Beachmaster type wheel users - Question

[Fenlander]

Hmmm. I probably have one of the lightest SIBs here and transom wheels are essential to our launch/retrieve even if not our outing midpoint. Its not just the SIB weight there's the 96 piece toolkit, a full set of spares, multiple layers of safety kit, clothing for all seasons (in Scotland), a bag of the dog's needs and so on.

[Brinormeg]

https://youtu.be/Vd4bYq7tGio

Been thinking about these seamax wheels!

Given that they have 4 lock positions already…..would it be that difficult to make another notch so those who don’t like the look of mickey ears showing above the boat, could set them a bit lower, so that they would be hidden by the volaires large tubes, but high enough to miss the water.
But then again, I think the bracket might be narrower midway so probably wouldn’t work…

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Brinormeg

https://youtu.be/Vd4bYq7tGio

Been thinking about these seamax wheels!

Given that they have 4 lock positions already…..would it be that difficult to make another notch so those who don’t like the look of mickey ears showing above the boat, could set them a bit lower, so that they would be hidden by the volaires large tubes, but high enough to miss the water.
But then again, I think the bracket might be narrower midway so probably wouldn’t work…

I think you’d have to adjust the legs to their shortest length to reduce the mechanical advantage. Otherwise you’ll have the full weight of the wheels bouncing around horizontally & that is going to strain the brackets/pins/transom.

[Brinormeg]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

I think you’d have to adjust the legs to their shortest length to reduce the mechanical advantage. Otherwise you’ll have the full weight of the wheels bouncing around horizontally & that is going to strain the brackets/pins/transom.

Good point PD. I think I would be looking at replacing the floaty wheels as well, which might be even heavier.

Outwith the crap quality beach copies you got……… did you need a spacer, how much clearance below the air floor to the ground etc ?

Or did you not even get as far as fitting them?

You received your seamax yet?

[Steve509926]

Hi Brian, the famous Fenlander Yellow wheels are considerably lighter than the normal wheels. Saying that, I do agree with PD that I wouldn't be keen having the leg & wheels "cantilevered" out from the transom. Would probably create a lot of unnecessary stress on the transom.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Brinormeg

Good point PD. I think I would be looking at replacing the floaty wheels as well, which might be even heavier.



Outwith the crap quality beach copies you got……… did you need a spacer, how much clearance below the air floor to the ground etc ?



Or did you not even get as far as fitting them?



You received your seamax yet?

Didn’t get as far as offering them up, opened the box, saw the quality, sent ‘em back. I did print the templates out from the Beachmaster website & glued them to some cheap 6mm ply & cut them out. It was obvious that I’d need to make some fancy packers/spacers to make them fit. Not a major job, but I didn’t want to invest the time & materials making packers for a substandard product.

[Brinormeg]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Didn’t get as far as offering them up, opened the box, saw the quality, sent ‘em back. I did print the templates out from the Beachmaster website & glued them to some cheap 6mm ply & cut them out. It was obvious that I’d need to make some fancy packers/spacers to make them fit. Not a major job, but I didn’t want to invest the time & materials making packers for a substandard product.

Fair enough. Shame there’s been quality issues because it seems those who got decent sets have had good success with them so far.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Brinormeg

Fair enough. Shame there’s been quality issues because it seems those who got decent sets have had good success with them so far.

Yeah, I really wanted them to work. Shame really. If they had been decent quality, I’d have set to and made a job of them. I suppose I could have bitten the bullet & gone for the real thing, but the Seamax seemed a better option for the Volaire & were over £100 cheaper. I like the fact that the Seamax are adjustable length & will enable additional clearance over rough ground.

[Easedalenovice]

Originally Posted by Steve509926

Wouldn't help. Pub stops, dog wee stops, 2 hour walks etc Beaching is a must and depending on the state of the tide it's either up or down the beach.

With the T38 we just take the 2 Stroke off and we carry the sib the few meters we need to.

A heavy sib and 4 stroke motor is just to heavy to reap the full benefit of sibbing in my Opinion. Even the old hand on here switched to a 9.8 Tohatsu 2 stroke. It is all about keeping the weight down. But of course each to their own

[Brinormeg]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Yeah, I really wanted them to work. Shame really. If they had been decent quality, I’d have set to and made a job of them. I suppose I could have bitten the bullet & gone for the real thing, but the Seamax seemed a better option for the Volaire & were over £100 cheaper. I like the fact that the Seamax are adjustable length & will enable additional clearance over rough ground.

Yeah have watched a load of videos on the seamax and don’t think you can go wrong with them to be honest.

The more I’ve looked into things the more I think we will eventually just end up with the sib on bunks on top of a trailer, and then the extendable legs will come into their own for taking the volaire off the trailer single handed if need be.
Something like this guys who just got his sib stolen on Loch awe

I doubt the beachmaster would have been deep enough to stop,the cones getting damaged when tilting for taking on and off, and the originals too expensive for my short arms and deep pockets

[Steve509926]

I'm hopefully one of the lucky ones. The "Beachmaster" wheels I have, have been great so far but only time will tell.

