boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

[seanymph85]

Hi, I have received lots of great info on this forum so far and need to ask some futher questions in regards to making adjustments on my boat trailer. I am in the process of leveling the boat on the trailer and determining how far forward I can locate the bow winch relative to the coupler. First my bunks either need to go back 4 1/2 inches to better support the transom or the whole boat needs to move forward by that amount. One question is whether or not I can safely move the "winch post" which is bolted to the frame with 2 u-bolts forward 4 1/2" towards the coupler and still have adequate safe distance from the back of towing vehicle when turning. I have no way of knowing what the minimum distance from the top edge of the "winch post" to say the center of the coupler would be and still not have a problem with turning. I should mention here that my trailer at present would be hooked up to a hitch ball that is connected to a steel bumper mounted to the frame as in the original type bumper on my Ford F150 truck. I will also mention here that I believe the V-shaped support under the trailer tongue would contact the bumper when turning before the top leading edge of the "winch post" would should it be moved forward. I could move it to confirm this during a "mock" tight turn but will wait to hear back on this topic as the bunks are currently off. Further I do not know how far forward of the front most keel roller the bow of the boat can be or if moving the whole boat forward by only that amount would not create any concern in that regard. I can provide current measurement on that distance as well if it would be helpful to know in answering the question.

Another thing I need to know is in regards to the keel rollers. As I understand it, the bunks are meant to support the boat and not the rollers. Yet typically it appears that when the boat is out of the water and fully on the trailer that the keel is at least touching the rollers. So in order to make the best decision about boat position on the trailer I need to know as it applies to the keel rollers to what degree the boat is supposed to rest on them at the same time it is supported by the bunks. Should there be any ability to turn or wiggle them back and forward at all or should there be no movement at all when attempting to turn them by hand? Attached in one picture with some dimensions to show current position of "winch post" and winch relative to the coupler. I can provide additional mesurements if it would be helpful in answering either of these questions. I have another question regarding the height of the bow roller on the winch post but can ask that in a separate post. I will appreciate any help on either of these questions that you can offer.

 

[JimS123]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

I also have a 14R. Mine is a '64. She has sat on the same trailer for nealy 50 years now. Strangely enough, the outfit was correctly rigged by the selling dealer way back then. Of course, maybe its not all that strange. Back then dealers knew what they were doing.

I'll cut to the chase.....move the winch post and boat forward to where it belongs (4 1/2"), raise the keel rollers or drop the bunks so that most of the weight is on the rollers and just enough on the bunks to keep the boat snug.

Those changes will provide more tongue weight which can only do some good, plus the boat will launch and retreive MUCH better. As long as you can drop the tailgate and not hit the winch, you are not too far forward.

 

[seanymph85]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

I also have a 14R. Mine is a '64. She has sat on the same trailer for nealy 50 years now. Strangely enough, the outfit was correctly rigged by the selling dealer way back then. Of course, maybe its not all that strange. Back then dealers knew what they were doing.

I'll cut to the chase.....move the winch post and boat forward to where it belongs (4 1/2"), raise the keel rollers or drop the bunks so that most of the weight is on the rollers and just enough on the bunks to keep the boat snug.

Those changes will provide more tongue weight which can only do some good, plus the boat will launch and retreive MUCH better. As long as you can drop the tailgate and not hit the winch, you are not too far forward.

This is Great! Simple and easy to understand! The tip about the tail gate is especially helpful!

Thanks!

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

I have had many boat trailers set up where you could not open the tailgate and not had problems.... though as mentioned above if you CAN open it you are certainly not too far up

Keep in mind that depending on where the winch handle ends up will vary the amount of clearance when turning to that side.

the bow roller should be just on top of the bow eye such that the boat can't move forward without the roller. winch stand. or bow eye breaking first.

 

[seanymph85]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

I have had many boat trailers set up where you could not open the tailgate and not had problems.... though as mentioned above if you CAN open it you are certainly not too far up

Keep in mind that depending on where the winch handle ends up will vary the amount of clearance when turning to that side.

the bow roller should be just on top of the bow eye such that the boat can't move forward without the roller. winch stand. or bow eye breaking first.

Okay lets see if I understand what you are saying about the bow roller correctly. Currently, the bow roller is well below the bow eye that the winch rope attaches to. When the winch is pulled real tight in that location it lifts the bow up to 1/2" off the front most keel roller. So are you saying the center of the bow roller should be located just above the eye or the closest mounting location to that, so as to have the center of the bow roller just above the eye? Sorry but I'm not certain what you mean by "breaking first." I am going to try to temporarily hook up the trailer to the truck today to see where the winch is relative to the tailgate when it is open and go from there as to moving the winch foward up to the needed 4 1/2."

 

[seanymph85]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

I have had many boat trailers set up where you could not open the tailgate and not had problems.... though as mentioned above if you CAN open it you are certainly not too far up

Keep in mind that depending on where the winch handle ends up will vary the amount of clearance when turning to that side.

the bow roller should be just on top of the bow eye such that the boat can't move forward without the roller. winch stand. or bow eye breaking first.

