
When winching the boat, there is a lot of stress on this bowstud / winch support, when it is so high, The tube could bend,
Therefor I have placed a ratchet strap between the winch and the trailer frame, just after the trailer hook.

I think you're going to be over weight with the setup, just like me,
I have a aluminium trailer (250 kg lighter)
but a twin engine boat (loa 28ft)
just make sure that
-the boat trailer combination is corrrectly setup
-the tires have correct pressure (I gues 4 ...4.2 bar)
-maintenance of the trailer wheel bearings and brakes is impeccable

oh yes,
I have seen some strange fixings of boats on trailers here on this forum,
you should fix the boat:
-one ratchet strap going from the bow ring forward to the trailer frame, just after the trailerhook (replacing the force from the winch)
- two ratchet straps from the bow ring , 45° down and backwards, to the trailer frame (L&R)
-two ratchet straps from the stern cleat, 45°down and forward, to the trailer frame. (L&R)

good luck with it.

 

[Jim@sea]

Your boat according to a boat test weighs 6350 lbs "dry weight" which at 2.2lbs to kilo = 2886 kilos. The Indespension RC 10 states that the trailer such as yours weighs 850kilos, you add the weight of the boat 2886 kilos therefore you are 236 kilos heavier then you are allowed to tow on a UK road.
It used to be the accepted norm that if you were running Goods Vehicles in which you had to have an "HGV Operators Licence" (as I have) where you had to look at the weight you were carrying in your trailer to the nearest 20 kilos, that if you were 10% overloaded, as you will be, that some authorities do not prosecute for an overloading offence. This 10% is a discretion figure based on the trailer designed weight, ie 2650 = 260 kilo not the 3500 gross weight.
I have lost count the amount of times I have been on a weighbridge to check the weight of what I was carrying. I once sent a driver out and he was pulled up by the Police on a routine stop, found he was 300 kilos overweight, and he was not allowed to continue on his journey, I had to drive 80 miles with another vehicle to offload the offending 300 kilos. He was taken to court and fined £1000 for being overloaded.
I imagain though that the Police do not stop people towing boats as they do not have an "Operators Licence" at risk.

 

[oGaryo]

Thanks guys, all good advice that I'll take in to consideration. In reality, this trailer's going to be used to tow the boat the once to the launch and store facility (about a 2 hour run) so the main considration is setup for a pain free launch.. I do take on board the loading factor though.

 

[aquapower]

The good thing about the roller coaster is that it doesnt need too much setting up apart from the winch post height will need to be right and the balance over the axles needs to be right to get the correct hitch weight, I have had a few roller coasters and wouldnt have anything else, I have never seen the point in the bunk type trailers as they seem such hard work.

 

[oGaryo]

that's good to know... there seems to be 4 or 5 critical adjustments I need to be concerned about. Post height and balance as you've mentioned but also height of the keel to the keel roller/frame pads and also the positioning of the rollers to avoid the strakes and finally as mentioned, ensure all rollers touch the boat...

after having a good look around the trailer, I can see how to adjust all of these with a combination of bolts through holes and sliding of supprt points using the ubolts.

 

[jfm]

Gary
Nice trailer!
I'd agree with aquapower. You'll have to move the winchpost to get the 100kg weight on the tow bar, but apart from that the boat will likely drop straight on. Are you sure the keel is even meant to touch those pads on the crossmembers?
Like aquapower, I wouldn't have anything other than a roller coaster trailer. I'd never have bunks. Those rollers you have make it a doddle (relatively speaking!) to launch.
Good luck

 

[aquapower]

when I bought my first seadoo it came with one of those plastic bunked trailers and unless you submerged the whole thing then there was no way you could push it off, then when I ordered my next two new seadoos it was about a £250 option to upgrade to the roller coaster which was money well spent and the last two I bought they were getting bigger and heavier so it then became standard. My only problem now is I have one of those indespension jet ski trailers for my Kwaka 800 and that has the plastic bunks and am keen to make that one easier (winter project)

With the rollercoaster its very important to make sure the ratchet on the winch is working properly as with all those rollers its easy to have the whole lot back in the water again if the winch doesnt hold.