After offering up my "Beachmaster" wheels to JonB's Boatworld V380, I'm of the opinion that with a lot of packer/bracket fettling they would be ok on his sib. However, I would question them fitting well, no matter how much fettling, on a Volaire as the protrusion of the Volaire deck looks much bigger than the V380. If I had a Volaire, I think I would be leaning towards the Seamax even with the Mickey Mouse ears.

[Pikey Dave]

They’ve arrived

[Steve509926]

No extra duty or costs Dave?

[User name]

Originally Posted by lightning

One mistake l made was to heave the SIB up a low curb which probably wasn't a great idea as it bent the lower pivot mountings on the wheels a little.
It doesn't affect their operation although it would be straightforward to straighten them out if necessary.

Also two of the locking pins have come a bit loose but they seem secure, as in, l can't pull them out with a pair of pliers.

Exact same thing happened to mine over rocks coming out of a lake. Such a shame though. They function really well but they're just not tough enough and they bent much easier than I would have expected. Being aluminium, they also won't stand up to much bending/straightening before they'll fracture. I'm not even sure if I can return mine, as I had to use a mail forwarder to get them here.

I also don't know how people manage without launching wheels or a trolley, especially if you're bringing supplies/cargo/fishing gear with you.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Steve509926

No extra duty or costs Dave?

So far so good, £241

[Easedalenovice]

Originally Posted by User name

Exact same thing happened to mine over rocks coming out of a lake. Such a shame though. They function really well but they're just not tough enough and they bent much easier than I would have expected. Being aluminium, they also won't stand up to much bending/straightening before they'll fracture. I'm not even sure if I can return mine, as I had to use a mail forwarder to get them here.

I also don't know how people manage without launching wheels or a trolley, especially if you're bringing supplies/cargo/fishing gear with you.

To manage without wheels you don't load up the boat till it is afloat. There are 2 of us and a little dog. If we make about 2 - 3 trips each it is soon done. Having a 46 kg Honwave T38 and a two stroke Tohatsu helps a lot also. In my view much more weight than a 6 hp four stroke is simply too much weight to be putting on and off a boat. It wont take long till you do your back an injury

[Steve509926]

Originally Posted by Easedalenovice

To manage without wheels you don't load up the boat till it is afloat. There are 2 of us and a little dog. If we make about 2 - 3 trips each it is soon done. Having a 46 kg Honwave T38 and a two stroke Tohatsu helps a lot also. In my view much more weight than a 6 hp four stroke is simply too much weight to be putting on and off a boat. It wont take long till you do your back an injury

But doesn't that limit you to the places where you can launch?
There are lots of places where I wouldn't fancy launching from without wheels, for example Oxwich Bay, New Quay, Glenelg. And if there is only one of you, does that not present a security risk?

[User name]

Originally Posted by Easedalenovice

To manage without wheels you don't load up the boat till it is afloat. There are 2 of us and a little dog. If we make about 2 - 3 trips each it is soon done. Having a 46 kg Honwave T38 and a two stroke Tohatsu helps a lot also. In my view much more weight than a 6 hp four stroke is simply too much weight to be putting on and off a boat. It wont take long till you do your back an injury

I suppose it makes sense if your only cargo is people/pets. Your use case is very different to mine.

Where I launch, it's often a little bit of a walk between the parking spot and the water so I'd have to leave stuff unattended. Instead I just get the boat ready in the parking spot next to me and then walk everything down in one go. The wheels pay for themselves at the end of a long day when you're packing up and not in the mood for heavy lifting and multiple trips.

[Easedalenovice]

Originally Posted by User name

I suppose it makes sense if your only cargo is people/pets. Your use case is very different to mine.

Where I launch, it's often a little bit of a walk between the parking spot and the water so I'd have to leave stuff unattended. Instead I just get the boat ready in the parking spot next to me and then walk everything down in one go. The wheels pay for themselves at the end of a long day when you're packing up and not in the mood for heavy lifting and multiple trips.

I agree how we do it would not work for a single person.

I can however use this that I devised. I have the lovely trim tabs to contend with also. Might buy a t38 ie3 to see if it is much better. But messing with Solar at the moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIkO-5y-9e0&t=2s

[Easedalenovice]

Originally Posted by Steve509926

But doesn't that limit you to the places where you can launch?
There are lots of places where I wouldn't fancy launching from without wheels, for example Oxwich Bay, New Quay, Glenelg. And if there is only one of you, does that not present a security risk?

Yes it does limit a little but there is generally 2 of us. In order to help carry the boat to the waters edge I also did this to the bag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khH84vN-5Zo