I don't think Eric uses rails and sliders at all. He uses the rollers while holding the boat by the ows. That is how I do it on my normal trailer. We far enough on the trailer he puts down the mainbeam on its rests and then lifts the boat at the rearbeam putting the cat tracks in their rests.
Wouter
Tom-
I have front cradles on my trailer to support the boat as I slide it forward (by picking the boat up at the stern, wheels and all and pushing forward until wheels
seat
into their
L
angled spots, then go forward and lift front beam into their
slots
- this puts the hulls above the front cradles slightly. Then the rear mast support is pinned in (this traps the wheels down) and the wheel ties loosened so a line is then used to slightly lift the rear beam into contact with an inverted
L
angle where the beam is lashed into place. Again, the boat is now entirely supported by 3 points so the trailer can pretty much flex all it wants (actually the front beam support is quite substantial and flexes very little) and none of this flexure is transferred to the boat.
Loading the boat on the trailer can all be done with the spi pole in place IF the front mast support is far enough in front of the front beam supports that the boat gets seated in the slots before the spi pole hits the mast support. This is NOT the case on my trailer so I take pole off before loading the boat. Alternatively you could have a swing away or pinned front mast support that would be removed/folded down while loading the boat.
Would love to go to Island Hop- When is it?
Kirt
I understand the trailer part. As I undertake the modifications, I will snap some photos, so you guys can tell me where I screwed up <img src=
alt=
/> <img src=
alt=
/> <img src=
alt=
/>
Island Hop is 7/1 and 7/2. I am cannot promise anything, yet. I'd try harder if the T4.9 was going to be there, but it is pretty poor timing for me.
I spent last weekend with my 8 year old as he was learning to sail Opti's. He had a good time. Crew in training.....
Did Edderer get the T4.9 or A? I thought I saw somewhere that he got the A.........
Did you see the JPOR photo? A guy had 3 little ones aboard, all looked younger than 8 to me.
Sure they are. But, at the rate I go swimming
she who must be obeyed
forbads it until THEY know what they are doing - not me. One day.....
Wouter, don't confuse Eric's posting about AHPC trailer setup to his own set up. He definately has rails, look a few pages back. The rails would let me slide the boat on without taking the spi pole apart (remember, I sail off a boat ramp and not a beach - yep like motorboats).
Tom,
If you're launching straight from trailer to water off a ramp, I would suggest making the uprights shorter and thus the rails lower than my set up. (Only downside is that the boat will have more exposure to road debris on long trips.)
BobCat,
Thanks for the
heads up
. Did you pre pay the full amount, and if so, when?
I was thinking of only raising the hull height by a few inches and maybe making some
socks
.
My biggest problem is (I think) that the box of the trailer frame (the rectangular rear part of the trailer) is not long enough for rails to properly support for the beams. I may have to get creative. Example: length from outside rear beam to outside front beam is 86 inches, but the outside of the trailer from rear to where it starts to turn inward to the tongue is only 59 inches. meaning my rails would overhang the end supports by 13.5 inches on each end. And hang off the back of the trailer.
I may have to go back to Kirt's plans, but put the front crossbar (that goes between the beam supporting uprights) low enough so that my spi pole clears it.
Once I get back from vacation, I'll put some more thought into it.
Thats sort of the funny thing. I flew down to Florida in January with my checkbook. Matt didn't seem too interested in a deposit. Two weeks ago I was finally able to force my credit card on him. Last week when I was a little perturbed I managed to force my way out of the voicemail system and threatened to stop my credit card. They told me they hadn't charged it yet and, oh yeah, the boat should be shipping in a day or two.
Well, I still haven't received shipping confirmation so I guess my club's Open regatta this coming weekend is out of the question.
I received a lot of moral support from my fellow forumites and thank them for that.
Personally I don't think there is any ill will on the part of Matt and VectorWorks Marine section of the Vectorwork company. Hence the reluctance to charge you. Matt and VWM is really trying to do their best to get stuff done properly. But sometimes the Gods really do seem to have other plans. Sometimes it is even a bit tragic. I really do hope the stuff is sorted out soon as the boat I test sailed this weekend is definately worth it. It is also time to cut down on the order listing.
