| Subject: What can be done about Wayfarer-eating trailers??!!
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Original Message -----
Sent:
Sunday, March 27, 2011 8:57 AM
Subject:
trailer eating my Wayfarer!
Hello, Everyone!
I need to tap into your collective experience-wisdom
for some W help: after a sail, retrieving by myself (I may have my kids
along, but they're only 5 and 7 years old), my W doesn't line up to the
trailer too well and sometimes is off and next to the back roller.
Being next to the boat's hull either in the water or balanced
precariously on the trailer's frame, I can't always see this .. in
addition to trying to stabilize the boat in a crosswind .. and as I
attempt to pull the boat further on the trailer in prep for winching, I
then hear the sickening scraping sound as the boat rubs against the
roller's metal bracket. That, I discovered, is the source of the
strange "worm-tracks" in the gelcoat near the bow. Imagine my
horror as I push the boat back out into the water to line it up again
and see a small cloud of boat paint and gelcoat wafting in the water!
I imagine through trial and error, several bruises and
scrapes later, and many bouts of late-night brainstorming (fueled by
hops or Capt. Morgan), I may be able to come up with a much-improved
workable solution. But, I figured that our collective experiences
and ideas may do better.
Conditions and ideas already:
1) I've just purchased some PVC pipe guides (vertical
pipes) to install at the back of the trailer, though I realize that
they may only help if the trailer is very deep in the water..in which
case I may be wading up to my bellybutton to stand at the back of the
trailer to "capture" the bow and attach winching strap;
2) I'm often doing this solo, so plans involving other
people .. unless I hire my own serf .. are out of the question;
3) lining up the boat so that it aligns perfectly with
the 4 inch keel roller .. and stays aligned while I scramble back to
the front of the trailer and winch it up; there must be a better way!
4) ways of wrestling the boat in windy .. even light
winds, it blows around like a leaf .. conditions; I've thought of
extended poles or railings that slide out from the trailer, then
realize I've watched too many Batman episodes;
5) maybe a mushroom anchor off the stern that can be
controlled via line led to the bow?
6) I'd like to sail in the wintertime/early
spring/late fall (this is Georgia, after all), but not have to wade
into the cold water past the knees..or ankles!
Aside from fantasies of simply getting a Sunfish for
when I want to sail solo ("Honey, I really do need another boat!"), I
would like to find a workable solution for the W that will save its
gelcoat. Maybe I should just armor coat the hull?
Thanks for all of your ideas. I'm having a blast
with my W, and my kids like the adventure of it, even asking to go
camping (with the dog, of course).
Regards,
Chris Walden
W1395
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Original Message -----
Sent:
Monday, March 28, 2011 3:58 PM
<>Hi
Chris . My paint got
scratched too many times . I
bolted pcs. of carpet-covered wood
close to the roller . Have’nt had
trouble since . Hans.
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Original Message -----
From:
William D. Harkins W2526
Sent:
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 12:45 PM
Hello Chris,
Sounds like you and you kids are having a great time! The
jon boat style upright pvc guides have been used by some with success.
They won't keep the boat perfectly aligned, however. This is
especially annoying in a good chop. What I have done is simply
reduce the chances of scraping by mounting lengths of 2X wood on either
side of the keel rollers onto the
trailer frame. This keeps the boat from scraping if it comes off
the roller as I crank it up. I haven't found a good way to avoid
getting my feet wet. If the boat is a little skewed, especially
on the rearmost roller, its easy enough to straighten it out once
you've pulled away from the ramp (lift while facing away from the boat,
and use your leg muscles).
Hope this helps, and the group would surely enjoy hearing how you solve
this problem. Good sailing!
Bill Harkins
W2526, Arlington, VA
Hello Uncle Al,
As always, I have been greatly enjoying looking at all the pictures you
have put up on your excellent website. It helps make the winter
(the little we have) speed by. Thank you!
I'm sure Hans has a better picture than I do, but mine will at least
give an idea. Part of the protective 2X wood is missing as
I also use the trailer to haul canoes on a rack that fits on top of the
rollers. Also, there is a good picture of the side roller set-up in #4
pre-regatta pics, 2011 Midwinters, on Pat Baldwin and Ed Rojohn's boat Wayward
Wayfarer. Perhaps they might have some comments on how well
this works.
And yes, those are weeds in the photo; they have begun to grow
again.... Spring has arrived. Soon you'll all be heading
down this way for Rock Hall and Chesapeake Bay events. I look
forward to seeing you then!
Bill
... more preventive
maintenance:
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Original Message -----
Sent:
Monday, March 28, 2011 9:18 PM
I used to have a similar
problem with mine. It turned out that it was due to the corners of the
roller bracket scratching the bottom when the boat was not properly
positioned. I solved it by filing the corners of the bracket. See
drawing.
Hoping that this helps,
André
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Original Message -----
Sent:
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 12:48 PM
Hi, Chris:
In addition to
Hans' and André's suggestions - which pre-suppose that you will
slide off the roller, the following ideas spring to mind to try to
address your problems:
My trailer is a
Pamco tilt-bed that I back up until the tires have just begun to touch
the water - see pics above. Once the trailer is
in that position, I put the bed into tilt mode and unwinch my
winching rope out to the second-last roller (near the axle). In your position, Chris, I would try
leaving that rope a bit shorter and "locked" so that I have to
manhandle the bow a few inches onto that roller before I can snap the
winch line onto the bow eye. With my trailer, this would be a must,
regardless of which of my three ways I would suggest proceeding from
this point:
1. Find any
person who looks capable of winching and at the same time telling you
what you need to do to keep the boat's bow aimed straight at the winch.
