Boat guide spacing

[JSGOLD]

Our boat trailor has a set of guides to help me get the old Starcraft on and off with. However previous owner did a poor job of installing them, and have had issues with one side coming loose. I now have a solid mounting for them but since I am doing this I want to be sure what proper spacing would be on these? If I need to post pics I will, however you can see them on my avatar if that help. Basically there are two angled brackets with rubber side rollers on them that go just above half the boat height wise. I was just curious how close these should be to the sides of the boat to center it. Right against the sides or maybe 2-3 inches etc. The boat is a deep V and is 16', can be a bit difficult to get on trailor as I usually have to do most of the retrieval by myself.

 

[guy74]

Re: Boat guide spacing

On the trailer I used to have I had 4ft tall guides on the back of the trailer. They were made from 1 1/2" pipe with 2" PVC over them. I had mine set so that the boat acually had to spread them a slight amount at it's widest point(which was at the windshield), gave it about 1" clearance on each side when on the trailer all the way. They worked very well.

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Boat guide spacing

Thanks! Mine were spaced about 2" on each side when centered but, since these were so poorly installed (used a skinny fence post under the frame to attach the 2 sides together and poor workmanship) I was just trying to figure if the guides were wrong as well as far as spacing went.

 

[guy74]

Re: Boat guide spacing

Mine were very well made(made them myself), could grab ahold of the top of one and pull sideways and lift the othersides tire off the ground (with the 1200lb. boat on the trailer ). Anyway, I think they work best as close as you can get them.

 

[jayhanig]

Re: Boat guide spacing

Mine are the PVC type that are just a little bit taller than the gunwale of the boat. If I had to do it all over again, I'd replace the PVC with even taller tubes. They really help when you're backing down the ramp. I'd like mine to be a good 3 feet higher than the gunwales.

The guides are attached by a pair of U bolts holding the L bracket the PVC slides onto. I've got mine set to allow 1-2 inches between the posts and the rub rails.