Trolley wheels: how to stop the boat rolling back down the slipway?

Greenheart

Greenheart

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I believe there are various costly manufactured solutions to this. I'm necessarily looking for a much cheaper way.

I bought a couple of wheel-chocks from a camping shop, for under a fiver. Much better than bricks for keeping the boat in its position in the dinghy park.

But I have ambitions about launching and landing (and hauling-out) the boat singlehanded, no small task when the Osprey is probably twice my weight and the slipway is steep - probably steeper than one-in-six.

The difficulty is that having gained a few feet in the upward direction, there's absolutely no option to stop and take a breath...

...so what I'm needing is a way for my wheel-chocks to trail along behind the trolley tyres, so that when I stop, there's no roll-back.

I think horse-drawn wagons used the system on steep hills. But the difficulty with the launching trolley is how to keep the chocks in position when everything's awash.

Any bright ideas? Please don't suggest a team of liquored-up totty. I tried that already! :o The solution needs to be useable singlehanded, when the user is hauling hard.
 
Hi Dan
With our Wayfarer you can sort of see saw it up, one wheel at a time from side to side while the other is chocked. However for safety the best way is a block and tackle or hand winch off a suitable fixing point at top of the slipway. Or tie a rope to the car...... Best way of bu**ering your back otherwise.
 
How about a locking jockey wheel, like a supermarket caster but with a brake on it that you press with your foot, all the control from the front
 
Nice ideas gents, thank you.

The trouble is that: a) there's absolutely nothing to tie a painter/winch-line to ashore, and b) the nose of the boat doesn't press down much on the front of the trolley - in fact it's a very neutral balance fore and aft - which makes for easy manoeuvering on the flat, but the boat will slide downhill if unattended, and I'm certain a braked jockey-wheel would skid too.

That said, a jockey-wheel would let me push from behind...never tried that, it could be the answer. :)
 
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If its a standard dinghy trolley could you not secure a bit of 2x2 just longer than the width of the wheels with two bits of rope to the cross bar/axle.

Probably a bit of a palaver to rig but it should work.
 
Slight thread drift, but interesting idea...

Thanks Vic/Vara, that's a good simple plan...except I would need some way of elevating the brake-bar from its dragging-position, from the bow, for reversing the trolley under the boat. Not saying it couldn't be done, but the boat is 17'6" and pretty lively in the breakers, so I can't afford to be hindered by a trolley which won't back-up when urgently required...

...I'll give it some thought.

THREAD DRIFT: I wonder if it would be possible to redesign a bicycle into a sort of towing-rickshaw? Just a cheap, basic, tough steel machine, deftly redesigned into a heavily-galvanised, fat-tyred three-wheeler with an incredibly low gear, so that hauling 200 kilos up a steep slope is within one man's abilities.

Every sailing club I've ever known would have benefited from such a thing. It could just stand chained to the hose-stand, ready for use by members.

At my club, singlehanders just have to hope that there'll be some kind soul on the beach who'll bring them their trolley. I helped a chap with his RS700, who said that if there's no-one present, he has to capsize the boat on the beach while he goes to find his trolley...that's a rather different issue though. My club could really do with some posts in the water to tie up to, as well as some securing-rings on the slipway.
 
So you can't just back your car to the top of the slip and tie on to that?

I think the problem with the biccyle idea is traction- you'd want the driving wheel to have the weight of the boat on it, which is going to be very hard to engineer.
Are you sure there isn't something to tie on to? Doesn't have to be exactly in line- you can make a bridle using two fixing points which are either side of the slipway.
 
Regarding securing points, yes, at it stands, the whole foreshore, slipway, the path beyond...there's not a thing to tie on to. Except the dinghy-pound fence, thirty yards away...

...which crosses a public walkway. Not an option. And there's no convenient access for cars...and I particularly wanted to keep it all as simple as possible. The actual hauling out is tough, but I believe it's possible singlehanded, even if I have to zig-zag up the slope - in something like the style which KevinT1 is suggesting...

