Size versus an easy life ! - Page 2

Viking · 29 August 2002, 20:57

Mark did you get a quantity discount on the rollers

John Hughes · 03 September 2002, 20:26

My experience (twice) has thus far been painless. Launching is a breeze provided I remember to attach a long line to bow and stern before letting go on the winch. Getting out of the water is a bit harder on an almost horizontal slip with single axle trailer wheels sitting in 3 ins. of water on ledge about 2 feet from a drop into about 900 mm of water. Line bow up on rollers, trim engine out and while one man winches, drive the boat up onto the trailer to a point where it falls onto the rest of the rollers. Because the boat is quite heavy, and the angle between the bow U bolt and the winch is too acute, I put a line from the U bolts in the transom to the winch, and pull it the last few feet with a bit of shove from the engine while it's still in the water. Only problem is if the tow car is light ( Fiesta) the initial shove can slew the car around the trailer. All very exciting and necessary, because i'm too tight to pay the £15 to have it lifted out with a Hiab. I reckon with practice I could do this alone, but prefer having someone else around that I can shout at!
6 metre boat about 750kg with fuel and bits and bobs + 175 kg outboard on a very basic unbraked trailer not quite big enough for the boat in question.

Ribald · 03 September 2002, 20:36

John,

I hope you don't tow your rig too far as with those weights you are well above the legal maximum for an unbraked trailer (750kg)

Daniel · 03 September 2002, 22:00

My boats on a single axle trailer with no brakes too, but when i did some research i decided is was OK.

Yam 130 = 167Kg (Yam web site)
BWM 18 = 350Kg (Some web site i found)
100li fuel = 100Kg (Approx)

This leaves over 100Kg for the trailer - which seams realistic?

Any comments invited - i don't like to be 'too' illegal!

LURCHER · 04 September 2002, 06:37

Just a boring point ythast could save you a lot of money and points .

to tow a trailer which is rated for 720kg and above you must have passed a test b4 1/197 or taken the trailer test . This applies even if you are tiowing and empty trailer !

dmoore · 04 September 2002, 11:40

This idea is not out of experience but a thought experiment.

Rather than a bit of rope to extend the trailer - car hitch to deal with shallow incline slips what about a rigid bar? a bit of steering then could assist and you wont corrode the car to peices in a few seasons.

just a thought.....

Alan · 04 September 2002, 11:59

I'dve thought you'd be well over 750kgs!! BWMs are quite heavily built (well some of em) and your numbers make no allowance for kit - ropes, fenders, etc. More fundamentally I would think your trailer is more than 100kg. I would go check your rig out on a public weighbridge, you might get a nasty shock!

I knew someone with a BWM 18 / 115hp Johnson and he used a braked trailer. I used to have a BWM 21 and reckoned that it was about 1300 kg all up including trailer, 40 gals fuel etc.

Alan

John Kennett · 04 September 2002, 12:47

Quote:

Originally posted by dmoore
Rather than a bit of rope to extend the trailer - car hitch to deal with shallow incline slips what about a rigid bar? a bit of steering then could assist and you wont corrode the car to peices in a few seasons.

This has indeed been done, and can work well (although you are obviously limited by the length of the bar, which is likely to be shorter than a rope)

It also takes a reasonable amount of preparation! With a small RIB you may have problems stowing the bar, but for larger boats it is relatively easy to find a way of mounting it onto the trailer chassis. I'm pretty sure that Chris Strickland used this arrangement for launching Seahound -- his Scorpion cabin RIB.

John

John Hughes · 07 September 2002, 14:27

UNBRAKED O/W TRAILER
Just for the record, the boat I have is in Menorca, and the distance driven is one mile to a proper slip, rather than launch off the beach. The police are pretty relaxed about such things anyway, provided you have a trailer board.
I suggested to a pal out there that I might bring it home in the winter to play with and his first comment was 'not on that trailer you won't'. He runs a fleet of rescue boats attached to a sailing hol. co. and is the guru we all need from time to time, including suggesting that perhaps I should strap the RIB to the trailer before driving off to the launch slip for the first time!!

matiboy · 09 September 2002, 22:08

we were in menorca last year at a beach on the north called arenal den castell, wish I could have taken my boat with me, absolute paradise to have the luxury of a rib in such blue water, where is yours based ?

John Hughes · 14 September 2002, 16:07

RIB is normally moored on a jetty at the Southern end of Fornells bay. in a village called Ses Salinas. It's completely changed the holidays, and well worth it despite the hassle of buying direct from Valiant.
Low fees no enforced speed limit, and 30-40 minutes from the best beaches you can't get to by car!! Just need to work out how to fix a Bimini, My kids think lashing a sunbrella to the console is a bit 'sad' Also need to make it go faster. (Think the prop is wrong) unless the Merc 115 efi isn't meant to rev over 4500 when loaded??
If you are there again there is a guy called Jose Luis who runs Sirvinautic in Fornells who hires speedboats and RIB's (4.7 up to 7.5) Happy to give more detail if you are interested.