Trailer Ponderings

[The Garfish]

Originally Posted by Jono

divide 17,000 by 1000 and you come up with 1,700.

fuk mee dis iz wot yew gett wen sum chinnskracher cann ownly cownt yewsin iz finggers an tows. enyfink abuv 22 an heez fukt

gArf

[Jono]

Originally Posted by The Garfish

fuk mee dis iz wot yew gett wen sum chinnskracher cann ownly cownt yewsin iz finggers an tows. enyfink abuv 22 an heez fukt

gArf

So I lose a few "0"s.... now and again... what can I say? It's the water round here it gives you...erm.... what was it?.......Senile dementia...

Ok,Ok....1,700,000..... not.....17,000 ....is that better

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by jwalker

How the feck am I goin to make 3 tons of boat slide back on the trailer? And then forward again.

using the same method you got it on there in the first place. Only you need a pulley block attached to the rear of the trailer with the painter going through it and back to the winch. Good for moving it a couple of feet for antifouling the bit under the rollers.

Its been a long time but isn't Jono's maffs L1 x W1 = L2 x W2. Were are all those engineering students when you need one

Pete

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by Mark Halliday

Have you still got the rest of gArfs tractor? You could use that, if you have.

gArfie's fkin traktor wudunt startt datts howcumm de gorjus missis gArfish cortt mee steelin de fkin cabb

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by Pete7

using the same method you got it on there in the first place.

mee CJB ownlee liftts abowt a tunn itt wentt onn in peesiz.

Good for moving it a couple of feet for antifouling the bit under the rollers.

itt duzunt av rowlers orr anteefowlin iye yews de gassgunn too chais awaiy de chikkins

Only you need a pulley block attached to the rear of the trailer with the painter going through it and back to the winch.

datts de waiy iye lornch itt butt iye av too putt de weeills ovur de arbur worl phurst
itts a bitt dojee wen de tyde iz owt

[Poly]

Originally Posted by jwalker

How the feck am I goin to make 3 tons of boat slide back on the trailer? And then forward again.

I just take it to the weigh bridge. They only charge me if I want a ticket. A couple of kwid in the guy's pocket does it.

If you have a 3 ton boat it is presumably NOT on a single axle trailer so I don't think the method will work properly anyway as there is not a single fulcrum. Unless you want to take some wheels off for the experiment (in which case you could potentially do it without moving the boat at all) - measure nose weight with only the front wheels then with only the rear wheels and calculate using the two different jockey wheel to axel distances.

Obviously sometimes its easier to go to a weighbridge (especially if you start farting around like I just described!) but sometimes you want to save a few quid, or do it without taking the boat anywhere.

Cheers,

Neil

[jwalker]

That's good thinking, Neil but do you need to get out a wee bit more?

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Nasher

I presume the further you move the boat on the trailer the more accurate the calculation will be.

Basically yes. Actually I think it is really related to how precisely you measure everything in the first place. If you move it 30 cm but only meaure is to the nearest cm you will introduce a bigger error (3%) than if you move 10cm but meaure it (accurately) to the nearest mm (1%). Similarly the more accurately and precisely you can measure the axle - jockey wheel distance the better (should be possible to get this error to be <1% I think). Household scales are probably where most of the error comes... ...logically these should be designed to be most accurate in the 40-100 kg range as that is roughly what most people weigh. Bear in mind that they are not usually very accurate and probably contribute a few percent error. If you move the boat too far back then the weight on the jockey wheel may become very low and out of the optimal range for the scales.

I think you should be able to measure the weight of the boat to something like 5% error or better.

I guess once you start its pretty easy to make a few measurements at different boat positions. And this will give you a good idea of how repeatable it is.

Cheers,

Neil

[Poly]

Originally Posted by jwalker

do you need to get out a wee bit more?

Almost certainly.

[Searider]

Weighed my searider and trailer when it was for sale for a potential purchaser who was concerned about the towing weight of his car.

It cost me £10 at a 24 hour weighbridge in Southampton by dock gate 8.

The only way to be sure.

[Nasher]

OK so here's the plan.

I'll put some new bearings in the existing single axle and get it on the weighbridge after having a go at the Bathroom scale method, so I can get a rough guide to the weight of just the trailer.
Then carry on using it over the next couple of months but avoid taking it too far and loading it up to much.

Then, if I find another means of income before I get my small redundancy cheque at the end of March, I'll blow a lump of it on two 1300KG axles.

Nasher.

[Cookee]

We have a load cell and a crane - much easier!