Powering Up On Trailer - Getting to the V-Roller

[Solittle]

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

My stand is slightly different. Where you have a single roller at the end of the einch stand mine has two rollers about a foot apart. Half way between the two is an axle that is where the pin for your roller is. That way the winch cable hook goes between the two rollers. When you winch it snug the bow eye fits in between the two rollers as they pivot to the bow of the hull. Sorry I don't have a picture.

Another tip for launching is to have a fairly large chalk block to put behind the rear tire just after setting the parking brake. this will help prevent your vehicle from sliding into the water when the ramp is slippery or when the parking brake does not hold well. I screwed an eye bolt into the chalk block with a cord that is long enough for me to hold on to from the drivers seat. This allows me to pull out the chalk block as I pull up the ramp. Oh - - my rig is a 23' CC withtwins.

 

[cmcpherson]

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

Power loading in my opinion is completely unnecessary and if people understood how to load their boats correctly. Most boat ramps are barely taken care of as it is, why do people feel it necessary to cause damage to them?

 

[Dakota47]

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

i agree, i walk my boat on the trailer, never power load, some idle there boats on and thats cool too. just dont goose it while loading..

 

[dingbat]

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

Power loading in my opinion is completely unnecessary and if people understood how to load their boats correctly.

It all depends on where you?re at I guess. Around here if you have not mastered the art of power loading you?re in for a rude awakening.

When things get busy it?s not uncommon to have 70-80 boats backed up waiting to get the boat on the trailer at the end of the day. The pressure put on an individual by his fellow boaters to get the boat on the trailer and out of the way and ready for the guy is immense.

The guys power loading can put a boat on the trailer and be out sitting in the parking lot tying down before the winch guy can even get his cable unwound. When things get hectic I?ve even power loaded on my roller trailer. I just need an assistant to connect the strap when I get the bow to the stop.

Besides saving time, not many guys are willing to wade into 40 degree water and muscle a 5K ? 8K lbs boat into position to hook up a winch strap when it?s 25 degrees and blowing outside.

 

[bjcsc]

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

not many guys are willing to wade into 40 degree water and muscle a 5K ? 8K lbs boat into position to hook up a winch strap when it?s 25 degrees and blowing outside.

Most guys around here (including me) wouldn't even consider going out in those conditions in the first place . 25 degrees! Wonder what that feels like...

I don't power load, but I don't have anything against it. I've just seen a lot of people cause a lot of unnecessary (to me anyway) damage doing it. I pull mine on and don't even get my feet wet. I back the trailer in, my GF unties the boat, gets it moving as I am coming down the trailer tongue and pulling 4' of slack out on the winch. She throws me the bowline, I catch it, pull the boat up, hook the winch, and tighten it up. Piece of cake, in less than 2 minutes...

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

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

I guess to each his own, but I "Power Load" each time out, but with the lift my Gambler gets from the ProMax, it don't take a whole lot to get er up on the trailer.

 

[Coors]

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

I agree with adjusting the winch stand.
Pull it up, and connect safety chain, then pull up the ramp.
I always wade in up to my knees in order to get my boat situated correctly on the trailer.
I don't melt, but in order not to float away, I wear steel- toed tennis shoes.

 

[CATransplant]

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

I agree 100%. Just increase the angle of the bow stop bracket so it strikes higher on the bow. That will solve the problem. Tashasdaddy's red mark is perfect.

 

[Sea Ray]

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

Well, I got back out into the water with the winch adjusted higher but I don't have much to report. My wife wasn't with me, she usually runs the winch and I drive the boat. So I don't know how much different it is.

We did not power load this time and my buddy ran the winch. I felt the winch pull us up and hit the roller. He says it was all the way up and tight. We pull to the parking lot to wipe the boat down and it was 1 1/2 to 2 inches away from the roller!!

I need to get out and run the winch myself and see what it is going on. I think I need to winch it on then pull it out and watch what happens. Then back it back in the water and try going in shallower and deeper to see what works.

Out of the 7 or so times I have had this boat in the water only once did it stay tight.

I also believe that this is hard on the trailer. It makes for a rougher tow and all the weight is on the bunkers. The roller should be supporting some of the load. Luckily we aren't far from the lake, about 3 blocks

 

[cmcpherson]

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

Are you locking the winch? Good job on the no power loading, completely disagree with that it decreases the time to load, if handled right loading manually can be just as fast!

 

[bigmacfan]

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

I used to have this problem with my 2002 Sea Ray 176BR. I purchased it last season and it only had 20 hours on the engine, so it hadn't been out much. I would coast on to the trailer and someone would hook the wench strap on. I then hop out of the bow and wench it up the rest of the way (I can't recall if I actually got it to the eye hook or not as it seems it wouldn't actually go that far) and then hook the safety chain. It was tight on the ramp. I would even pull out of the water and it would most of the time be tight. I then attached the stern straps and made them tight. By the time I got home (1.5 miles) the nose was off of the roller.

It seems I did a search on at least one boating forum that said sometimes the wench strap had to be stretched out over time. Like if a boat hadn't been used much that the strap was too new and needed breaking in. Luckily, with such a small boat I was able to just crank it up when it popped off (like every 45 minutes on a longer trip), but that would have been problematic if it were a larger boat such as yours.

It doesn't do it anymore. Why? I don't know. While it sounded odd the time, maybe there was something to this stretching of the strap idea. I am now easily able to wench it to the eye hook and she stays in place.

 

[chaparral442]

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

two other thoughts-- your strap may not be wound tightly on the winch--a new strap may stretch a little-- solution- winch the boat ALL the way up the trailer providing tension to tighten the strap

Second- before attaching transom straps make sure boat is snug on the bow roller-- I made this mistake once

 

[jeeperman]

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

I am wondering if the space between roller and bow when on the road is a result of the boweye being below the roller.
You load the boat and winch it up to the roller, tight. The stern is up, trailer stern is down.
You pull out of water and the stern goes down to meet the trailer.
The bow has to pivot too and since the strap and bow eye are below the roller, the pivot point is the winch and not the bow eye. The boat is allowed to go down and away as the stern goes down.

That is why my boat loads with the strap and bow eye resting on top of the bow roller.

Yes I know, the bow eye should rest below and up to the roller for panic stops or head-on-collision boat stopping purposes. So I have a hefty safety chain from the bow eye going back at a 45 degree angle to the trailer frame.
I also had a "bow bra" tie down strap made that is basically a 2" nylon tiedown strap with another length of same strap sewed into the middle, parallel. That allows one portion of the strap to go over the bow and the added section to go under the bow. The each end goes down to the trailer frame at an angle to the rear.