Loading onto a roller trailer

[jhtaylor]

All of my previous boats/trailers have been bunk types or I converted them before using them very much. They were all smaller boats in the 14-16 ft range. I would back the trailer down the ramp and set the brake leaving the rig in grandma gear then shutting it off. I would get in the boat and drive it on the trailer. All of these boats have been open boats and one open bow runabout. I would shut it down, walk forward, lean over the bow and hook the safety chain. I would signal the wife who would then start the rig and drive off the ramp. This was a quick and easy way to minimize ramp time.

My "new" boat is a large 18 footer on a full roller tailer. It is a closed bow with no room for a fat old man to walk around the windshield to latch a chain. I am not sure it would be safe to lean over that far even if I could get up there. Does this mean I have to winch the boat on the trailer? Is there a device that automatically locks the boat so a driver can pull out? do I need to invent such a device?

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

Somebody use to market a spring loaded latch that would lock in the eye on the bow of the boat. I think it was Cabela's but I think they dropped it becaue it didn't work too well. Maybe someone else's memory is better than mine. It wouldn't take much.

 

[mthieme]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

There's always an electric winch or the drive-on technique which you leave the engine idling in gear.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

the lock mechanism, failed because every boat loads differently, the angle changes, with the bow of the boat sitting on rollers or the bunks, and the stern floating. the best you can do is to get the other person to connect the winch line. i have tried the motor in gear trick, does not work, especialy if the tow vehicle driver has a heavy foot. and pulls the trailer out from under the boat. this is why i have gone to all bunk trailers.

 

[jhtaylor]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

Tashasdaddy, will a larger glass boat "stick" well enough to bunks for the driver to pull away? Maybe the best plan is to just have the wife hook the darn thing before she starts it and pulls away.

 

[levittownnick]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

Have the wife drive the boat on the trailor, that way you can hook up the safety's.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

For me what works when loading is to back the trailer in till about half of the rear roller arms are submerged, walk out on the trailer, hook the boat and wind it on. This works fine for my 18' boat and has worked on most all of my boats. How deep you need to go depends on the angle of the ramp and how high your trailer sits.
The hardest part is getting the bow eye hooked when the trailer is out in deep or cold water. I've used my boat pole to hook the bow eye on occasion as well but most of my trailers have walking planks on them, if the water is really cold, I'll hook the bow eye first, then have a buddy back down further into the water while I guide the boat. I wouldn't do it that way with a larger boat though.
My boat is light enough that I can pull it up to me to hook the bow eye without having to reach too far out towards the boat, I can almost pull it up the trailer halfway before I need to use the winch, but it's a light boat and the rollers are new.

It will be a matter of experimenting with various methods, what works for one guy may not work for another. The ramp I find the easiest is one that most people here won't use, they complain it's too hard to get the boat back on the trailer but it takes me only a minute or two. A steeper ramp is easier to load on since you don't have to back in as far.
We have one ramp here that has a double drop off, it's a shallow grade up high but drops steeper out farther. This makes for an easy, quick, dry recovery in my eyes, most others won't even use that ramp. It's also the easiest to use at low tide.

 

[cbavier]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

All of my previous boats/trailers have been bunk types or I converted them before using them very much. They were all smaller boats in the 14-16 ft range. I would back the trailer down the ramp and set the brake leaving the rig in grandma gear then shutting it off. I would get in the boat and drive it on the trailer. All of these boats have been open boats and one open bow runabout. I would shut it down, walk forward, lean over the bow and hook the safety chain. I would signal the wife who would then start the rig and drive off the ramp. This was a quick and easy way to minimize ramp time.

My "new" boat is a large 18 footer on a full roller tailer. It is a closed bow with no room for a fat old man to walk around the windshield to latch a chain. I am not sure it would be safe to lean over that far even if I could get up there. Does this mean I have to winch the boat on the trailer? Is there a device that automatically locks the boat so a driver can pull out? do I need to invent such a device?

Mine is a roller trailer. Float it on the trailer until you can reach the bow Hook. Then hook the winch strap to the bow eye and winch the last 6 or 7 inches. Pull it out of the water far enough to hook up the safety chain. This is also when you check to make sure your boat is centered on the trailer. Then I usually pull it all the way out but staying on the ramp (providing someone else isn't there to launch or retrieve. Take an old towel and wash the scum (if any) off the hull. It's much easier to do it at the ramp when the hull is still wet than to wait until it crusts. That only takes about five minutes. If I have to. I pull it up to the staging area then wash the scum off. So I always make sure I carry a Pail for Lake water.

 

[lyncraft_mechanic]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

here is a handy device for hooking up your winch to your bow eye without getting wet!!http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0014510015320a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntt=winch+pole&Ntk=Products&sort=all&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&_D%3Asort=+&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

 

[cbavier]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

here is a handy device for hooking up your winch to your bow eye without getting wet!!http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0014510015320a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntt=winch+pole&Ntk=Products&sort=all&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&_D%3Asort=+&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

This hook/pole sure didn't get very good reviews. I just read all 14 reviews and I would want something better than that for my $32. I would tie a 25 ft rope to the bow eye and pull it up at the ramp by hand first. I float my boat on. I back into the water until my trailer fenders are just barely submerged. But I also have an extra long trailer tongue. My boat weighs 3,000 lbs. It must be floated on almost all the way.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

it would not fit into my bow eye.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

I use one of these:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...h-box.jsp.form1&Go.x=0&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

I hook the winch cable hook through the hole where the cable attaches and just reach out and attach the cable. It works rather easy. I've actually been using my old one , which has the hook part broken off about half way and ground smooth. I guess it's one of those things that you just have to find a way that works for you. Most of my trailers have winch hooks made of steel or cast iron, I also have one pole with a very strong magnet attached to one end. It began life as a grab hook in an auto parts store for reaching belts and hoses from the overhead row of hooks. I just epoxied a magnet over the hook end and cut it short. I can attach the hook and pull the pole free once hooked. I keep it on the bow of my boat when loading, but it's also been useful in retrieving lost lures.

