Anyone built launch system at house

[Schoolhouse]

Hi
Our house is beside the water ( single track road at front) I am wondering if anyone has built a launching system to launch and recover a RIB
We are looking at something in the 6 to 7m range and having no interest in towing it I don't want a trailer.

My thought is to build a cradle ( 4 wheels but not towable ) and then build a rail system to lower down garden to the roar, across road and then down the rail system to the water. Road to beach about 4ft

Thinking of a 240 v winch ( or a 12 for a 4x4 with battery bank ) for launch and recovery

Keen to see anything that anyone has done.

[willk]

Sounds like you need a good yard trailer* and a wee tractor/old landy.

Rails down a shore is asking for trouble - madness IMO.

*With brass bearings of you're not doing any distance/speed - no maintenance.

[jeffstevens763@g]

Originally Posted by Schoolhouse

Hi
Our house is beside the water ( single track road at front) I am wondering if anyone has built a launching system to launch and recover a RIB
We are looking at something in the 6 to 7m range and having no interest in towing it I don't want a trailer.

My thought is to build a cradle ( 4 wheels but not towable ) and then build a rail system to lower down garden to the roar, across road and then down the rail system to the water. Road to beach about 4ft

Thinking of a 240 v winch ( or a 12 for a 4x4 with battery bank ) for launch and recovery

Keen to see anything that anyone has done.

Hi schoolhouse

Have a look on Tyrone snell trailers they have a fabricating side that have a past project exactly as you are discribing based in Cornwall deliver nation wide cheers
Go to boat trailers down to yard trailers, cradles & slipways

[Schoolhouse]

Thanks for the input, the trailer guys look really useful, as far as space goes that kinda goes against the tractor and landy option. Also i would rather not put in a concrete slip as other buggers would just end up wanting to use it.

[HUMBER P4VWL]

Just buy a sealegs RIB. No trailer, no tow vehicle. Perfect for you.

[Schoolhouse]

Originally Posted by HUMBER P4VWL

Just buy a sealegs RIB. No trailer, no tow vehicle. Perfect for you.

I have been looking at a sealegs as you are right it would be ideal, i have not seen any comments on here about them though.

Anyone have any first hand knowledge of them?

[HDAV]

Originally Posted by Schoolhouse

We are looking at something in the 6 to 7m range and having no interest in towing it I don't want a trailer.

Would be much cheaper with a trailer (standard one) and a tractor or dumper

Powered cradle would be cool but expensive! Probably not as expensive as sealegs rib....
http://www.thebeachlauncher.com

(4x4 dumper with no bucket just some ballast if required)

Running winch lines could be problematic

[jeffstevens763@g]

Decent quad bike and trailer?

[Schoolhouse]

We do have a yamaha Kodak 4wd quad bike, anyone know what you could realistically tow with one of these in low range, got a winch on the front of it to haul up from the beach

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Schoolhouse

My thought is to build a cradle ( 4 wheels but not towable ) and then build a rail system to lower down garden to the roar, across road and then down the rail system to the water. Road to beach about 4ft

If you are suggesting pushing a bogie across the road and lining it up with another set of tracks I think you may find that a lot harder than you imagine.

Do you own the foreshore? even if you do, you won't own the land below the MHWL and someone is eventually ylgoing to get aggrieved at any hardware you install there.

The yard next door to the one my boat is in uses a system of rails and bogies. It works well for them, but it was build with hardware "donated" from the mines in the town by people who build railways... I think wilk is right to say yard trailer, although you may find that the economics mean a real trailer is actually not that different in cost, has other uses and is resellable with the boat when the time comes. However, as willks pic shows some careful thought can design some nice features for a launch trailer like steps at the bow, or docking poles etc without worrying about maximum towing widths etc.

I think the thing that could make the biggest difference though is a front tow bar.

[HDAV]

Originally Posted by Schoolhouse

We do have a yamaha Kodak 4wd quad bike, anyone know what you could realistically tow with one of these in low range, got a winch on the front of it to haul up from the beach

Depends on your boat and access, if it's pretty straightforward then yeas probably I would think fine up to 4/5m ish 6/7m on soft sand could be too much quads are very capable.

However if you go down the yard trailer made out of scrap rsj with agri/lorry wheels that you don't worry about rusting and leave in the water then quad may well not be up to the task....

[hobbit555]

Launch using a small davit?

[jeffstevens763@g]

if its a seltered area consider a floating dock and drive the rib onto it.

pontoon & dock co.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by hobbit555

Launch using a small davit?

That lifts across a road, 4ft of foreshore and sufficiently down the beach to launch at various states of tide?

[9D280]

Have I had a specsavers moment and not noticed the bit where you describe the beach?

I only ask because I have recovered a rib off two beaches using a Ford focus. Likewise there are other beaches I wold be wary of driving a 4x4 over, never mind recovering a rib from!.

Where I am going with this is:

If it's hard packed sand a "suspension free" balloon tyre road trailer towed by your quad might be a sensible option.... Even soft packed sand the bigger the balloon, the less likely it is to sink. I sold my old road trailer to one of the guys on here at to use as a launch dolly. The suspension units were so old they might as well have been welded up for all the spring they had left, and I wanted a swing beam type to ease my launching woes.

If it's big evil sharp rocks-a-plenty then another solution might be needed.

[Schoolhouse]

Originally Posted by 9D280

Have I had a specsavers moment and not noticed the bit where you describe the beach?



I only ask because I have recovered a rib off two beaches using a Ford focus. Likewise there are other beaches I wold be wary of driving a 4x4 over, never mind recovering a rib from!.



Where I am going with this is:



If it's hard packed sand a "suspension free" balloon tyre road trailer towed by your quad might be a sensible option.... Even soft packed sand the bigger the balloon, the less likely it is to sink. I sold my old road trailer to one of the guys on here at to use as a launch dolly. The suspension units were so old they might as well have been welded up for all the spring they had left, and I wanted a swing beam type to ease my launching woes.



If it's big evil sharp rocks-a-plenty then another solution might be needed.

The bigger issue is the 3.5ft drop onto the beach which is what I was thinking of making the rail system for.

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by jeffstevens763@g

if its a seltered area consider a floating dock and drive the rib onto it.

pontoon & dock co.

That.... or look into the feasibility of permission to sink a Private mooring for the Summer? And use a Tender.
Very Nice to be so close to the Water either way!

[Schoolhouse]

We do have a couple of moorings which we and the family use however I am keen to be able to keep the rib in the garden during the winter and just pop it in and back out when we get a nice winters day.
Not essential but I feel it is something I could design and build, was just keen to see if others had done something similar.
Also keeping the rib on a cradle that cannot be towed and needing the temp rails to get it in the water seems like a good anti theft concept.

[hyperlon]

so how about a cradle with big wheels and a caravan mover driving two of the wheels? I am actually thinking of adding a caravan mover to my road trailer to be able to launch and recover without a car. The idea being just drive deep enough to keep the mover dry.

[Tim M]

A launching trolley sounds like the best option. ex RNLI trollys come up on eBay reasonably often (there was one on there a couple of weeks ago for about £2k) - ideal for this sort of time.