Quote:
Originally Posted by Fenlander
I'm sure it's kind of crossed your mind that not feeling confident using the transom wheels with the OB on means they really aren't fit for purpose.
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Morning. Being completely new to this area I've been looking around at transom wheel setups where I see them and I'm of the general opinion that like the ones I have they are generally enormously overpriced, really borderline designs and Colin Chapmanesque use of materials.
Having done a sedate river launch and one gravel beach launch I can see that the wheel set up that I have is very weak and certain to fail.
The gauge of the metal is just too thin to give the strength between that the stub axle and the leg that is required for them to be considered robust. But the major weak point is the bracket. It hasn't been designed with usage in mind just designed to take a basic downward force.
There is a lot of twisting forces that will get applied in basic use. Not just when manoeuvring to line up on the slipway but the big risk that I spotted was from launching into a very modest swell where if the wheels were to touch the bottom while a swell was pushing the boat they wouldn't stand a chance.
The fact that the stub axle doesn't pass all the way through the leg and is double welded is shocking for the price. You can use very light metal but no one in their right mind would basically take tube that thin, knowing even the most basic load it's going to be taking and use a single butt weld.
And the bracket is far too short to be able to withstand the twisting forces of just basic manoeuvring on land let alone getting an accidental whack when launching. I'd say that the legs need to be longer and sitting in a longer bracket.
Given the inherent weaknesses I'm thinking that it will be important to try and run higher pressures in the tyres to keep the contact patch as small as possible, to avoid pivot turns and generally move the boat in as wide an arc as plausible and when launching in a swell to wade to the back as soon as the boat is in and take the wheels off to minimise the risk of them snagging on the bottom. They need nursing at all times.
Short of fabricating a suitable set I was wondering what could be done to beef up the existing design and my first though is to somehow drill accurately a hole on the leg, opposite the stub axle so that a 4 inch bolt that just fits inside the stub tube can be pushed through and held and be snug with just a skim of sikaflex to hold it firmly so that the load is spread and not being taken all on that single weld on thin gauge metal.
When I look at my wheels I do see an inevitable difficult end to a lovely day out.
There is a more expensive design of launch wheels that use a much more four square bracket where the wheels pivot up. Are these the Trem wheels being discussed? They look a much better design and more worth their £200 tag whereas I would say the fundamental issue with my type of set up is that it's not worth more than a few pounds and is extremely over priced for what they are.
spy-sea-one