 

[jhtaylor]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

Hey, thanks for all of the input. I am going to convert my trailer to bunks to get the boat lower as this works best at most of the ramps I will be launching from. I think I will use a strap as my bow line. I will pull the boat up by hand and then thread the strap through the winch and use it to winch the boat up to the stop. All of this may take a couple of minutes onger than I am used to, but I don't think it will interfere with the flow of traffic to much. We don't tend to frequent the ramps where the hot doggers play. We be old fishin' folks. Again, thanks for the great ideas.

 

[cbavier]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

Hey, thanks for all of the input. I am going to convert my trailer to bunks to get the boat lower as this works best at most of the ramps I will be launching from. I think I will use a strap as my bow line. I will pull the boat up by hand and then thread the strap through the winch and use it to winch the boat up to the stop. All of this may take a couple of minutes onger than I am used to, but I don't think it will interfere with the flow of traffic to much. We don't tend to frequent the ramps where the hot doggers play. We be old fishin' folks. Again, thanks for the great ideas.

Hey taylor don't forget the boat won't sit any lower on your trailer than your keel rollers. Bunks or no bunks.

 

[redfury]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

Someone posted about an autoloading electric winch that works kinda like a cable and hook on an aircraft carrier, but in reverse. It unloads and loads the boat...it's pretty slick, if you want to go to that expense.

 

[Seon]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

I too have a problem loading my boat on the roller bunks. It certainly changes a delightful day of fishing/cruising into a horror story when the wife and I load the 21' Bayliner Trophy. I need to finish up the other trailer that I'm rebuilding with board bunks.

 

[Navy Jr.]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

Someone posted about an autoloading electric winch that works kinda like a cable and hook on an aircraft carrier, but in reverse. It unloads and loads the boat...it's pretty slick, if you want to go to that expense.

I wonder if this is the winch from Rope-a-Boat, Inc. in Forest Lake, MN. Probable website might be ropeaboat.com. I recall you can choose between manual or electric, and that prices range from around $600 to $1100. You need to replace the bow eye on your boat with their special latch.

 

[chick92064]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

I guess I must be weird. I grew up on roller trailers and wouldn't know what to do with anything but. I think the key to the whole thing is ensuring that the trailer rollers are set right for the boat you're putting on the trailer. That usually involves having the boat set on the trailer with slings (my preferred method at least) As to pulling the boat out of the water and onto the trailer, I put the trailer in the water with all but the forward most rollers in and then winch out the bow line, walking down the center frame rail of the trailer with knee high boots on. Put the hook in the bow eye and winchthe boat on. Don't believe I've ever spent more than 15 minutes from backing down the ramp to pulling away. Have done the whole process alone with a 23 ft boat many times. When I get off the ramp and in the parking lot, I check everything and then put on the front safety chain and the stern straps and away I go. Like anything else, it takes a bit of practice before you get it down pat.

 

[ebry710]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

All of my previous boats/trailers have been bunk types or I converted them before using them very much. They were all smaller boats in the 14-16 ft range. I would back the trailer down the ramp and set the brake leaving the rig in grandma gear then shutting it off. I would get in the boat and drive it on the trailer. All of these boats have been open boats and one open bow runabout. I would shut it down, walk forward, lean over the bow and hook the safety chain. I would signal the wife who would then start the rig and drive off the ramp. This was a quick and easy way to minimize ramp time.

My "new" boat is a large 18 footer on a full roller tailer. It is a closed bow with no room for a fat old man to walk around the windshield to latch a chain. I am not sure it would be safe to lean over that far even if I could get up there. Does this mean I have to winch the boat on the trailer? Is there a device that automatically locks the boat so a driver can pull out? do I need to invent such a device?

Are you sure the problem is the rollers? It sound as though you are having problems hooking the chain. Changing to bunks won't fix that. If you can't reach the eye to fasten it to the winch, then even if you bunk it, all it will take is your wife hitting the gas peddle and your boating day will end with a bang and your ton of boat will need a tow truck.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Loading onto a roller trailer

I actually find it easier to hook the boat on a roller trailer since the trailer don't have to be in so deep.
Maybe the answer is to just add a walking plank to the trailer to allow you to walk down the trailer to hook the boat, then just crank it on.

What I do is to back my roller trailer in to where the water is up to about midway between the last two sets of rollers. At this point the bow can easily rise onto the roller arms and self center. I have a walking plank bolted down the right side, just a length of 5/4" deck plank U bolted to a few cross members.
I an walk down within a few feet of the boat, if I have to I'll use a boat hook to snag the bow eye. Some ramps are easier than others. On my bunk trailers, I back in about 2 foot deeper and motor on far enough to stick the boat on the bunks, then climb over the bow, hook the eye and walk up the trailer and crank on the boat. Since I launch that were there is no dock, if I didn't hop over the bow, I'd have no choice but to get wet. Which isn't an option this time of year.
I generally prefer the Load Rite type roller trailer, with no keel rollers. These seem to self center far better than a bunk trailer with keel rollers especially in windy conditions or where the current is strong.