Trihull loading question / roller trailer

[freeisforme]

I recently picked up a really nice trihull, on a roller trailer. I took it out this week end and found one very nasty feature of loading this thing.
When bringing the boat onto the trailer, the forward outer hulls dip down and contact the fenders. The rollers are above the fenders, and when the boat is fully on the trailer, it sits nearly 6" above the fenders on each side. the keel however sits pretty low as its got a pretty deep V in the middle. The forward crossmember is all the way back. The trailer is rated for a 17-19' boat, the boat is about 17 1/2' long, with a fairly wide 84" beam width. The fenders are 64" wide inbetween, so the boat must go over the fenders, as it would on any trailer due to the hull shape and width. One the boat is about a foot onto the forward set of rollers, the boat again rises up. The boat is just about balanced front and rear with the 50HP Merc on it. It's a light boat and what I ended up doing was simply lifting the bow up till it passed the danger point. I can see marks were its touched the fenders before.

The problem is that the boat doesn't change it's attitude to match that of the trailer till almost fully on. I tried loading deeper, and shallower, no change, the boat still dips into the fenders when loading.

Something I did consider is moving the wheels back farther so that the fenders are protected by the rollers in a way. But that would no doubt make the trailer more than a bit tongue heavy. The trailer sits low, and the roller quads are set only a few inches apart, so the boat don't dip too low, yet the boat still nearly touches the axle tube when loading. I'd like to be able to lower the ride height of the boat on the trailer too, but I have to find a way to get this thing to load which don't jeopardize the hull or trailer fenders.
The boat is light, only about 900 lbs with motor and fuel. It weighed far less than the OEM spec for some reason, but I did remove most of the interior and all it's trim. The only forward weight is the anchor, and two pedestal seats. All else is under the splashwell. (6 Gallon portable tank, bilge pump, and a battery).

Any suggestions?

 

[woosterken]

Re: Trihull loading question / roller trailer

it is hard to imagine what your talking aboutbut here is a picture of my tri hull on the trailer.do you have roller bunks like this?

when the boat is on it is about 4"above the fender. the roller bunk keeps her level when comming up the center rollers

woosterken

 

[freeisforme]

Re: Trihull loading question / roller trailer

Here's the trailer I have:
http://i43.tinypic.com/2e6bn00.jpg
Here's the boat on the trailer:
http://i39.tinypic.com/2nq9th1.jpg

What is happening, is that once the boat is winched up on the first set of rollers, the bow is still pretty much at the water's level, thus in effect the bow is pointed at the axle. If the fenders didn't hit the hull, the bow would probably touch the axle while coming on the trailer. There's about 2 1/2' between the front of the rear rollers and the first front rollers, the boat's weight has the rear roller pack tilted forward and then pushes the front roller arms all the way down before climbing on the second set of rollers and forcing them level, thus lifting the bow of the boat.

I tryed locking down the rear roller arms so they can't teter forward, but the boat just tips forward by it's own weight on just the two pairs of forward rear rollers. At the point of fender contact, the bow most likely outweighs the stern. I can lift the bow or stern pretty easily by hand, so were not talking about a heavy boat. I have both crossmembers set at their highest adjustment, and I have spacers for the rocker arms as well but I don't think that would matter. What I need to do is keep the boat from falling forward as its pulled on the trailer. The bow eye sets pretty low, so the winch stand is pretty low. If the winch was higher, the strap itself would most likely keep the bow up as it comes on the trailer.
Once on the trailer, the boat is 5 3/4" over the fenders on the sides, it almost fits between the fenders but misses by about an inch on each side, it wedges between the tires with them off. I tried it with the fenders off, which gives me 4 more inches of clearance but the boat still dips low in the bow when loading. The problem is that the balance point of the boat is too far forward. The outer hulls are only the first thing to hit. Without the fenders on, the bow keel nearly hits the axle and the outer hulls hit the tires. I moved the front roller assembly to the farthest point back but it still seems to need to be father back but the boat didn't sit well once loaded. it's in the second set of holes now. With the boat loaded, I could lower all adjustments and the side hulls would not hit the fenders. I would still have 2-3" of clearance. I raised the rollers in hopes that the boat would not hit. It's done nothing but make the boat ride too high on the trailer.

I do get the feeling that the problem might be solved by more stern weight but it's only got a 50hp outboard, maybe 140 lbs or so. I was thinking about a 90hp or more, its rated at 135HP. But the 50 HP moves it along just fine with two passengers and is great on fuel. It would be a bit scary with a larger motor, especially a 135HP. Being a trihull, I'm not all that interested in going fast with this, it does 35 MPH with the 50 on it, and that's fast enough for what I do with it. I also plan to add a bow mounted trolling motor, so that will add another 50 lbs or so to the bow. I'm using it as a fishing boat in the river, sort of like a low buck bass boat, but I will take it into the back bays from time to time.

Maybe some sort of roller on a stand just inboard of the fenders to let the boat roll past as it's loading? I was thinking about making up a single roller stand that sits mid fender atop of the frame just a bit higher than the fender to guide the boat over the fenders. That would no doubt work if I could figure out a good way to mount it. I'm thinking a 2x2" tube, a flat plate on the bottom, two u bolts, and another plate ontop with two tabs to hold the roller?

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Trihull loading question / roller trailer

He doesn't have keel rollers on that type of trailer.
I had a similar set up and the best thing I found was to lock down the front rollers tight when the boat is on the trailer. Don't lock the rear roller arms, as they need to tilt while loading. Shallow ramps are your friend with that set up.
I took two pieces of Starboard and mounted them on the edge of my fender, that way if it touched, nothing got marked or scratched. You could use wood with carpet or anything you want. I took each fender off, pressed a flat area on the top inner corner and countersunk two mounting holes in a 4x6" piece of plastic and bolted them on. It worked great. The only other option is to find a really wide roller trailer with keel rollers. But you should be able to make that work just fine. That boat and trailer looks pretty clean too.

I was also thinking after looking at your pics, maybe mounting a wider set of fenders that sit farther inboard, and mounting a spool roller atop the fender?
Chances are there's not much weight present when it contacts the trailer so it might just do the trick.