...but I just need to prevent the boat slipping backwards when I take a moment's break. The slipway is so steep, it doesn't feel safe to park sideways on - I've seen boats left that way, blown over by the onshore breeze, too. A winching solution might be easier, but definitely more complicated, and would need a jockeywheel...

...Mavanier, I see what you mean - traction needs to be beneath the burden, but I'd expect 100kg of man & low-geared tricycle to develop enough traction to pull a 150kg boat.

Thanks Single, I'm sure I can look into hammering a big steel ring into the area where the concrete slip meets the stony ground. I expect it'd be roundly welcomed by club members.
 
Pivot a piece of wood/metal on the frame of your trolley behind each wheel such that when the trolley is level the wood is about 45 degrees to the ground. The wood/metal would act as an anti runback latch. If the wood had some length above the pivot you could attach a line to the upper end so that the latch could be lifted from the ground to allow the trolley to run down the ramp if needed. Having a latch by each wheel would allow the trolley to be walked up the ramp if needed.

I have seen this type of one way latch used to help in lifting an anchor by hand where the latch engages in the links of the chain.
 
For my heavy tender, I used to use a 2:1, just a pulley on the front of the trolley and a line to a fixed point at the top of the slip.
It was mainly about coping when the slip was very slimy.
It would not be hard to fix an anchor point of some sort some where?
 
Excellent thoughts, Roger & LW395. I haven't fully got my mind round Rogershaw's clever contraption...but it sounds like just what I was hoping for, thank you.

Since I keep an anchor on the boat, I could very probably use it as a hook, around the concrete edge at the top of the slipway...so, a jockey wheel and a 4:1 tackle (which would require 200ft of 10mm line... :eek:) ...and it definitely could be done.

My launch area is not unusual I think, Single. There's just a broad, flat, open gritted area about two meters above the high tide mark, with a concrete slipway about fifty feet wide.

As long as the tyres are well pumped-up, I can almost manage the work of pulling the boat out, at a slight angle from straight uphill. To be fair, there have usually been various club members on hand to help, but as autumn encroaches and my work requires that I don't only sail on well-attended weekends, I want to feel sure that I can manage without assistance.

I have it in mind to get those inflatable boat rollers too - so I can haul the bow up, out of the damaging breakers while I fetch the trolley.
 
single said:
This is more of a project but something on these lines? Maybe bigger dia. thinner wheels might help.
View attachment 35147
Click to expand...

I am sure I've seen something like that in use but with separate pivots and dual cords so each side can be chocked individually instead of both and it was used to "walk" a dinghy up a slope by pushing the top side to side and the blocks preventing it going backwards on each "stroke"
 
Nice bit of photoshopping, Single! Thanks. I haven't a doubt it can be done.

Here's the only pic I can find of my boat on its trolley:

View attachment 35149

Not that that helps, but if anyone has any quick-fix solutions, the pic may help them gauge whether it would work.

PS, that's not guano on the cover, just a rough repair with duct tape.
 
Dan Dan Dan. Yes it can be done with auto chocks and whatever but it is so easy to develop a back problem. The chock system will only stop it rolling back. Use tackle and brains and sail into your dotage.....:o
 
In the days of horse and carriage, heavy carriages and wagons had wheel chocks attached to the axle each side of the hub so that they slid along just behind the wheel. If the horse lost its grip, the wagon just rolled back against the chock and - usually! - stopped. some sort of modification of that idea could be made to work.

A completely different idea is to us a caravan winch: this is an ordinary trailer winch, mounted on a plate with a standard towball. The ball hitch is attached to the trailer twoing hitch, and the cable attached to any suitable point at the top. You then happily winch the boat up the slip stopping for a breather whenever you like. Most decent caravan stockists can supply for I think, around £30 - 35, and saves a lot of sweat when manoevering any trailer on a slope!

Flea Bay here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DUTTON-CA...ailers_Transporters_Parts&hash=item232f4f4747
 
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