Alan in GA
Senior Member
trailer setup....
I'm on my 8th or 9th boat. Got some experience on this. And that's not counting my Father's boats or Father in Law's boats... : )
Trailers used to come with 'pivoting' rear support bars made of wood. If they came to under the transom they were just 'ok'. If not and they were short then most glass hulls would develope a 'hook', or concave contour to the bottom. That makes a boat porpose even worse!
Just think, we used to not even think about 'drive on' trailers in the 1960s!
When I had my first stick steer 15' boat w/35 Mercury, it had a 4 or 6" wide roller at the very back center of the trailer. Because I was sitting up front I could USUALLY center the boats keel on that roller and then easily drive it up to the winch.
Great ideas then occured from somewhere: extra wide rollers, at least the one at the very rear of the trailer, and fixed carpeted hull support pads that were easier to drive a boat onto.....and side guides or roller guides.
Folks just got tired of cranking that winch to take up the 16 or so feet of ROPE to get their ski boat up onto the trailer. Electric winches came along and then drive on trailers that eliminated the need for electric winches except for very large trailered boats.
I'm on my 8th or 9th boat. Got some experience on this. And that's not counting my Father's boats or Father in Law's boats... : )
Trailers used to come with 'pivoting' rear support bars made of wood. If they came to under the transom they were just 'ok'. If not and they were short then most glass hulls would develope a 'hook', or concave contour to the bottom. That makes a boat porpose even worse!
Just think, we used to not even think about 'drive on' trailers in the 1960s!
When I had my first stick steer 15' boat w/35 Mercury, it had a 4 or 6" wide roller at the very back center of the trailer. Because I was sitting up front I could USUALLY center the boats keel on that roller and then easily drive it up to the winch.
Great ideas then occured from somewhere: extra wide rollers, at least the one at the very rear of the trailer, and fixed carpeted hull support pads that were easier to drive a boat onto.....and side guides or roller guides.
Folks just got tired of cranking that winch to take up the 16 or so feet of ROPE to get their ski boat up onto the trailer. Electric winches came along and then drive on trailers that eliminated the need for electric winches except for very large trailered boats.
