Driving onto the trailer

[Daniel]

For those 4x4 owners consider getting an electric winch fitted - they don't need to be as expensive at you think to winch the boat onto the trailer - it's the big boys that winch land rovers up hills that cost the earth.

Check out http://www.winchwarehouse.co.uk/ATV/...px?WebCatID=20

[Alan]

The design of your trailer also governs this approach. Trailers with fixed bunks - or in my case rollers retrofitted onto bunks - lend themselves to driving the boat onto the trailer rather better IMHO. I do this with Blue Ice and, for example, I have some friends with a 23ft Cuddy Cruiser and they do the same thing.

I did try it with previous RIB/Trailer combo which had swinging roller arms and found that the problem was that the arms could swing the "wrong" way so that they did not track the "V" of the hull which clearly is going to gouge lumps out of your gelcoat in a hurry!

I think the reason why larger RIBS use this method is more to do with the backache of winching on rather than any other reason!

You have to be sensible though and in any kind of swell its definately a bad idea. I would always prefer to don the drysuit and get wet to avoid damage BUT you also need to be very cogniscent of a large and heavy boat being blown/swept onto people in the water. The man-handling approach does require plenty of men (or women) to handle!

Cheers,
Alan

[batfalcon]

almost always. You must have in mind though, that your engine must be still within the "trim range" and not in the "tilt", because if it doesn't and you push the throtle a little bit more, the engine will tilt downwards until it reaches the trim limit. This happens because of the bypass valves open at a far less pressure within the tilt range than in the trim one.
Now if the bottom is too high (or the water too low), you might hear that "shkrrrrkkk - doop" noise of the leg shcratcing the slipway.