Trailer air clearance

[Paul Beaurain]

Hi

Can any of you who trailer a rib in the range 6.5 to 7.5m where your RIB is fitted with a fixed A frame assist in indicating the clearance required.

I am building a new garage - and want to make it suitable from the outset!

when giving the height lets have it with out ariels/antenni.
please say what make and size of boat and what make of trailer.

I can then make a judgement -

thanks to you all

Paul

[Aging Youth]

Hi Paul,

First I would look at what type of equipment you have monted on top of your "A" Frame. My VHF Ariel is 5 foot long and is fixed verticaly. Which gives me ground to roof clearance in excess of 5m. Without any kit on top I still need 3m plus

Under current building regs this is too high for an outbuilding or garage under standard planning consent. You must also take into account the height of the roof and type (Pitched or Flat).

I would suggest first take a look at your boat and measure it from the ground up to top of clearance required; you will need a tall pair fo steps for this.

Then talk with the local planning officer at your council offices he will be able to advise on type of planning regs/consent required. Then talk to your builder to see how much it is going to coast you. As an idea a standard single garage will cost approx £4 - 6K.

In addition you would be looking at custom fitted doors or a roller shutter type on a motor or chain, not cheap.

I think that you can certainly get a building to house your boat in but the expense is going to be near £12 - 15K.

Good luck & hope this helps.

[Alan]

Richard B can confirm this but when I had Blue Ice - 7.5m Scorpion on twin axle SBS trailer the height to the top of the A frame must have been 3.5 - 4 metres from the ground. I'm 6ft and standing next to the boat on the trailer the tubes are around shoulder height. So you need a tall garage!!

[Manos]

Originally posted by Paul Beaurain
Can any of you who trailer a rib in the range 6.5 to 7.5m where your RIB is fitted with a fixed A frame assist in indicating the clearance requiredPaul

Hi Paul Just measured the A-frame hight on my boat.
The hight from the floor is 2.20 mtrs

[Jizm]

I have just begun building a garage to house my boat, bikes and tools etc. Well demolishing the old single garage anyway. The dimensions of my boat are 5.8 meters tip to tip inc trailer, 2m wide and 2.2m high (top of A-frame). The building's dimensions are 7m by 4m and 2.8m high (to top of brick work then plus a conventional tile pitched roof). The main door dimensions are, 2.5m high and 3m wide. A roller shutter type door is far superior to any conventional door due to, clearance, security, operation and reliabilty (depending on spec). I have looked at industrial type galvanised roller doors, approx £900 for manual chain, and £1200 for 24vdc electrical control, operted by a push button inside the building. These doors are however suprisingly noisy, and not poular with neighbours. Cardale do rollers also which come out at £700 for and £1100 for a rather primitive remote control type. The one I am probably going to go for is a Hormann or Garador GRP remote type made to measure GRP door. Remote control with rolling code digital technology. Also these doors have a multi pin type locking mechanism which secures the door over it's entire height on both sides, very secure and very quiet. This comes out at around £1200 fitted. Remember! Find out the standard widths of doors before you comence building. The doors can be made any height by adding or removing slats, but the made to measure widths and odd sizes can be very expensive. The whole project should come in at around the £5000 mark with 2 2mx1m UPVC windows and a standard UPVC door also including a big drink for my mate the builder who is doing the technical bit while I labour for him. Much cheaper than the original quote of £10000-£12000!!!
My advice is to use the best materials you can and do the job once. Remember to allow for decent lighting (for late night maintenance) and other elctrical sundries, consumer unit, sockets, armoured cable ,perhaps an alarm? etc (RCD power points are best when working with power tools on wet boats!). Another useful thing in a building like this is water, don't know what I'd do without the mains water and old sink in my current garage, invaluable (saves upsetting the wife by wrecking the kitchen sink aswell!). Try to budget all this in at the start, it is much easier and cheaper to install services during the construction than to try to retro-fit them at a later date.
Sorry about the length, got carried away.
Hope this helps,
Jizm

[DJL]

I was going to get a roller door for my garage, boats 4inchs to long, but if there’re anywhere near those prices i'll stick with my bungee cord keeping the door half closed!

[Paul Beaurain]

Thanks for your detailed dimensioning.

If you can get me you e-mail I will send you some pictures of the site currently.

Clearly I have to have the doors on the end of the proposed building and it needs an open eves design to maintain the height clearance.

Alarms and electric supply are already understood - the car garage now complete, that we are living in, while the house is finished. The garage is centrally heated and build to very latest house building regs, as you never know what you may want to use it for in the future.

Paul

[Paul Beaurain]

Thanks for your detailed dimensioning.

If you can get me you e-mail I will send you some pictures of the site currently.

Clearly I have to have the doors on the end of the proposed building and it needs an open eves design to maintain the height clearance.

Alarms and electric supply are already understood - the car garage now complete, that we are living in, while the house is finished. The garage is centrally heated and build to very latest house building regs, as you never know what you may want to use it for in the future.

Paul

[Jizm]

email: jizm.balls@virgin.net


useful links:

www.hormann.co.uk

www.garador.co.uk

www.wessexdoors.co.uk

regards
Jizm

[tango]

I have one on my Aframe and the aerial folds nicely down towards the front of the boat.
The mount is plastic and has a plastic handle for quick release.
Works wonders when towing too.

It is so articulated that it can be adjusted to have your aerial vertical no matter what angle the Aframe tubes have.

Photo included

Should work for you

[tango]

Heres another one

This is 1 of the 2 I have on my frame.
Just in case...
The antenna will fold forward when towing and storing.
This setup allows a cover to enclose the boat completely

I highly recommend you make a pivoting mount for your Aframe. With a forward hinge and a rear clamping bolt. Any good stainless steel fabricator should come up with a decent item.
This will drastically reduce your door dimansions and put a fraction of a dent on your wallet.

Enjoy
Odysseas

[Richard B]

Originally posted by Alan
Richard B can confirm this...

Ahh, just come back in from boat maintenence and missed this - sorry! Well, as Alan says, it's a long way up there to the top of the A-frame. As Jizm's A-frame is 2.2m from the ground, Manos are you sure that you haven't missed a metre? 2.2m sounds very low for a 7m RIB.

Paul - be careful of using "2nd hand" measurements as A-frames vary a lot (Eg Ribtec are quite low, Scorpion also fairly compact, Ribcraft look bigger, but Prosport are super-tall!) and trailer setup can vary quite a bit.

I'm sure I've seen an A-frame with a built-in pivot to lower it, but I can't remember what make it was Mind you, if you have a big console with a deep screen on it, that may not be much lower than the A-frame.

[Richard B]

Just had the opportunity to measure this distance...

Manos, sorry me ole matey, I didn't believe your 2.2m but I guess that's accurate as ours is 2.4m from ground to top of the A-frame (that's the very top of the A-frame, nothing allowed for nav-light or GPS).

HTH!!

[CJL]

Why not reduce the height completely and save yourself a fortune! See attached image.

Its a custom made job but looks beautiful and didn`t cost that much to do.

Chris

[CJL]

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[CJL]

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