Another comment on this: I checked the distance from the tailgate with it down to the winch handle facing straight out toward the tailgate direction and have 10" clearance between the top/edge of the tailgate and the edge of the winch handle. Given this information I would think I could readily move the winch post forward by 7" and still have a 3" margin of space between winch handle facing straight out toward the tailgate when it was down. As was mentioned previously this would put more weight on the tongue, which couldn't hurt. Especially given this older truck is rear wheel drive. Also it would bring the transom closer to the end keel roller on the trailer and might even allow me to go with a 6' bunk board when replacing the boards instead of a 7' board. I believe this boat is listed as 13.5' long so half of that would be 81" long. Maybe not on that 6' board. That would be 9" short of half the boat length. Might be best to have 7' Any thoughts?

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

You could move it a lot more than 7"

You don't HAVE to be able to open the tailgate

No reason for the bunks to extend past the end of the trailer.

The boat will sit fine on 6' bunks

3 points need supported... Transom on both sides and the keel in front...

 

[seanymph85]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

You could move it a lot more than 7"

You don't HAVE to be able to open the tailgate

No reason for the bunks to extend past the end of the trailer.

The boat will sit fine on 6' bunks

3 points need supported... Transom on both sides and the keel in front...

Okay thanks, I will look at that dimension for the winch post location again. Right now though with the boat moved forward approximately 7" the transom is still 10" past the end of the trailer, so for a variety of reasons I am guessing either whoever originally set this up didn't do it correctly or this is not really the correct trailer for the boat. I can make it work for now regardless but depending on how far forward I can move the winch post will affect how close I can get the transom to the end of the trailer. I have attached a picture with dimensions of how this winch post was set up. I would not be able to locate the center of the bow roller centered with or above the bow eye given the location of the winch on this post relative to the bow eye but I could move the bow roller post up higher. From what I can see this would also limit to some extent how far forward the boat would be able to be moved.

Also I am having some problems after moving the winch post forward in getting the boat both centered on all of the keel rollers and the bow eye centered on the winch as well. I may have to try leaving the keel off center 1/2 to 3/4" of one side of the back keel roller and the same off center dimension to the opposite side on the front keel roller to get the bow eye to be somewhat close to center with the winch. Or I may have to find a way to be able to move the winch post a bit further over to one side of the mounting point on the frame to achieve the bow eye being centered with the bow roller. First things first though, it appears from what you mentioned before that I need to locate the bow roller post as high on the winch post as possible relative to the bow eye and then bolt the winch post as far forward as possible on the frame. When I took the bow roller off of the "bow roller post" I noticed there is just a half threaded and half smooth bolt for an "axle" and the hole in the bow roller was perhaps half inch in size vs possibly 3/8" for the "bolt/axle" Oh the pains of revamping things that weren't set up right! I'll get it done eventually. Thanks again for the info!

 

[seanymph85]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

[COLOR=""]the bow roller should be just on top of the bow eye such that the boat can't move forward without the roller. winch stand. or bow eye breaking first. [/COLOR]

I am trying to picture what you mean by the above comment and what locating things that way would look like. Sorry but it has been awhile since I have owned a boat and some of the terminology escapes me. Do you happen to have a picture that shows your winch setup? Maybe that would help me out. I included a picture of the way my winch post is currently setup. Again I am thinking the higher the bow roller is located on the bow as a result of locating the bow roller post as high as possible on the winch post, the further back on the trailer the transom will be depending on the final location for the winch post. I really wouldn't need to be able to open the tailgate with the boat hooked up as the bed of truck is open and even with a Truck cap on I would be able to gain access through a cap door to the bed of truck area. So I may be able to move the winch post quite a ways forward from the original location of the leading edge at the top being 27 1/2" back from the center of the coupler.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

the point is that the roller or bow stop on the winch stand should be on top of the bow eye to trap it in place so that if you get in a monor collision the boat can't roll over the winch stand and land on top of your truck

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

Ok I went out and snapped a few pics of my setups for ya

forgive the missing bolt in the one pic... it's on the to do list.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

 

[JimS123]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

Yeah, the bow stop should be above the winch strap for maximum safety. Your winch stand isn't designed to do it. Poor design?...probably. But then again your boat only weighs 175 pounds.

Mine has the same issue. I thru-bolted a bow tie down with a chain and turnbuckle to hold the bow down. Problem solved!

PS - In a past life I DID have a rear end collision, with the bow stop in the wrong place but a bow tie down in place. The boat stayed firmly on the trailer frame and never left the winch stand....OK good so far, right?

Wrong.....the tongue of the trailer sheared in half and the boat ended up in the back seat of the car (a convertible) anyway!!!

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

Sure it is... Just move the parts like in my HORRIBLE chopped up picture above.

