Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

[Mark42]

Re: Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

Which boat were you launching? I like the roller trailer for shallow launches but i'm guessing you are talking really shallow.

This is the Bayliner. I'm talking shallow enough that the hull is in the water, but not deep enough for the hull to float off. The water is making the hull lighter, just not light enough for me to push off.


BTW, the launches I use have a dock that extends out from the launch to about 80 feet in the water. Haven't come across a launch where there is no dock right next to the launch ramp.

 

[RicMic]

Re: Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

I've used probably a dozen ramps in Georgia and have yet to see one with a dock next to it. In some places they have four ramps side by side with only a curb between them. So if you are alone and have to use the rope method, you have to keep it short or risk having your boat banging into the other one launching three feet away. Then you have to pull your boat back into the ramp, get in, push out so that you have enough water for the motor, start it up, drive it over the 50 yards to the dock, tie it up, run back to your truck to drive it up to the parking area! Its just absolutely moronic. I'd like to sit on a plane someday and have the passenger next to me say,"I design boat ramps in Georgia!"

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

It definately beats the go 40mph in reverse and stop method, and believe me, I still see people using it today.

Obviously you need to use a little common sense and a bit of finesse. It takes very little to jar the boat free of the bunks once the rear of the hull gets wet.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

This is the Bayliner. I'm talking shallow enough that the hull is in the water, but not deep enough for the hull to float off. The water is making the hull lighter, just not light enough for me to push off.


BTW, the launches I use have a dock that extends out from the launch to about 80 feet in the water. Haven't come across a launch where there is no dock right next to the launch ramp.

There's a few farther south than you are that have nothing but what amounts to wooden guard rails on each side. You either launch the boat and walk out on the tops of the pilings or jump in from in the water. There's not even an area to beach the boat after you launch, both sides of the ramp are heavily grown over with phragmites and are so muddy you would sink to your waist.

I watched an old timer launch a 22' boat by himself once using a snatch block and the winch to pull the boat off the trailer. He had a hook and pulley hanging on the last cross member, and would run the cable around that pulley and back up to the bow eye and run the winch, the boat slid right off the trailer.

 

[Woodbinekeith]

Re: Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

I made up an extended receiver hitch - about 10' long and thick walled 2 x 2 rectangular tubing about 8 or10' long. Had them drill a hole in one end to fit a 2" ball and at the other end to fit the receiver hitch. A nuisance to unhook and change trailer plugs at the dock but it did the job. It gets a little low at the back (the tubing is heavy and leverage is increase) but for shallow areas it seemed to work fine. It kept the truck from having to in to far, if at all. Water and brakes don't work out well.

 

[ditchen]

Re: Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

extend the receiver, or add an extra 6' on the tongue.

I love the long tongue and low slung trailers. I can launch and retrieve my 14ft mv jon about anywhere.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

If you avoid floating, you avoid a lot of problems--rusted out equipment, sideways boats, wading. It's all about your set-up.

One of my trailers is a "load-rite" with keel rollers as well as a wobbly set that catches the bow. For a 17' Key West: all I have to do is snug the keel against the first roller. If I have help, I just get someone to pull the bow line tight from the winch stand; it's lined up to hook the cable, which is also at the roller. The end of the trailer is barely in the water; the axle is dry.
Once I'm hooked, the helper turns on the winch. If I am alone, I get back on the pier, or walk down the trailer, to the winch--where there is at most an inch of water. Turn on the winch, and the boat pulls straight in. Only with very strong current or wind do I need to do any corrections at the stern; it otehrwise corrects itself and ends up on the proper rollers. Why? because it isn't floating, so it can't go sideways.
After a couple of minutes, the bow eye is snug at the winch; I hook on the chain and drive up the ramp.
The rear rollers pivot, so they act like a hinged trailer in that regard. I also have a hinged trailer for a 13' whaler, had one for a 19' skiff and 16' starcraft. They all climb up on the trailer when its dry.
So basically, my standard proceedure for 40 years in salt water is the same as you all at shallow ramp. There's no swimming or waist deep wading; sometimes the short boots are all that's needed.

