Launching RIB without using car…

[Matt]

Certainly all doable, but equally, when the weather's rubbish, the slipway is covered in slime, the tide's out and the trailer wheels are in mud - you want to make sure you have options.

I'd perhaps consider a trailer dolly mover on the front of the trailer for control, and then I assume your husbands car probably has a towing eye at the front - so a length of rope and the towing eye as backup if a bit of extra pull, or braking down the slip, is needed.

Best of both worlds then - manually handle it when you can, but you have options if you need a bit more grunt too.

[Steve509926]

Hi Ange, take a look at this thread. Similar size to your setup with Beachmaster transom wheels fitted.

[lakelandterrier]

I know Dartside well, used to keep my 4.0 Avon there...

It is a shallow slip. As others have said the challenge is pulling her out and up the slip on recovery - maybe after a long day on the water when you may be tired. I'd fit a towbar and use the LR, lot quicker, less strain on yourselves plus you can tow it round to the washpoint to flush the engine and wash her down etc..

It also gives you flexibility to launch elsewhere e.g. when tides are poor -Galmpton is only ok for launch / recovery no more that +/- 2.5 hours either side of high tide - you don't want to be stuck on the mud for 6 hours

Another advantage of a towbar is it does protect the ear of your vehicle from muppets who can't stop in time - it's saved damage to rear of my car at least 3 times when in queuing traffic people have run into me!

[Ange]

Hi all

Just to let you know that we managed to launch using just the 2 of us and the trailer (that did have a jockey wheel). We were nervous during launch and prior to retrieval but everything was simpler than we expected and we did not run into any major issues. Fortunately the weather wasn’t great so we did not have too many spectators.

Thanks again for all your help 💕

Angela

[Steve509926]

It's good that your launch went off without any issues. Now you can get out and about and explore what is a beautiful area.