Low level lakes.Trailer Modifications.

[Gun Dog]

Re: Low level lakes.Trailer Modifications.

Great mod idea. I like my bunk trailer and don't want a tilt. I have to deal with tide changes, and short ramps in the river. I'm going to make mine a bit lower to the hub. One less concern while launching. Thanks!

 

[jacoboregon]

Re: Low level lakes.Trailer Modifications.

Looks like a great idea heycod! Thanks for sharing it with us!

 

[gunsup007]

Re: Low level lakes.Trailer Modifications.

Man, I sure could have used that modification a month ago! My boat and trailer went off the side of a ramp and it took me in my Jeep GC and a fellow boater in his Chevy 2500 4x4 to yank me out. I am just glad the trailer axle came out too! LOL You will have to let me know how it works.

 

[John_S]

Re: Low level lakes.Trailer Modifications.

A great mod. A strip of UHMW on the bottom?

 

[cyclops2]

Re: Low level lakes.Trailer Modifications.

Good idea.

I got VERY lucky with my first little trailer.
It was a old tubular rig that had a ....BREAK NECK ??....front beam. I could back into water that was no higher than any part of the car frame. Pull a pin out that held the long neck to the ....A... portion of the trailer& bingo. The boat tipped backward. Needed to ALYAWS have the motor UP. Worked great in dirt launch areas.I did use that feature on 1 DEEP... 3'.... drop off ramp. PIECE OF CAKE !!

Backed off a deep ramp alone in a current. Wisely left the rear tie down straps on. Boat & trailer swun downstream & stopped on the graded shore. Drove foward placed loose rocks against the side of the ramp where my wheels had to run up. More cake.

40 years later. I know where to go at any water level. I keep 1 super light weight 16' Lowe Aluminum with a short shaft transom & 9.9 electric start motor. I can at 73, muscle that boat on and off alone......We fisherman REALLY need 2 boats.
My fishing friends have bought a cheap Aluminum rig also, after seeing how easy a 15" transom boat is launched & retreived.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Low level lakes.Trailer Modifications.

great idea, but I agree with the others that it needs to be a little lower so the tire can lift over the edge of the ramp.
someone in a previous thread was going to weld a piece of steel on an angle with the same concept. Was it you? haven't heard the results if it was someone else. He was going to practice against a steep curb
Those who believe their truck is big enough to pull the trailer out are the ones who leave their axles behind. "A chain is as strong as its weakest link."
Some people also miss the obvious: if you roll off, extract the trailer without the boat on it. I'd say, even with skids.
Other solutions: tilt trailer, roller trailer, power winch, death penalty for power loaders.
You have to be careful with a tilt trailer on a shallow launch, since the boat goes in more steeply and can crunch the transom.
This is why, with a tilt trailer, not to have the boat, especially the stern, heavily loaded before you launch--although I understand the conflict of that and already being loaded at a busy ramp.

I do a lot of low tide launch/retrieves, and seldom put my axles in the water. With a power winch even on a float-on bunk trailer, I can pull my boat up with the bunks dry. I have dragged boats across mud to the trailer, too, when I ran out of ramp.

ETA: It was Roscoe who planned to add a similar rig--did it work?

 

[roscoe]

Re: Low level lakes.Trailer Modifications.

I know, old thread, but I promised photos of my skid plate and just now remembered to post them.




Ok, here is what I did, looks a little crude, but first time with a plasma cutter.

I have an 18' boat, on a trailer that could handle a 21'er. The boat is light, and to get enough tongue weight, the axle is pretty far back. Several ramps I use are older, short, and frequented by ill-informed power revvers.

I've been in "the hole", and have seen others fall off the edge.

Bent/broken spring hangers, bent fenders, flat tires.....

I built this skid plate, 5/16 steel, extends down from the frame, extends almost 3" below the center of the axle. So even with a flat tire, I should be able to use the skid plate to pull the wheel up onto the ramp. Still gives me 7" road clearance. The skid plate also runs back behind the tire a few inches, but doesn't look like it from this angle. I also had not pushed it all the way back in position yet.


Click and take a look.









Still looking for the right location to "test" it out, where I can get photos of it in action.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Low level lakes.Trailer Modifications.

I like the idea!

You need to have enough drop so that the tires meet the edge of the ramp ABOVE the center-forward point of the tire.

Agree, once the suspension drops, the tire is going to be hanging way down below the concrete pad. How about something like this?



It would require a bushing at the frame so the bar moves with the axle and some sort of slipper mount to hold the bar under the axle. The bar would push the axle/tire up, so the tire would ride up on the concrete pad. Kind of complicated though....

 

[sstone]

Re: Low level lakes.Trailer Modifications.

6061 in a channel, or even better, I-beam, at .188 or .25 will be as strong as, and lighter, than thinner steel. Great idea, maybe a little lower, or even a curve downward just to ensure those tires get on top of the ramp and that's an indestructible trailer