Trailer For Merry Fisher 645

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Cbjroms

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Taken the plunge this afternoon and put a deposit down on a late 2014 Merry Fisher 645.

I now need to get a suitable trailer so that I can collect and then store it ashore in the pound space that is set aside for it at my local (sailing!) club.

I have been told that SBS trailers are the best and that the R4/2600EL is the one to get. Looking around the internet SBS certainly have a strong presence but the are other companies such as De Graffe (previously recommended by someone on this forum), Bramber and CLH Ltd in Wales which has also been recommended to me by a very happy customer.

Wondering what trailer manufacturers other forumites would recommend as being good value for money rather than cheap and cheerful. Also, if anyone has a suitable trailer that they want to turn into money then send me a pm (or email chris@displaycentre.co.uk) with the details.

Thanks

Chris
 
Cbjroms said:
Taken the plunge this afternoon and put a deposit down on a late 2014 Merry Fisher 645.

I now need to get a suitable trailer so that I can collect and then store it ashore in the pound space that is set aside for it at my local (sailing!) club.

I have been told that SBS trailers are the best and that the R4/2600EL is the one to get. Looking around the internet SBS certainly have a strong presence but the are other companies such as De Graffe (previously recommended by someone on this forum), Bramber and CLH Ltd in Wales which has also been recommended to me by a very happy customer.

Wondering what trailer manufacturers other forumites would recommend as being good value for money rather than cheap and cheerful. Also, if anyone has a suitable trailer that they want to turn into money then send me a pm (or email chris@displaycentre.co.uk) with the details.

Thanks

Chris
Click to expand...
 
Cbjroms said:
Taken the plunge this afternoon and put a deposit down on a late 2014 Merry Fisher 645.

I now need to get a suitable trailer so that I can collect and then store it ashore in the pound space that is set aside for it at my local (sailing!) club.

I have been told that SBS trailers are the best and that the R4/2600EL is the one to get. Looking around the internet SBS certainly have a strong presence but the are other companies such as De Graffe (previously recommended by someone on this forum), Bramber and CLH Ltd in Wales which has also been recommended to me by a very happy customer.

Wondering what trailer manufacturers other forumites would recommend as being good value for money rather than cheap and cheerful. Also, if anyone has a suitable trailer that they want to turn into money then send me a pm (or email chris@displaycentre.co.uk) with the details.

Thanks

Chris
Click to expand...

I have a De Graffe 3000 kg roller trailer and it tows really well, I borrowed an SBS when I first bought boat to get it home but I have to say the De Graffe tows better, it was a sensible price too compared to others, I bought second hand when it was coming up for 3 years old.
 
Congratulations on your 645!! Looking forward to seeing some pics when you get her.

We had a Nicholson trailer for our previous boat, which was a 20' Cuddy. They are a good, solidly built trailer, which we had no problems with.
 
Depends on the configuration of your boat but for our 695 the R4-2600 wasn't enough.. Was fine for the completely dry weight of the boat but as soon as we added fuel, water and gear we were easily a fairly long way over the capacity of the R4-2600 so I would advise the R4-3000 (or 3000kg model in another brand) which will also give you a bit of headroom for gear or extra's you may want to add to the boat.. In fact I put the boat and trailer empty on a weighbridge with half a tank of fuel and it was 2660kg..

If you have the owners manual it will tell you what the full weight is with the engine (it's towards the back of the manual we have for the 695), don't go by the weights published on the Jeanneau website because these are just the hull weight before anything is added..
 
Thanks wipe-out, your advice is very much appreciated. In fact I saw a 695 with a new R4-2600 that had been returned to my local dealer for a trailer upgrade yesterday!

I think the 695 (boat only )is about 150kg heavier than the 645 but that still means 2660-150 = 2450kg (boat and trailer empty on a weighbridge with half a tank of fuel). Also my 645 has a 115hp Yamaha BETL whereas the 695s seem to have bigger engines?
 
Congratulations. I also have the 645 with the 115hp Yamaha. I think your assumptions on the differences between the 695 and 645 sound about right, however there can't be any harm to have a bit of breathing space just in case.
 
Cbjroms said:
I think the 695 (boat only )is about 150kg heavier than the 645 but that still means 2660-150 = 2450kg (boat and trailer empty on a weighbridge with half a tank of fuel). Also my 645 has a 115hp Yamaha BETL whereas the 695s seem to have bigger engines?
Click to expand...

If the 645 is 150kg lighter than the 695 and it looks like the engine is about 40kg odd lighter than the 175hp I have then the R4-2600 would probably work fine..

Congrats on the new boat by the way.. :)
 
According to the Jeanneau website the 645 hull is only 55kg lighter than the 695..

http://www.jeanneau.com/boats/Merry-Fisher-695.html
http://www.jeanneau.com/boats/Merry-Fisher-645.html

Then when I looked the smaller engine is about 45kg lighter.. So without extra's the two boats and engines will only have 100kg difference.. The other difference is the fuel tank is smaller on the 645 so with a full tank there is probably another 50kg there but the weights on the website are just the basic hull not including extras or liquids..

As an example the website says my boat is 1400kg and the engine is about 220kg dry which suggests the boat is 1650kg with engine and oils.. Add 170l fuel and we can guess about 1800kg.. Add some other gear and we can guess 1900-1950kg which would be within spec for a 2600kg capacity trailer (the r4-2600 has a load capacity of 2050kg according to the website)..

According to the boat manual my boat fully setup with full tanks but without any gear is over 2200kg.. That is 400kg over the assumed weight going by the website and adding things on.. On the weighbridge it came to 2660kg including the trailer with half fuel.. So full fuel and adding gear would probably tip the scales at about 2750-2800kg including the trailer..

As I said earlier though don't do by the Jeanneau website for the weight but rather look at the manual or better get the boat weighed.. It's a lot of money to spend on a trailer that doesn't have the capacity and might be unsafe..
 
Arthur Degraaff was a really sound chap who made excellent trailers. He may have retired by now of course, but I suspect the standards still run through his company.

I bought many trailers off him and they towed beautifully.

Having said that, I'm staggered how much trailers have gone up recently.

When I bought a 2000kg payload trailer from Parrymore about 4 years ago, with many extras (flushing hubs, extra rollers, extra length, etc etc) it cost me £3000 - the same trailer from most manufacturers seems well over £4000 now....
 
+1 for De Graaff and Bramber

I think this has been said but, Trailer weights tend to be Gross i.e. 4/3000 take of about 5-600kgs for the trailer weight to get its carrying capacity. Add about 10% of the dry weight of the boat for trailer carrying capacity. Sounds as if you are close to capacity for a 2600 and agree with wipe out, go for a 3000.

Bramber rent as well.

Do you intend to keep the boat at the sailing club or will you trail it and launch elsewhere? If you just want to get it home to the club and launch there, all you really want is a launching trolley trailer, so then weight is slightly less important if you are a few kgs out. Plus a second hand old slog would then suit, if you can find one. But make sure its got rollers and not bunks, if your slip is then not all tide and you arrive to a falling tide with not much water with a roller trailer you might just get out ok.

However if you want to trail it around, I would say a 3000kg gross roller, with options of Bearing Savers/Buddies (not sure if all bearings will accept them, some are sealed), Hub Flush, Stainless Steel Brake Cables and Stainless Steel Studding to operate overrun brakes.
 
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