 

[seanymph85]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

the point is that the roller or bow stop on the winch stand should be on top of the bow eye to trap it in place so that if you get in a monor collision the boat can't roll over the winch stand and land on top of your truck

Okay, from the pics I can clearly see what you're talking about as far as the bow roller or stop being higher on the winch post. Apparently some of the pics are from a much newer design winch post arrangement than what I/We had as original back when on the 14R. Part of the picture of what I believe was the winch post from your 14R was missing and I couldn't see all of the measurements. Actually on mine there is a "eye bolt" with a plate on the inside of the V near the top front of the boat. In any case assuming that second picture the one that part of it is missing is on your 14R the arrangement you have and referred to is exactly opposite the arrangement on this 14R. Just another "whoops" by someone at some point. My whole winch post is only about 24" tall from the top of the bracket portion where it mounts to the frame. Did you happen to look at the measurements picture of my current winch, post and bow roller arrangement? As part of the measurements being missing on the second picture you sent I was uncertain how the length of the bow roller post compared to the one you have in that picture. It looked like it might be similar. In any case I will have to see if I can switch the locations of the bow roller(post) and winch on mine and see if I can locate things like your second picture appears to show. I may have to have the bow roller post shortened and re-welded to get it to work as you described.
I know its allot to ask, especially with the Christmas around the corner but if in the near future you have a chance to resend that second picture with the measurements for your arrangement on your 14R it would be helpful. I am also going to measure straight up from the trailer frame to see the height of the existing Bow "eye" (eyebolt) on mine and see how it compares to the height on yours so I can know if the measurements on yours should work on my 14R I have no idea if the difference in the years makes much difference in the height of the eye.
Thanks Again for your patience with my questions and your assistance with all of the info and pictures you provided!

Dave - S.W. Michigan

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

I never HAD a 14 r... that is YOUR winch post.... I chopped up your pic and put it back together in the correct configuration

You don't need any measurements....

Take the winch and the bow stop off the winch stand and take the winch stand off the trailer... move the boat ahead till the transom is no more than 2" behind the last cross member of the trailer. Re mount the winch stand loosely and put the winch on first such that the strap comes off the top of it's drum and then the bow stop such that it is JUST over the bow eye... you CAN bend the bow stop a little if you need to.... secure the winch such that the strap is very close to level... slight down angle is ok.... and last set the bow stop against the bow and tighten up the winch stand....

Yes you CAN shorten the bow stop if needed but try it as is first...


Last set the winch handle so that it is forward as close to the tailgate as it can be and get a helper that you can trust to spot you while you cut the trailer tight to make sure it won't hit your tailgate.... I'd say you don't want it closer than about 3" ever

 

[seanymph85]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

I never HAD a 14 r... that is YOUR winch post.... I chopped up your pic and put it back together in the correct configuration

You don't need any measurements....

Take the winch and the bow stop off the winch stand and take the winch stand off the trailer... move the boat ahead till the transom is no more than 2" behind the last cross member of the trailer. Re mount the winch stand loosely and put the winch on first such that the strap comes off the top of it's drum and then the bow stop such that it is JUST over the bow eye... you CAN bend the bow stop a little if you need to.... secure the winch such that the strap is very close to level... slight down angle is ok.... and last set the bow stop against the bow and tighten up the winch stand....

Yes you CAN shorten the bow stop if needed but try it as is first...


Last set the winch handle so that it is forward as close to the tailgate as it can be and get a helper that you can trust to spot you while you cut the trailer tight to make sure it won't hit your tailgate.... I'd say you don't want it closer than about 3" ever

Sorry, my mistake! I thought there were two people that responded that had a 14R boat. I guess it was just JimS123 ? that had the 14R. I will follow these instructions at the earliest convenience and will repost when completed. Thanks again and sorry for the misunderstanding. :embarassed:

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

no worries... lol

it's all good .... we'll get ya squared away:rockon:

 

[seanymph85]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

no worries... lol

it's all good .... we'll get ya squared away:rockon:

Ok thanks again, I am confident we are getting there. Moving forward, I am attaching pictures with some dimensions as to where things would be with the transom at 2" past end brace of trailer. One concern even if it turns out the winch handle clears when hooked up and turning to that side is this: With the boat moved that much forward the brace on the front most keel roller is approximately 68" from the contact point of the bow on the bow roller. I am concerned if I will need to have another roller welded or bolted if possible to frame perhaps at half way between the distance at 34." Also please note the end keel roller position relative to the curve on the end of the keel with the boat at 2" past end of transom. I would think it might be better to at least have the point where the flat/level part of the keel near that curve on the roller but to do so I believe would move the boat back a couple of inches further. Still allot better that before but more than the suggested 2" past the transom as a maximum amount. On a side note the tail lights will be much easier for someone following closer to towing vehicle to see with this approach given the transom is much closer to end brace. Loving the way it looks and that the transom and motor would be much better supported! :joyous:

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: boat trailer adjustments on 1985 Sea Nymph 14R "Big Water"

if you need another keel roller in the front then add one.... doesn't HAVE to be welded on, there are plenty available that clamp on

If you want the keel roller to sit in front of the curve near the transom I don't think it would hurt anything to move the boat back another inch or so.

If you elect to have some length cut out of your bow stop, keep in mint that your knot will be into the winch is you take very much.... buying a new winch strap to replace the rope would allow you a couple more inches


looks like you are getting close now .... good work!