what trailer for bombard 380

[Dino89]

hi
thinking of selling my searider and getting my bombard on a trailer question is
whats the best trailer to get any recomendations
ideally want to be able to get it off the trailer and uuse the lauch wheels to get it in the water any one use a trailer at the momanet comment please

[Derisher]

I use a bunked trailer that I bought from Malthouse (now channel ribs?). My operation is that I get near the top of the slip, lift up the bow of the boat until the launch wheels touch the ground, can then wheel the boat off the trailer and proceed to launch with the launch wheel. Recovery is the opposite, I wheel the boat up the slip and walk onto the trailer with the bow raised, I get it on as far as I can and then winch on the last bit. The launch wheels snub up against the end of the bunks when fully on. 4 ratchet straps later from the 2 eyes on the transom and the 2 forward bridle rings and the jobs a goodun. The real advantage of this is that the road trailer never has to be put into salty water and so, hopefully will have a longer life.

[Dino89]

thanks derisher that sounds just the job, if you dont mind me asking what was the cost of the trailer ,also have you any pictures you can upload

[Derisher]

Can't completely remember but I think the trailer was about £630 ish. I will see if I can get a picture. It came in parts and I assembled it.

[Gaz]

Hello Dino,

It's Gaz here - the guy who bought your steering kit from you at the weekend.

I cannot recommend a trailer to you, but I can point out a couple of pitfalls with a certain trailer that I bought, just in case you end up trying to go down the same route that I did.

Like you, I was having dilemmas about which trailer to buy for my Bombard Aerotec 380. Then, one day, I found an old advertisment on the internet, from a guy who was selling a 380 together with a De Graff trailer. The advert was out of date, so I couldn't contact the guy to see how well the trailer worked with the Bombard, so I contacted De Graff directly instead.

I explained what type of boat I had (including the fact that it had a deep V high pressure hull), and they insisted that they had the best trailer for the job, which was this one here:

http://www.degraafftrailers.co.uk/In...rs/IB350-2.JPG

They explained that their trailers were the most suitable on the market because the weight of the boat is largely taken up by the planks on either side of the trailer, on which the tubes can rest, properly supported, and that this then prevents the hull of the boat from being too stressed from underneath, and that the trailer is fully adjustable for height, width, etc, etc - basically, he managed to sell it to me over the phone, which is fair enough.

In the end I drove all the way up there, bought the trailer, and then drove home again. However, when I came to put the Aerotec on the trailer I discovered that the hull did sit fully on the base of the trailer, which meant that the weight of the boat was not remotely being taken on the tubes/supported by the planks.

It was clear that, despite their insistence that this was the trailer for my boat, De Graff hadn't been listening to me when I was describing the the deep-v hull, and that they had made the assumption that the Aerotec had a shallower draft, like most other inflatables. And no amount of adjustment of the supporting arms of the trailer was going to account for the depth of the hull either!

I had just driven a few hundred miles to collect the trailer, and I was in no mood to drive another couple of hundred back to return it, so I set about trying to raise the planks enough to support the weight of the boat, by fitting chocks of wood under them. This turned out to be a frustrating endeavour, and my lack of tools and DIY skills meant that the result was far from satisfactory.

At this point I had the right hump, and rang De Graff to let off a bit of steam in their direction. They were not particularly interested in taking their trailer back, but did suggest that I remove the supporting cross bars that hold the planks, from underneath the main part of the trailer, and relocate them on top.

I did this and, although it does indeed provide the extra space for the hull to fit into, it is quite unstable at the point where the crossbar sits on top of the main frame (using the existing u-bolts), and I'm fairly certain that it is only a matter of time before something goes wrong in this area (actually, the whole trailer is held together by u-bolts, which do not look, to my, admittedly untrained, eye, to be as sturdy as a welded frame).

I will get some stronger bolts to hold it all together, if I can, but this means that I will be be rebuilding the trailer to a certain extent, and I don't know if this will have any implications in the event of an accident, etc.

In a nutshell, then, in my opinion, there are some good/different design concepts in the De Graff trailer, in terms of supporting ordinary inflatable boats - however, if you want to support an Aerotec on one of these trailers you are going to have to re-build it to accommodate the deep-v hull.

The choice is yours.


P.S: Yes, I know that the moral of the story is to try your boat on a trailer before you buy - but this isn't always practicable (and if the manufacturer is actually insisting that your boat will fit, you have to assume that he knows at least something of what he is talking about). I would be interested to hear if anybody else had a similar problem with this particular trailer, with regards to an Aerotec, and what solutions they came up with?


Oh, by the way, I launch my boat the same way that Derisher does, and for the same reasons.