I have even had to use the power winch to drag a boat several feet over mud to get to the trailer (this ramp builds up a layer that can be a foot deep at the end, but it's soft and covers the cement nicely).

My 21', I have to dunk the axles and get some flotation, but I only do so a few times a year. If I did it frequently, I'd get a power winch on it, too, and stay dry. The ramp I use for that boat has a hose on the top of the ramp, for hosing off the trailer wheels immediately after dunking (there are seldom people waiting in line).

 

[Mark42]

Re: Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

extend the receiver, or add an extra 6' on the tongue.

I love the long tongue and low slung trailers. I can launch and retrieve my 14ft mv jon about anywhere.

The Escort trailer is a low slung trailer. The bottom frame rails have to bend in a V to match the hull shape. But it still uses 12" rims, so that puts it up a bit. Can't use 10 or 8" rims because the tires just won't support the weight.

For example:

- A "C" load range 8" tire is only 800 lbs, each. Not enough load capacity.

- A "C" rated 10" tire is rated at 1100 lbs each, and that is enough load capacity, but the problem is its only 1 inch lower than the 5.30x12 LR C it is replacing. Not worth the extra expense and harder to find tire size for 1 inch. Anything smaller in a 10" does not have the capacity.

A long tongue does help, but only when the launch continues to go deeper. If its shallow, a 50 foot tongue will not help any. And that is the problem at hand, the launch is shallow, so no matter how far you back in, it does not get any deeper.

Anyway, that is that.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

There's a few farther south than you are that have nothing but what amounts to wooden guard rails on each side. You either launch the boat and walk out on the tops of the pilings or jump in from in the water. There's not even an area to beach the boat after you launch, both sides of the ramp are heavily grown over with phragmites and are so muddy you would sink to your waist.

I watched an old timer launch a 22' boat by himself once using a snatch block and the winch to pull the boat off the trailer. He had a hook and pulley hanging on the last cross member, and would run the cable around that pulley and back up to the bow eye and run the winch, the boat slid right off the trailer.

Been looking for a nice galvanized pulley, or just put a keel roller on the back side of the first cross brace and run the strap or extension line around it. Will need to get a longer strap, or carry and extension just for this purpose. Might be the simplest solution.

 

[jkust]

Re: Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

This is the Bayliner. I'm talking shallow enough that the hull is in the water, but not deep enough for the hull to float off. The water is making the hull lighter, just not light enough for me to push off.


BTW, the launches I use have a dock that extends out from the launch to about 80 feet in the water. Haven't come across a launch where there is no dock right next to the launch ramp.

Out of curiosity how much do you estimate your BL weighs with the mods and being a cuddy? We have the 84 capri 1600 with the 85 hp and it is 1050 dry. Way back in the 80's when we still trailered it prior to the lake house, we added rollers to the bunk boards and had a tounge extension for those tough ramps or in drought years. Sounds like rollers may serve you but not the extension.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

Out of curiosity how much do you estimate your BL weighs with the mods and being a cuddy? We have the 84 capri 1600 with the 85 hp and it is 1050 dry. Way back in the 80's when we still trailered it prior to the lake house, we added rollers to the bunk boards and had a tounge extension for those tough ramps or in drought years. Sounds like rollers may serve you but not the extension.

The specs say the cuddy is 1150, boat and motor dry. The hard top has not added much, if any weight due to removing the OE windshield and other mods. The big weight addition is the 17 gallon permanent fuel tank. Filled it adds about 70 lbs over the OE 9 gallon tank (extra fuel, hardware, filter, etc). And it is under the splashwell.

BTW, need a spare 9 gallon tank?

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

Mark, for a pulley system, look around the Power Winch sites and info, even if you want to copy it for a hand winch. I recall seeing some there, but I'm not sure.

You need a good series of pulleys or cable rollers all down the line so the cable won't bind or rub, especially on the hull. You can't, as a practical matter, get behind the boat to pull it off (unless you have a pier or piling) so you have to pull back from the bow eye, which necessarily results in a lot of downward pressure, too.

 

[ditchen]

Re: Shallow launch, boat wouldn't float.

it sounds like a roller on the back rail will be a very good start in the right direction. Then you could take it further down the road with a cable and pulley setup.