I also really wish for you to have the boat soon Bruce, it is definately time for that. I feel it is a real pitty you got what seems to be the full broadside of the mishaps.
If it is any consilation, I just fully rigged up my boat yesterday (didn't get to sail it, no wind) and hence haven't sailed this year. Halve my season is over. Back at the beginning I only needed to replace one bolt and have an eye in my trampoline repaired. Not even an imported eye and the bolt had only a rusty nutt on it and I could have continue sailing like that. But I decided to do things right and get these things sorted out. Although I really did need to improve on spreading the bolt loads on my hulls, so I decided to do that at the same time. Minimize the boat-out-of-order time so to say. Well the end of the story you guys know. I rigged up my boat only yesterday and haven't sailed it this year. Actually yesterday I manually repaired the trampoline after it was
repaired
by a professional sailmaker who had it for weeks. It was the only way to get the boat ready now and not have to wait another two weeks for the repair to be repaired professionally.
I'm expecting the last ordered items to come in this week and then she be fully race ready. Sometimes little things (and suppliers) can really hold you up.
Wouter
After much weeping and gnashing of teeth <img src=
alt=
/> I have finally gotten the good news. It appears that Hull#716 is on the way and is scheduled to be hitting Chicago this evening before moving northward again. The sails and battens have been shipped seperately and should be arriving soon.
Outside chance of making your Club Regatta?
If not, don't fret ... I'm sure you won't have come down off the high mountain after Edmonton beats Carolina tonight.
And by no means should one consider constructing a Blade after too many Sleeman's, Moosehead, Canadian or Molson beers.
Aferall, with a Blade you're always on the edge.
Good Luck
About as good of a chance as for the bottom seed in the NHL of winning the Stanley Cup <img src=
alt=
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I fear that there are still many shipping depots ahead this week. I will also have to deal with Customs, so even as an optimist I wouldn't expect delivery till Friday afternoon. Not much chance of uncrating and building the craft by Saturday AM. If I tried, I would be like the Cat in the Hat crew at the Tybee 500 who hit the beach after 22 hours on the water and were faced with the next start in 2 hours.
Reply to BobCat and Wouter,
Glad to hear the good reports. I too flew to Florida, in March, to meet Matt and Gina (and Ian) and to see what a Blade was and is. My impression of Matt is that he is of high character, very thoughtful and thorough. I'm glad that my impression is shared by others. Thanks
All well worth the wait. It is truly a cool boat. It is faster with the shiny side down, take my advice on that.
The folks at VMI (and Gina) are standup peeps. The kind that you count as friends after a weekend encounter.
More pics of USA 712 coming as I got a new digital camera as dad's day gift...
Waterproof?
Tom-
The check was mailed yesterday for the USF16 assoc. <img src=
alt=
/> Unfortunately I will be at the USGP <img src=
alt=
/> (Hey! <img src=
alt=
/> I like fast cars as well as fast boats!!) over the 4th of July weekend so can't make it back to OSYC then. Are you planning to make the Halloween regatta there or any other regattas this direction? I think Memphis has a regatta sometime??
Kirt
Phill
I am intrigued by your trailer. Care to show a pic of the moving parts? How did you construct the sliding bits?
Will:
Some months back you were discussing making some alterations to your trailer suspension.
Did you remove the helper springs from your trailer and did it help?
I have a Carnai trailer made for the Hobie 18. With the Blade on cradles and travelling at 55 mph, I observe considerable up and down movement of my bows on cement pavement. The rig rides a lot smoother on asphalt surfaces. The movement seems to be caused by the flexing of the trailer tongue and frame as it absorbs bumps rather than the springs.
I'm thinking of making two adjustments, take the smaller leaf off to soften the springs and moving the axle forward to move it closer to the mainbeam of the boat. That should reduce the hobbyhorsing effect I'm seeing in the rear mirror. I've attached a side view photo of rig to give you an idea of the trailer as currently configured.
Anybody have similar experiences?
John D.
I would fear that moving the axle forward would remove your
weight on hitch
while only adding a little onto the trailer suspension.