You got it on the 'Bow down' attitude when on the trailer. I sailed an S2 6.7 and had the bow way down on the trailer. The boat had very poor directional stability when launching as the keel was completely retracted into the hull - had to get it off the trailer smoothly/quickly and start lowering the keel immediately! That is a 22 foot boat with a shorter tongue than the 17 and it would float right off! You may also try a dropped ball mount - deep drop will compensate for some of the ramp angle. Bow down mimicking the angle of the ramp you launch at most freq. will be a BIG help. 14 feet of chain seems like one heck of an extension - how high is your waterline above the ground at the trailer axle? Not fun if they don't go on and off the trailer easily. You will get it dialed in. GO In a message dated 6/12/2016 3:22:48 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, drifkind@acm.org writes:
On Jun 12, 2016, at 9:31 AM, Thomas Buzzi <thomaspbuzzi@gmail.com> wrote:
What's that old saying about bad experiences resulting from lack of experience which then generates good experience????
You mean, good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement? I dunno, I may just be a highly experienced idiot. I feel like the whole trailer thing isn’t as good as it should be. Mine has to go *way* into the water, using a 14’ chain as an extension, to launch. I think the boat sits too high, and isn’t helped by the couple of inches I added replacing the rollers. If a ramp has a 12% slope, every 1-1/2” of boat height is another foot down the ramp you have to go. Also, as the stern starts to float, the bow comes down, and at the extreme rests on the spare tire. It seems like, for the boat to go on and off the trailer neatly, it should be closer to level when it’s *on* the ramp. Maybe it should sit with the bow down, or at least lower, on level ground. On the driveway my boat sits with the bottom of the keel 17” off the ground, and the tip of the prow (for lack of a better point to measure) at 70”. I wonder how that compares to other trailers out there.
On Jun 12, 2016, at 9:06 PM, GILASAILR--- via montgomery_boats <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
14 feet of chain seems like one heck of an extension - how high is your waterline above the ground at the trailer axle?
In theory it should be 17” plus the draft so about 40”. Since I’m using chain and not a rigid extension the tongue rests on the jack wheel, and cranking that all the way down makes a real difference. I can get a little more drop by moving the jack mounting bolts. The jack’s minimum height isn’t very low and I’d like to find a different one. But it’d be a lot easier if I didn’t have to use the chain at all. I could get the bow much lower by taking off the spare and cutting down the…um…I dunno what to call it. The winch stand. The hitching post.
I have a somewhat similar experience, though less of a big issue in my case, no issue with spare tire or any of that. But when taking out at a ramps, I winch the bow the last few feet to the bow chock, and it all looks good...but the stern is still floating just a bit and when I pull up the ramp, the stern drops a bit onto the rear of the bunks and the bow moves up a few inches and back a few inches and isn't snug on the V-chock any more (and ain't no way to get 1500+ pounds of boat to move at that point, unless maybe if it was a roller trailer instead of a bunk trailer). Adjustable bunk supports and/or adjustable winch/bow chock mount would be useful perhaps. I am looking at getting a new trailer made. and will be taking all this stuff into consideration, so I am appreciating this thread. I have a temporary 18" hitch extension I use, only on the ramp, to get into the water enough without floating the back of my car. If I get a new trailer it will have a built-in sliding tongue for sure cheers, John S. On 06/12/2016 10:10 PM, David Rifkind wrote:
On Jun 12, 2016, at 9:06 PM, GILASAILR--- via montgomery_boats <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
14 feet of chain seems like one heck of an extension - how high is your waterline above the ground at the trailer axle?
In theory it should be 17” plus the draft so about 40”. Since I’m using chain and not a rigid extension the tongue rests on the jack wheel, and cranking that all the way down makes a real difference. I can get a little more drop by moving the jack mounting bolts. The jack’s minimum height isn’t very low and I’d like to find a different one. But it’d be a lot easier if I didn’t have to use the chain at all.
I could get the bow much lower by taking off the spare and cutting down the…um…I dunno what to call it. The winch stand. The hitching post.
-- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com
participants (3)
-
David Rifkind -
GILASAILR＠aol.com -
John Schinnerer