2. Failing human
help, I might be inclined to see if it might be feasible to instal an
electrically motorized winch (removable and rechargeable??!!) with
a remote. That way I could guide the hull while the motor does the
winching. In which case I would need to develop a good eye for seeing
from the side, when the boat is correctly aligned
3. Tie a 50-foot
low-stretch line, perhaps 4 mm in diameter around the sheave of the
mainsheet block on the centreboard box such that 25' are available on
each side of the knot. Set up brackets at the aft outer corners of the
trailer frame each of which will accept an easily removable steel
tube that rises 2 - 3 feet above trailer level and has an eye at the
top through which one of the 25' rope ends is led. Come to think of it,
25' should be far more than enough to run the rope end(s) to where you
are winching. This way you can winch with one hand while using the
other to pull one or the other of the rope ends to keep the boat
aligned. I would likely put a short cross-piece about 2 feet above the
winch that would have eyes for the rope ends on each side which
would keep the ropes easily accessible.
For what it's
worth??? Do keep us posted, Chris!!
Best regards,
Uncle Al (W3854)
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Original Message -----
From:
Chris Walden
Sent:
Saturday, April 02, 2011 10:17 AM
Subject:
solutions to trailer eating my Wayfarer!
Fellow Wayfarers,
Greetings and a special thanks to all of you (Tom,
Ken, Al, Andre, Bill, Hans, Richard and Tony) who sent your suggestion
for solving the problem of loading-a-Wayfarer single-handed and not
tearing up the gelcoat on the back-roller. Suggestions included
the following:
1) pvc pipe guide-ons mounted to back of trailer;
2) steering or control rope on either side (mainly
windward) of boat, able to pull from bow;
3) deck on sides of trailer, for standing;
4) wooden "cradle" mounted against back of trailer
to guide boat hull to center rollers;
5) 2x4 pieces mounted on either side of back roller
to keep boat from slipping down alongside metal bracket of back roller;
6) newer back roller that has rubber/plastic on
outside of metal bracket as well;
7) recruiting unsuspecting passers-by and wenches on
the winch;
8) mounting radio-controlled boats to bow and both
sides of stern (okay..no one really suggested this, but it sounded
cool, if not workable).
<>I've already purchased (mail-order from Eastern Marine) some
Fulton trailer guide-ons, so I may try them out. I definitely
will do a better job on rigging the control lines; beats tugging on the
bow-stem or jumping in for a swim to guide/rescue the boat! I
think I will also rig up some sort of wooden cradle-crosspiece to keep
the bow-hull from contacting the metal bracket that holds the roller.
Maybe one day I can get one of the those electric winches so I can
stand on the back, guiding the boat while clicking the button to engage
the winch. However, I'd probably knock myself off as the boat came up
on the trailer. (Remember, I'm trying to avoid a swim in cold water.)
Now, my new challenge: the courtesy docks at the
launching ramps on Lake Lanier are never near the ramp! Usually,
30 or more yards away, with rip-rap rocks in between. So, getting
boat from ramp to dock, and dock to ramp, without hitting all the rocks
(drift..wind..wakes) and holing my boa will be the challenge. My
current solution has been sitting on the bow and paddling to either
side; silly-looking, but it works. I've thought of using a
trolling motor, but it seems such a waste of time and effort to haul a
motor and battery around for such a short-term use. Wish they
simply had grass-beach-mud that I could just pull the boat alongside
the ramp, but Fate had other plans, I guess.
Regards to all!
Chris Walden
W1395
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Original Message -----
From:
richard watterson
Sent:
Saturday, April 02, 2011 11:31 AM
Here is another one in the spirit of RC boat bow/stern thrusters.
Install floatation on the trailer (get some of the big boat
bumpers and inflate them and tie on the support members of the
trailer). Disconnect the trailer and float it over to the boat
dock and winch the boat/trailer together (your new guides will be quite
handy for this), then paddle the combo over to the ramp and as far up
the ramp as you can then attach to the car and off you go.
But seriously, coming from someone who loves Rube
Goldberg solutions, Occam's razor is at play here (the simplest answer
is usually the best). I cannot see how aft guides will help since
it is the boat's pivoting about the aft roller (presumably where the
guides will be placed) that is the problem; since the guides will be in
line with this pivot point they will not keep the boat on the
longitudinal axis of the trailer. So, the simplest solution is a
line attached to the windward transom which you can use to keep the
boat lined up once the bow is up to the roller and held in place with
the winch line.
It sounds like the dock/ramp arrangement really
necessitates a two-person operation even if you have a motor. If
one person goes to get the car, you would have to have another person
to move the boat to the ramp from the dock. Things must not be
too busy there. Otherwise this back-and-forth operation would really
clog things up.
Richard W.
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Original Message -----
From:
KEN-Krist. H. Jensen
Sent:
Sunday, April 03, 2011 1:16 PM
Moving W. about without sails or engine.
Trial
and
error and correction to failures will be the recipe, but with a few
yards/meters distance to anywhere W1348 will be rowed (Frank Dye rowed
a lot - up Chesapeake Bay and in N.Norway!) with positive control in
wind and waves (without oarlocks you can still have oars, or ONE
such,stowed along the CB case on the floorboards as a
standby emergency
rudder), paddled and/or punted with one oar, standing, with
spread
sealegs, over the CB casing and assisting in steering by boat tilt
in
order to get the right/correct banana-shaped top-side
deeper into the water.
W1348
climbs straight(-faced) forward over the aft pivot-roller, where correctly the 'Rabbit- or Hare guide-ears'
are placed. Presumably because of the powerful winch
wire-pull at her nose.
Best- and kind W-regards. Ken, W1348"Maitken"
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