Re: New GT 185
I took a boaters safety course when I was 10yrs old, and have a good 10 years of boating experience with an outboard. I know somethings about I/O's from friends who have them, but I've never actually loaded a boat onto or off a trailer. My cousin who has a glastron seems to always have a struggle getting his boat properly centered onto his trailer. There's gotta be a trick to this and I am sure most everything is probably in the owners manual.
The EZ Loader trailer that came with my boat makes it very easy. I assume yours will be similar. Launch deep, retrieve shallow, but not too shallow.
To Launch: Turn the blower on for 4-5 minutes, check that the plug is in, take back straps off, back it in as far as you can, lower the drive so it's just submerged, start the motor, unhook the strap and safety cable, gently back it off the trailer and your in.
To retrieve: Just idle it in and it fits itself onto the bunks (not rollers) almost without effort. If you have the trailer in at the proper depth which will vary depending on the steepness of the ramp, it is very easy. Gently slide in on the trailer and lightly blip the throttle to move it up to the stop, keep it in forward gear so it doesn't slide back off the trailer, tighten the strap and hook up the safety cable to the front of the boat. You're ready to pull it out.
If you have to power the throttle excessively to move the boat forward on the trailer, you're trailer is too shallow. If the trailer is too deep it will be floating about above the trailer which will make it difficult to line up the boat.
Note: If you pull the boat out of the water and find that you did get the boat cinched up to the front all the way, DO NOT attempt to crank it forward with the boat out of the water. You will twist the winch handle off its shaft. You might be wondering how I know this. We had this exact scenario yesterday and as I was deciding if we should back the boat into the water to adjust it, my muscle-bound 16 yr old son stripped the shaft on the winch. He felt terrible, but I told him it's genetic and not to worry. 40 bucks for a new winch which will be a heavier duty winch, but still not designed to dry-drag it forward on the trailer. You would've been proud of me. No swearing or insults. Probably because I was considering trying to crank it myself. We live and learn.
Our last boat was way lighter but with rollers on the trailer. This boat/trailer combo is easier to line up. You'll do fine.
We're going out again today. I'll try to get some pictures of the boat in the water.