Originally Posted by Dino89

hi
thinking of selling my searider and getting my bombard on a trailer question is
whats the best trailer to get any recomendations
ideally want to be able to get it off the trailer and uuse the lauch wheels to get it in the water any one use a trailer at the momanet comment please

[Stippolyte]

Had my 380 for several years & sits quite happily on an Indespension Vario. iirc cost new then was about £300 incl lighting board etc. Think blurb mentioned bunks suitable for pwcs, inflatables etc. Bumpstop adjustable from 10 -15ft ish. When the launching wheels are fitted they butt up against the back end of the bunks.

hope this helps Karl

[LWman]

I picked up a snipe trailer not long ago which i think would be perfect for a 380, the boats a 4m on it which is right on the limit as the rear middle pad is snuggly fit to hold the transom. It has long bunks on the side to support the tube, which are fully adjustable to suit how deep the V is. Id definately recommend it. It was second hand and i paid around 250 for it in sound condition. It has a winch on it, which was put on by the last owner, but its in a pretty useless position as it needs to be a lot higher up.
(The picture is before it was adjusted to suit the boat)

[Keith Hart]

I have used a De Graaff trailer for about 8 years now for my Quicksilver 340 SIB and can highly recommend it. Take a look at their website.

The photos are my SIB on the slipway next to my house and the trailer from the De Graaff website.

They are purpose built for inflatables and are easy to use and durable.

Keith Hart

[squiddy]

Originally Posted by Keith Hart

I have used a De Graaff trailer for about 8 years now

Thats , i think, the exact same DG trailer I got with my aerotec 380.

Here's a pic the previous owner took.

[Stippolyte]

Not briliant but gives an idea. Bunks support the v not the tubes.

[Scarlet-Jester]

I have one of these as well for my 380. We towed it about 1300 miles recently on our France holiday and had additional gear in the boat as well – 50kg tent, kids bikes, helmets, fuel tank, motor trolley and some other odds and sods. Trailer was brilliant and very stable. Previous owner had already relocated the cross bars onto the top of the man central beam.

[Gaz]

Originally Posted by Keith Hart

I have used a De Graaff trailer for about 8 years now for my Quicksilver 340 SIB and can highly recommend it. Take a look at their website.

The photos are my SIB on the slipway next to my house and the trailer from the De Graaff website.

They are purpose built for inflatables and are easy to use and durable.

Keith Hart

Yep, that's the same as my trailer. However, the Bombard Aerotec has a deeper V-Hull than your boat, which means that it sits on the bottom of the trailer, rather than being fully supported along the tubes, as De Graff intended this trailer to work.

.

[Gaz]

Originally Posted by Scarlet-Jester

I have one of these as well for my 380. We towed it about 1300 miles recently on our France holiday and had additional gear in the boat as well – 50kg tent, kids bikes, helmets, fuel tank, motor trolley and some other odds and sods. Trailer was brilliant and very stable. Previous owner had already relocated the cross bars onto the top of the man central beam.

Hey, Scarlett Jester, I would love to see how those cross bars were relocated - have you got any pictures? It would be a huge help to me. Did you also have the engine on the transom whilst you were towing?

.

[Gaz]

Originally Posted by squiddy

Thats , i think, the exact same DG trailer I got with my aerotec 380.

Here's a pic the previous owner took.

Difficult to see from your picture, Squiddy, because your picture is quite small, but it looks as though your cross bars have also been relocated to the top of the frame.

You can see the difference if you look at Keith Hart's photo, where the cross bars are still located under the trailer, as De-Graff designed (and sold) it.

Again, I'd be really grateful if you could post a close-up pic of how this has been done - because the way that I've attempted to do it has made the cross-bars quite unstable.

I'm gonna get this sorted one way or the other.

.

[squiddy]

Originally Posted by Gaz

Difficult to see from your picture, Squiddy, because your picture is quite small, but it looks as though your cross bars have also been relocated to the top of the frame.

You can see the difference if you look at Keith Hart's photo, where the cross bars are still located under the trailer, as De-Graff designed (and sold) it.

Again, I'd be really grateful if you could post a close-up pic of how this has been done - because the way that I've attempted to do it has made the cross-bars quite unstable.

I'm gonna get this sorted one way or the other.

.

Alright Gaz??

No problem - Here is a pic I happen to have to hand. If this is no good - will take closeups but it could take a little time. Trailer is dismantled and stored and we are off on holiday end of this week.

This is how I received the trailer from the previous owner - so no idea if DG relocated the bars themselves.

[Gaz]

Originally Posted by squiddy

Alright Gaz??

No problem - Here is a pic I happen to have to hand. If this is no good - will take closeups but it could take a little time. Trailer is dismantled and stored and we are off on holiday end of this week.

This is how I received the trailer from the previous owner - so no idea if DG relocated the bars themselves.

No probs mate,

Don't go re-assembling the trailer on my behalf - but if you do ever put it back together again would love to see a close-up of how it's done.

Many thanks,

Gaz

.

[Easyrider]

When i had an aerotec , i used to use a jetski trailer. The bunks would support the hull and not the tubes. The bonus for this setup was the fact that you can slide the boat fully onto the (carpeted)bunks and they would support the transom too, which in turn would take 95% of the stresses from the tubes/transom with the engine still on it. I would happily tow for thousands of miles like this. Also, if its set up correctly, you can keep the launch wheels on it