Advice on trailer set up

[mitchc]

I was hoping that one of the many wise people on this forum could offer some advice on the set up of this Admiral trailer I'm looking to buy.

I've towed my current 5.5mtr rib on a single axle trailer for thousand's of miles, but now I'm looking to move up to a slightly bigger 6mtr boat with a 150 optimax on a twin axle trailer

My concern is that the twin axles are spaced a little to far apart? I guess this would be good for stability whilst on a run, but round town or manouvering would scrub the tyres?

I've attached a couple of photo's but I've scrubbed out the details of the RIB so we can concentrate on the trailer set up....

thanks in advance for any advice offered..
Mitch

[biffer]

didn't read all your post as i'm off out, but i looked at the pic's, never buy a trailer with a draw bar that long, it relies on the boat being wedged in the winch post to give the trailer some stability, the best trailer to look at has the A section quite close to the hitch

[Nasher]

The axles do look a long way apart to me, and as you suggest would give difficulties with close manouvering. Plus as biff says the draw bar is too long, perhaps the previous owner didn't like getting his car tyres wet.

Neither is an issue to change however, that's the beauty of trailers being built from a set of bolt together parts that can be moved about easily.

Nasher.

[mitchc]

Thanks both for the replies....aparently the extra long draw bar was 'custom' fitted when the trailer was built for exactly the reason's you've guessed; the owner didnt want to get his tyres wet.
I'd planned to change this anyway!

I'll move the axles closer, but how should the weight be set up? I'm guessing as it's a twin axle the load should be set evenly across both axles, which will give a relatively low nose weight? If the nose weight is set as per a single axle that means most of the load will be taken through the front axle????

Hmm the more I think about it, the more I think I'm going to have to pay "an expert" to set up the trailer correctly.
Unfortunatley trailers (well double axle ones) are one area where my knowledge is limited.

I'll post some pictures of the boat and set up soon....

Thanks again
Mitch

[biffer]

if you're going ahead with that trailer, shorten the draw bar as much as you can, adjust the axles as close together as you can and move them either way untill you have about 50 kilo's at the hitch, it's not hard but time consuming
is the trailer on the island?

[BogMonster]

Why would you want to shorten a trailer drawbar?

The only reasons I can think of are ease of storage in a garage and perhaps to make it a little easier to manoeuvre in a very tight space but the difference between say a 7m and 8m trailer is not going to be that much surely? In my experience with trailers the longer ones are actually easier to reverse - one of the worst trailers in the world to reverse is the extremely short Sankey army trailer and though the approach to where I store my boat is really tight, I don't think another metre of drawbar would make it any worse.

Just curious. I agree about the axle spacing though - one area where I've found my new single axle to be much better is that the old twin axle used to go from massive noseweight to massive negative noseweight over rough ground as the load came on and off each axle.

[biffer]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

Why would you want to shorten a trailer drawbar?

The only reasons I can think of are ease of storage in a garage and perhaps to make it a little easier to manoeuvre in a very tight space but the difference between say a 7m and 8m trailer is not going to be that much surely? In my experience with trailers the longer ones are actually easier to reverse - one of the worst trailers in the world to reverse is the extremely short Sankey army trailer and though the approach to where I store my boat is really tight, I don't think another metre of drawbar would make it any worse.

Just curious. I agree about the axle spacing though - one area where I've found my new single axle to be much better is that the old twin axle used to go from massive noseweight to massive negative noseweight over rough ground as the load came on and off each axle.

that draw bar is an extremely weak part of the trailer, when you tow it the trailer wobble's from side to side, the only way to stop it is to lash the boat down so hard it becomes part of the trailer, we've actually had one of those bars collaspe on us

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by biffer

that draw bar is an extremely weak part of the trailer, when you tow it the trailer wobble's from side to side, the only way to stop it is to lash the boat down so hard it becomes part of the trailer, we've actually had one of those bars collaspe on us

Ah I see what you mean now, ta so more down to the design than the actual length.

My old trailer had a long single beam for the drawbar but I never worried too much about it as it was made out of the 4 inch box section off the side of a Portakabin so was fairly robust

[mitchc]

Originally Posted by biffer

that draw bar is an extremely weak part of the trailer, when you tow it the trailer wobble's from side to side,......... we've actually had one of those bars collaspe on us

Thanks chaps,

That was exactly my concern with the long draw bar....although I'd have thought & hoped the trailer manufacturer (now closed down!?) would have thought of that and engineered it with enough strength to cope!

I've set up quite a few single axle trailers and they all towed really well, I guess I'll just have to get my head round the mechanics and structural loading of the twin axle set up, as you say it's a little bit trial and error and very time consuming!!

I've got to bring it home to Essex in it's current configuration, so I'll get a pretty good idea of how it handles before making any changes.
The trailer & RIB are currently just round the corner from Port Solent…any recommendations for good trailer people in that area?

[biffer]

i could sort it, but not this side of xmas

[Solent Ribman]

Originally Posted by biffer

i could sort it, but not this side of xmas

Having just read the threads above, it confirms some of my own thoughts I had with our set up. I have a single axle trailer, with a 5.5 Ribeye with an extremely long draw bar. I am expecting to do a 140 mile tow in August and have been concerned about the nose weight and the stability of the rig with the long draw bar. The manual with my wife's car states a 100kg nose weight for towing. My [Skoda, Octavia 1.9 Diesel] doesn't specify and it's this I will probably tow with. I put the nose on bathroom scales and measured it around 55kg, so it is light. When towing to fuel up, there is a sort of back to front wave motion! I live down the road from you, so maybe you could be ideal to sort the draw bar and weight issue. Any indication of cost involved?

[biffer]

that 100kgs might be max weight, run it lighter but not to light, you can always put something in the front of the boat to fine tune, but this won't help the long bar issue

[Solent Ribman]

Originally Posted by biffer

that 100kgs might be max weight, run it lighter but not to light, you can always put something in the front of the boat to fine tune, but this won't help the long bar issue

Thanks for your reply Biffer. Wasn't quite sure what you meant with, "..this won't help the long bar issue."
I think what I was trying to get over is I would like to look at having a shorter draw bar anyway. Looking at the trailer last weekend, the work would appear to involve, slackening the brake rods, removing the jockey wheel, hitch and handbrake assemblies. Cut the draw bar to length, assessing the advantage / need of moving axle back, re-fitting the jockey wheel, hitch and handbrake assemblies and re-connecting the brake rods. Is this something you could undertake and what time and cost would be involved? I think the handbrake tension spring unit might need to be replaced at the same time!
Martin