Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

[Sea Ray]

I am new to boating and have only had our new (to us) boat out about 6 times.

I was told to "power up" onto the trailer. I have also seen some literature that says not to do this because it can create holes in the dirt that might get the next trailer stuck.

The ramp I am using is cement so holes aren't an issue. However, I do need some advice on getting the boat all the way up to the V-roller on the trailer.

I am on the boat and my wife is guiding me up. I power it up and she stops me when it appears the boat is all the way up. Then she connects the chain and winch strap and cranks it tight. But, after we get the boat out of the water and get it home it is always an inch or two short of the V-Roller??

It is a 21' Sea Ray boat so I can't winch it the rest of the way up.

Any tips or advice?

Thanks!!

 

[QC]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

Well you shouldn't need to power up, and a lot of people will get PO'd regardless of the ramp. I do idle up to get her to stick and then shut down. Anyway, once the winch strap is attached have whoever is in the truck SLOWLY back down as you crank up, they only need to back down to take some of the tension off the winch process. Breaking straps and winches is common. The other thing you can do is once you are up and out of the water give your brakes a good test. After that go snug up the winch. You should also have a secondary ratcheting strap. None of my boats have ever moved after I am out of the water . . .

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

i had the same problem with my 23 footer. adjusting the winch stand made it much better. also as QC said nothing or idle, even if the ramp is concrete, powering on washes the dirty out from under the concrete. get the boat stuck as said, then winch the rest of the way. also having guide ons, and self centering rollers help loading.

 

[Sea Ray]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

Thanks for the advice.

It sounds like I will need to climb out of the boat and in to the truck if someone needs to back it down while someone else is at the winch?? What if I am by myself with the kids??

I think I might need to adjust the winch stand. When it is off the V-roller (when we get home) it seems like there is very little to no weight on the front, I can move the boat up and down (very little) by hand.

How do I know if it is adjusted correctly?

Thanks again.

 

[lmannyr]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

The winch stand may need adjusting. Check the clearance at the stern section of the trailer with the boat on. With the engines trimmed completly down, if you have some room adjust the winch stand. Even an inch may be significant.

The winch stands usually have to adjustments, up and down, foward and aft. May be all it needs is a little bit up? It's hard to tell with out pictures of the setup. Some experimenting will be needed to adjust to your comfort.

I agree with the comment of a second strap to tie the craft DOWN. This will help "marry" the trailer to the boat and prevent shifting during towing.

Kids: Come up with a method or rotine which keeps safety in mind. If the kids are old enough to take a responsibility, make them a part of the deal. Thats the easy option. or...do as was said above and just winch all the up on the first time. If it's too difficult, you can look into a different winch with gears to your liking.

Good Luck.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

I routinely launch and retrieve alone and there are several ways to do it. It only gets a little tricky if you are retrieving in a strong wind or river with high current. The secret to retrieving is to know how far to back the trailer in for easiest retrieval on any particular ramp. When alone, I hook on the bow line, and push the boat away from the pier. I walk to my trailer and pull the boat in and onto the trailer as far as I can. The winch strap has been extened and layed on a cross member within easy reach. I connect the strap, walk back to the winch stand while holding the strap taught, and begin cranking. With the strap just snug, wait a couple seconds for the stern of the boat to center itself. Then crank it up. If you are not especially muscular, back in a foot or two and continue cranking the boat until it is snug in the bow stop. Attach the safety chain, disconnect the bow line and pull out. If someone over the age of 10 or so is with you, have them stand at the ready with the winch strap. Trim up, drive on (just off-idle speed is fine) until the boat stops. The assistant quickly attaches the strap and cranks to take out the slack and gets the boat up as far as strength will allow. That will hold the boat so you can get out and crank it up the remainder of the way. I always wear water shoes/socks around ramps as you never know what idiot has dropped a glass or beer bottle on the ramp or discarded some fish hooks or other nasty stuff. I have retrieved solo from ramps that were very shallow so far out I had to tie a loop in the bow line, attach the winch strap to the line and crank the boat in, then attach the strap and crank in the rest of the way. Yes, launching was one of those back up at 10 MPH, dynamite the brakes and hope she came off scenarios. Not a good deal but sometimes you need to do whatever you need to do. Roller trailers help in that situation.

 

[Sea Ray]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

I would like to try to adjust the winch stand. Below are some pictures of what I have.

Please note how close the boat U-bolt for the winch clamp is to the roller. It almost has to hit the roller to get the boat all the way in.

There is also a picture of the back of the boat so you can see how much room I have to play with.

As mentioned; I can go up, down, in or out. Where should I start?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

You need to raise the winch post (the horizontal piece on which the winch is mounted) which will raise the bow stop. You are correct, the bow eye hits the bow stop preventing the boat from reaching it.