 

[oGaryo]

Gary
Nice trailer!
I'd agree with aquapower. You'll have to move the winchpost to get the 100kg weight on the tow bar, but apart from that the boat will likely drop straight on. Are you sure the keel is even meant to touch those pads on the crossmembers?
Like aquapower, I wouldn't have anything other than a roller coaster trailer. I'd never have bunks. Those rollers you have make it a doddle (relatively speaking!) to launch.
Good luck

Thanks... just spent a couple of hours moving stuff about after finding a photo of a Rinker 250 on a similar trailer... printed it off after blowing it up to 25cm with aspect ratio retained.. has allowed me to position the rollers and winch post as per their setip using 1ft = 1cm. The setup now meaures 23.5ft from snubber to rear most roller after moving the rear roller back and the winch post forward. LOA is 25ft but Bow eye to Transom is circa a foot and a half less.

Had a bunk trailer with the Binliner and a drop beam roller with the Fletcher.. no contest

p.s. you're absolutely right regarding the keel, should be an inch or so above the crossmember pads after doing some reading.

 

[oGaryo]

With the rollercoaster its very important to make sure the ratchet on the winch is working properly as with all those rollers its easy to have the whole lot back in the water again if the winch doesnt hold.

good point that.. I had a chain on the last roller trailer I had that clipped in place the same as the winch strop just in case the winch failed.. this one doesn't have that facilty so will fit one myself.

Just about ready for next weekend now.. prop bag purchased, got 6 x new heavy duty rachet straps sorted and tested the brakes today on the trailer.. will be fitting a new breakaway cable and just need to purchase a 185/70/13 spare wheel and will be good to go.

 

[AndieMac]

Trailer looks good Gary.

What's covering the transverse mounted roller arm, third from the stern, port side?
I can't see well enough from the pics, but have the other tranverse roller arms got a protective strip on the upper edge?
If not, consider covering the exposed metal sections, particuarly on the aft half of the trailer.
This will stop any damage to the lower stem, fore-foot section when/if driving her on in hard running cross tides and winds.
Just line up the anchor with the winch post (maybe a piece of white conduit as a visible post extension) and give it to her all the way to the post.

 

[jfm]

What's covering the transverse mounted roller arm, third from the stern, port side?
I can't see well enough from the pics, but have the other tranverse roller arms got a protective strip on the upper edge? .

Looks like a bit of pipe insulation. The other arms are bare, as is normal on roller coaster trailers. On mine I glued a block of rubber, about 20cx20x70mm, under each of those arms at the centre point. Jammed in the little yoke bracket that supports the mid point of the arm. This makes the roller arms always return to the "correct" angle when the boat is not on the trailer. Otherwise you always get (at least) one of them doing what 3rd from stern, starboard side, in gary's first pic is doing. Depending on your hull hape that can be a nuisance when recovering the boat

 

[oGaryo]

guys, I haven't a scooby doo what it is, it's a shot from the previous owners advert.. it's not there any longer. wrt the gluing a bit of foam thing, you're my saviour!! the amount of times I've cursed rollers for flipping over 90 degrees when recovering in a rough'un... problem solved

 

[AndieMac]

On mine I glued a block of rubber, about 20cx20x70mm, under each of those arms at the centre point. Jammed in the little yoke bracket that supports the mid point of the arm. This makes the roller arms always return to the "correct" angle when the boat is not on the trailer. Otherwise you always get (at least) one of them doing what 3rd from stern, starboard side, in gary's first pic is doing. Depending on your hull hape that can be a nuisance when recovering the boat

That's a good point J, our roller trailers have shallow V shaped rubber blocks below the pivot points, generally as a standard fitting.
The better quality brands have a nice length of machined out Nylon/Teflon along the upper edge (of the transverse roller arm), over hanging fore and aft by about 25mm and cable tied around the lower edge to stop movement.

If you are not proud, a low cost option can be achieved with 50mm poly pipe, cut to fit between the inner edges of the rollers with a, say 20mm (or whatever) slither cut length ways, spread and forced over the transverse arm. Generally the tight 'jam-fit' holds the poly in place, but a couple of heavy cable ties fitted towards the 'roller' ends works a treat. May not be pretty, but very effective in saving gelcoat damage.