Trailer For Mark III Futura

[CrAm]

Quick trailer question for you guys...

I recently purchased a Zodiac FUtura Mark III. It came with a trailer. So i took it out today and the boat was awesome...love it. However the trailer Im not so sure about. The trailer isn't a roller it has those carpeted boards that the boat slides up on. It seems to sit extremely high and is basically impossible to get the boat floating off the trailer without driving deep into the lake. We were able to get it to slide off the trailer fine but had to go right in the 40 degree water and push it off. WHile we were bringing the boat in we saw someone else bring their fishing boat down and noticed that their boat was much lower on the trailer and it floated off the trailer in the water with ease and had to barely drive in. So my real question is what type of trailer is best for this boat when launching in shallow water? Can you guys supply me with some pictures? Would a trailer with rollers be better? Do infltables need to sit up higher for some reason?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Marc

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by CrAm

The trailer isn't a roller it has those carpeted boards that the boat slides up on.

It's a SIB, right? Can't use rollers on a SIB; it needs a rigid hull. The bunks are the correct type for a SIB. Rollers would cause stretching and holes where they supported a SIB.

It seems to sit extremely high and is basically impossible to get the boat floating off the trailer without driving deep into the lake.

Many inflatables haave this problem as the bottom tends to be much flatter than a similar sized hard boat. This means the tubes must sit above the fenders, which sit above the wheels (you could get around this by getting a longer axle, but it would probably put you over the max tow width.)

So my real question is what type of trailer is best for this boat when launching in shallow water?

What you need is a tongue extender.

http://www.xtend-a-hitchnorthwest.com/

Ideally you want something that you can extend when launching and recovering, and stow while actually trailering.

In the meantime, you might try spraying the bunk carpeting with silicone spray (assuming the boats fabric will not be harmed by the spray you choose.) That should make it a bit slicker and help you get the boat on and off.

Hope this helps;

jky

[ian parkes]

I had the same problem with the bunked trailer that came with my Futura mk 3 .
The design of the trailer was wrong , they had built it narrow with the wheels under the bunks rather than beside the bunks like most normal trailers .It had double bunks each side that supported iether side of the Hi jacker tubes . It was a break back trailer but still a pain to get the boat on .
It was a bit embaressing struggling at the slip with a sib while other much larger boats had recovered and gone .

I think the futura is a really difficult design of sib to get a trailer to work well for it . Winching it up was the only way unless you had lots of people to lift , but i always felt winching it was putting a lot of stress on the D rings and the tubes dragging on the trailer .

I think a low flat bed trailer would be best , there are some pics here somewhere of Prarie tubers boat on one which is a similar design to a futura .

[prairie tuber]

My ears are burning. Here are a couple of pictures. The flat deck surface area on this trailer is 8' x 16' . I am considering adding some sort of bunker system or central table to support the boat directly under the floor to take the load off the highjackers. Nevertheless, I have a friend who has this same model of boat who has also trailered his boat the same way as shown in these pictures for several years now. The futura hull is a little different in that there still is a central inflatable v-keel that extends a little lower than the speed tubes do.

[ian parkes]

Yes looking at that again its probably no lower than the bunk trailer for the futura .
As you say the futura is a problem as it can't really be supported under the centre keel .
I was thinking something along the lines of a small car trailer would be low obviosly with something like carpet for the tubes to slide on .