 

[bhanson]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

I have a heavy 21-foot Chaparral and launch it solo all the time. As a previous reply said, the key is backing your trailer far enough into the water so that the boat almost floats up into place. I dock the boat, back the trailer in, guide the boat onto the trailer close enough to attach the winch strap then just winch her up nice and tight. If you cannot do that, then you may need to back further into the water, simple as that. I back down until my trailer wheel covers are fully under water.

BTW, guiding it up instead of powering it on can prevent harm to your boat and trailer, and avoid embarrassment of never having your boat on the trailer straight. ;-)

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

raise the winch arm, if you notice the strap is binding under the roller, it should come thru with out touching. try the arm about where the red arrow is.

edit: we were all typing at the same time

 

[Sea Ray]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

Thanks for all the replies.

I have trailered the boat myself, but have had the same results. The boat appears to be all the to the roller but when you pull it out it slides back.

I also tried to back the trailer further into the water than what the previous owner told me to. He suggested to go until the top forward corners of the fender are just out of the water. I have had them at least 6 inches under water and it still doesn't touch after I pull it out.

I raised the winch stand about 1 1/2 - 2 inches. I will give that a try and see what it does. I am sure I will get better at this with practice (which just means I have to go to the lake more often ) .

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Reel Poor]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

Is the bow eye of the boat landing above or below the bow stop roller?

 

[QC]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

Look at the pics Rick, it needs to go up . . . the strap is under and the bow eye is over, but it's not close enough.

 

[lmannyr]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

Oh yeah, it needs to go up.


Post pics after you adjust.

 

[Sea Ray]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

Here is an after picture.

If you look close you can see the old location on the vertical tower. I moved it up about 2".

The boat hasn't moved but the gap is almost completey gone because how the roller moved.

Will see what happens next time I get the boat out. Hopefully this weekend

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

that looks close. you may have to go a little higher, and move the base forward and inch or 2. also i dont like the placement of the chain. it would be better to be longer and go down to the trailer frame. put a 1/2 inch eye bolt into the trailer frame, and attach chain. yellow line. the purpose ov the chain, is emergency situations, to keep the boat from coming thru the back window of tow vehicle. hope you are using stern straps.

 

[bjcsc]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

I think you're running your winch backwards. The strap is coming off the top in your picture, should be coming from the bottom so you have a nice straight line pull.

 

[studlymandingo]

Don't power up, winch it or idle.

Don't power up, winch it or idle.

I was told to "power up" onto the trailer. I have also seen some literature that says not to do this because it can create holes in the dirt that might get the next trailer stuck.

The ramp I am using is cement so holes aren't an issue. However, I do need some advice on getting the boat all the way up to the V-roller on the trailer.

You should visit the ramp in my neighborhood; there used to be two really nice concrete ramps, thanks to lots of people power loading high HP flats-boats, there is now one nice ramp and one really crappy ramp missing a huge chunk of concrete where the sand was washed away from the end of, then eventually underneath the concrete ramp. Now if you try to use that ramp at low tide, your trailer wheels go off of the end of the ramp (unevenly) and once the boat is loaded, you play he!! trying to pull the trailer over the hump. I was waiting to unload the other day and a guy in a skiff with a 225 was hammering the throttle to try and move his boat further up the trailer, you could see the mucky wash rolling up behind him. I jumped up to the dock and started waving my arms at him; he cut the motor and looked over at me, I asked him why he didn't load at the other ramp and his reply was because it was all screwed up; I pointed at the still swirling muck behind him and said "how do you think it got that way, please don't load that way or we're going to have two screwed up ramps here!"

Really nice boat and trailer by the way! Looks like the guys have you going in the right direction with the bow stop.​

 

[Reel Poor]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

IMO it's to high. It should be lowered just a little and the stand needs to be moved closer to the boat. You want the roller sitting right on top of the bow eye. I think the reason it was moving back to begin with is because of the way the front keel support boards/roller is adjusted, they were probably not letting the boat sit flush on the main bunks, like it should, when the boat was up to the bow stop. Then, while traveling home, the boat would settle down on the trailer where it SHOULD ride, pulling it away from the bow stop.

 

[sychan29]

Re: Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

I'll never know as much as the other folks here, but here's one more potential...

I was having the same original problem. I was just about to move the winch stand but didn't think that was quite right as when I took it on my sea trial, it seemed to pit perfectly. So I went down to the ramp one more time and realized that I was backing the trailer too far DOWN the ramp. Not going quite as far down fixed my problem. Made logical sense when I did it, but for the life of me, I can't remember why.