Driving onto the trailer

Simon Guest · 16 September 2002, 12:28

On returning to the slipway on Saturday (after another fantastic day out on the water), I queued up behind a chap on his own in a large (8m or so) RIB. He proceeded to gun the engine to drive the boat up onto the trailer, then left the engine in gear at tickover to keep the boat on the trailer while he stepped onto the trailer to hook up the winch strap, and take up the slack.

He didn't even get his feet wet!

Now is this practice:

1. A neat trick I ought to learn?

2. A little cocky, but basically sound?

3. Dodgy, not to be employed by self-respecting safety conscious ribsters?

cheers,
Simon

Julian · 16 September 2002, 12:36

Simon

We used to trail our 7mtr rib for years. All it takes is a bit of practice. It works very well and like you saw you dont even get wet. I did see one person accelerate to hard and hit the back of his own car so be carefull. You only have to go slowly and line up the rollers.

Julian

DM · 16 September 2002, 13:49

I'm not saying I'm unlucky but if I'd have done this, a seagull would have crashed into the throttle just as I was attaching the winch!!!

Brian · 16 September 2002, 14:34

I know a husband and wife couple who perform this both at launch and recovery time, and most impressive it is too. The wife drives the boat off the trailer and back on at recovery time while the husband handles the winch strap/parking the car etc.
I asked the wife (with that diplomacy for which I am famed), what percentage of the boat driving did she do on a typical trip. "Oh, I never drive the boat anywhere, far too frightening", was the answer. Frightened? Well to see her do the launch and recovery of an 8.5m boat with a howling great 240hp diesel, effectively on her own, you could have fooled me!

John Kennett · 16 September 2002, 17:04

Simon

I would place this in a modified category 2:

"A little cocky, but you'll probably get away with it"

When it works it's fine, but it really isn't good practice to leave your boat in gear with no one at the helm -- even if it is pushing on to the trailer!

Another problem with driving onto the trailer generally is erosion. If the slipway is very large and concrete then this isn't an issue, but there are a number of slipways where this habit has caused the slip to gradually crumble away.

John

Viking · 16 September 2002, 19:24

If you are going to try this make sure you disembark the boat at the pointy end....It's safer

Pete7 · 16 September 2002, 21:21

Now they show this on the RYA Boat Handling Video, shot under the bridge at Southampton. I use it as an example of how not to do it.

Great if its your boat, you have driven it for years, there is no tide or waves and there are lots of girls watching.

But if a wave hits you, there is a tide running (Hamble Point slip) or you just get it wrong then off to the chandlers for some gel coat repair kit. Even more concerning is what about other people in the water ready to hook the winch strap on to the boat. Lots of fingers in there. Sorry great on a lake, but in the sea we use lots of manpower and save the hull from the scrapes. Worried about getting wet ? buy a drysuit or even some waders, they are cheap enough.

Daniel · 17 September 2002, 00:48

I do it, regularly, but then it’s my boat, my trailer and my car. I never teach or allow anyone else to try!

I would never attempt it on an unknown slip or where there is any kind of exposure or swell – there is no substitute to man power in these situations.

However, it’s a definite ‘case 2’, with the added comments that it’s the most effective way of getting in and out of the water when you’re on your own - as long as there is a pontoon or harbour wall to hand that the boat can be left against to allow recovery of the vehicle from the slip!

One thing to ckeck before you attempt this is that there is no chance of any rollers ending up the facing the wrong way. My rollercoaster trailer rear rollers can 'tip over' and cause great damage if the boat went on with them like this - i use peices of shock cord to ensure they stay correctly orientited.

Ribald · 17 September 2002, 07:16

What a brilliant tip Daniel - I've had a few near misses with the rollers - looks like some shock cord will be on the never ending shopping list this weekend.

Simon Guest · 17 September 2002, 08:02

The other thing that occurs to me is that this is probably better suited to longer boats. The shorter the boat, the more effect lifting the bow has on the stern dropping, and the less water under the prop as well.

What are the chances of scraping the prop on the slipway with a shorter boat, as the bow lifts up onto the trailer?

(Personally, I think I'll be continuing winding the winch by hand for some time to come ...)

cheers,
Simon

Daniel · 17 September 2002, 08:54

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 · 17 September 2002, 09:44

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 · 17 September 2002, 11:01

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.