Fine advice on Recovery

[brucehawsker]

Just how do you get it really smooth? Cross wind Sunday morning at Lymington. Trailer in up half way up wheels. Nose in as gently as possible allowing for the wind. Just feel her touch rollers firmly (but not hard) and kill throttle. Wife gets water over her boots (spoils her day!) as she wades in quickly to attach the strap. Then hard work winding her in.

Also was not completely in line with trailer at start.

Now I see some more gel coat damage - although Berthon engineer says he thinks this was a weak bit due to 'bubbles' and probably not a result of the recovery.

Any advice on how to make this painless?

Thanks

Bruce

[Scary Des]

Originally Posted by brucehawsker

...............Any advice on how to make this painless?.....

Bruce more than happy to pop down a see what is going wrong next time you are launching or recovering Lymington can be a pig especially on a falling tide and a northerly so I can understand why you had difficulties.
Two tricks worth thinking about, the first is to stand in the bow as soon as the boat is touching on the trailer (after stopping the engine) because this will tend to hold the boat on while you are connecting the winch Second is to get you wife to stand half way down the trailer with the winch line, hook the boat on and pull on the line before the boat is completely on the trailer. This can help line up the boat and it can be more controlled than powering the boat on Word of caution with this last method you will have someone in front of you who will not be able ot get out of the way quickly so care with the throttle Des

[MeMe]

......the repair, may I offer my own advice based upon experience ? The first time I chipped my gelcoat I repaired it myself, stood back and admired the pretty good job I'd done.

The next time I chipped my gelcoat I had the dealer effect a repair and when I stood back to admire thier work, for the life of me I couldn't see where the hell the work had been done I'm sure you gem my point !

[osprey__viper]

And if ya really want to see a recovery, have a look at Dave Mallet's Wavelength training web site

www.wavelengthtraining.co.uk

Martin

[scm]

Bruce,
Come and do some training with UK Rib Centre in Lymington

I launch my 685 on my own all the time in Lymington and if you want i can show you how i do it.
Regards
Stuart

www.ukribcentre.co.uk

[jwalker]

Buy some chest waders, get the trailer in deeper and, as Scary des says, get the winch rope on and tensioned quickly to prevent the boat slewing or moving back. Something I find invaluable is to have a cross bar welded to your bow eye to act as a handle for pulling the boat on in a straight line. Holding the side ropes just doesn't do it and, also, you can't see properly the alignment of the hull/ trailer from the side.

[Scary Des]

Originally Posted by jwalker

...........Something I find invaluable is to have a cross bar welded to your bow eye to act as a handle for pulling the boat on in a straight line. Holding the side ropes just doesn't do it and, also, you can't see properly the alignment of the hull/ trailer from the side.

Nice idea have you got a picture?
On my trailer I have fitted a plank that allows me to walk along it keeping out of the water without having to balance on the cross beams, this won’t work with all trailers because it can get in the way of the swing beam but if you can fit one it’s very useful,des