Getting ready to trailer my boat home from FL (13 hr drive)....does anyone have any experience with damage (or preventing damage) to the boat while trailering. I don't have a cover so I've been wondering if a long ride home should be a concern.

Thanks

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Bert Scott
Niceville, FL
Nacra F18
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Hey Bert, when i first bought my boat in Detroit it was about 6 hours from home, not quite 13 but long enough. some quick advice is to make sure you have good tires, and struts to support the trailer. for strapping it to the trailer i usually try and keep the cross bars over the 2 areas each pontoon sits on the trailer. like that put the straps over the cross bar and around the trailer supports. make sure that if you are using ratchet tie downs, put them at the bottom so that when the wind vibrates them they are not rattling against the boat and scratching up your gel coat. other than that, keep all loose ends tide down and you should be fine.

Cheers,

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Will Schwan
Toronto Ontario
Solcat 18
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Make sure than all tie downs are tight and knotted if possible, I would check these every gas stop. Harbor Freight (if they have that in Texas) has great deal on tie downs. Use enough tie downs to limit rattle/flapping/movement of everything. Also make sure that you have good bearings and hopefully you have bearing buddies. If you are unsure about this drive for 10 miles of so, pull over and tough your fingers to the outside of the axel near the wheel. If it feels too hot to touch then you might have bad bearings. It might not be a bad idea to shoot some bearing grease into the bearings before the trip if you are unsure about them.

What kind of state is your trailer in?

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Alex

Prindle 16 "Shake & Bake"
Portland, Oregon
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al.reed

It might not be a bad idea to shoot some bearing grease into the bearings before the trip if you are unsure about them.

This may lead to problems if the existing grease and the added grease are not compatible. Instead of having the minimal lubrication provided by to little grease one grease may "attack" the other leading to essentially no lubrication.

I recommend that you tow the trailer for a few miles and check for excessive heat. If OK keep an eye on them (check hourly or so) for the rest of your trip. When you get home remove all existing grease from the hubs, inspect the seals, bearings, and races, and replace if discolored, cracked, rusted, or pitted, then pack or repack the bearings with a grease of your choice. Use new seals! Either keep a good record of the grease you use or keep it on hand so when you need to regrease you don't have any worry about using incompatible products. I use Stalube Marine Grease (MFG by CRC) sold by NAPA on all my trailers, boat or otherwise. I just keep one of my grease guns loaded with trailer grease at all times. Buying different colored grease guns helps keep them straight. https://www.napaonline.co…LRSL3120_0006410094&An=0



Edited by Rider_55 on Aug 05, 2011 - 02:44 PM.

Thanks for the reply's....I guess I wasn't very specific but I actually did have concerns about the grease type/compatibility Rider mentioned...good thoughts.

I'm mainly concerned about rocks flying up along the road. I drive a toyota tacoma and i don't think it's especially bad wrt to throwing debris, but I've never gone sand skiing behind it either :) Regardless, there seems to be rocks on the roads more and more these days....maybe it's just San Antonio. There are some options out there along the lines of mud flaps but I don't know if I really need them. ?

Al, I assume it is the original trailer that came with the '05 boat. It's in good shape. It does have bearing buddies and I intend to lube it up pretty good before taking off. I might be able to ask the previous owner what he used on them or clean them up as Rider suggests...

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Bert Scott
Niceville, FL
Nacra F18
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I would have to go to walmart and get a spare.

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Nacra 5.2
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We towed our sailboats thousands of miles and never had a problem with rock and debris hitting the boat. The forward profile of the boat is probably too small to really be a good target. One time, a car in front of me ran over a tire tread doing 70MPH and kicked it up in the air. It hit my grill, hood, then the windshield and totally missed the boat. I have no idea how it missed the boat because it was a fairly large tread.
You should make sure the mast is bungied on tightly. We hit a pot hole one time and the mast bounced off of the support.
If you have a sailbox. make sure the doors are secured so they can't open during the trip. Finally, as stated by others, check your hubs regularly to make sure they are not hot.
The only recurring problem we have is that the bugs mess up my mast base and hull tips.
Safe travels!

golfdad75

I would have to go to walmart and get a spare.

I'd get two (or three) and return any you don't use when you get back.

When you are inspecting the trailer check the date codes on the tires, even if tires are low mileage and look like they have good tread, if they are past five years old I wouldn't trust them for the trip. It's hard to tell when a tire blows and you can end up dragging the bare wheel on the ground until it starts throwing chunks of metal.




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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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ok....good advice all....thanks again. I don't want that picture on my camera....

VR
Bert

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Bert Scott
Niceville, FL
Nacra F18
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And of course make sure you tightly secure a 'Don't Mess with Texas' sticker to your trailer, a NRA sticker to the cab of your truck and a loaded gun rack inside your truck... you do live in Texas, right?

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Alex

Prindle 16 "Shake & Bake"
Portland, Oregon
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Will do....and just remember....The average response time of a 911 call is over 3 minutes....the response time of a .44 magnum is 1400 feet per second

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Bert Scott
Niceville, FL
Nacra F18
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DamonLinkous

golfdad75

I would have to go to walmart and get a spare.

I'd get two (or three) and return any you don't use when you get back.

When you are inspecting the trailer check the date codes on the tires, even if tires are low mileage and look like they have good tread, if they are past five years old I wouldn't trust them for the trip. It's hard to tell when a tire blows and you can end up dragging the bare wheel on the ground until it starts throwing chunks of metal.

Come on Damon. Is that all you got?


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Philip
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mummp

Come on Damon. Is that all you got?

Yea, that's what I meant about it's hard to know sometimes that a trailer tire has even blown and you just keep driving.

The one in my pic happened during a driving rain-storm and the only reason I found out before it got as bad as your pic was another driver pulled up beside me and started honking and pointing at the trailer. Never a good sign.

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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Where do you buy tires? It seems you can't buy a tire, you have to get wheel/tire combos. People just discard the wheels?

kgatesman

Where do you buy tires? It seems you can't buy a tire, you have to get wheel/tire combos. People just discard the wheels?

Tractor supply usually has just the tires however if you have to pay to have it mounted it winds up being more expensive than a wheel/tire combo. Most of my wheels wind up rusted about the time the tire dryrots so replacing both is a no brainer for me. I just recycle the wheel or add it to my stash of scrap metal for random projects.

Make sure you put some sort of pin or padlock through your hitch once it is locked down. I have had mine bounce out and if not for the spare which hangs lower than the tongue on the trailer and the safety chains i'd have had real trouble. As it was the brand new spare took the damage burning a hole through the bottom of it.

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Dustin Finlinson • Magna, UT
Member: Utah Sailing Association
1982 Prindle 18
1986 Hobie 17
1982 Prindle 16
1980 Prindle 16(mostly)
1976 Prindle 16(mostly)
Check out "Prindle Sailors" on Facebook.
--

Check the size of the lugs for the trailer wheels against your lug wrench in the tow vehicle. There is a decent chance that the trailer lugs are not the same size as the tow vehicle's. If this is the case and you are not properly prepared, you could have a flat and not be able to change it, even though you have spare wheels available.

Get the tire/wheel combo. Have you ever tried to mount a trailer tire to a wheel yourself? A bit more difficult than a bicycle tire. I'm sure that the cost of the combo would be far cheaper than the cost of the tire and the labor at the tire shop to mount it. Think I paid about $50 for one at wal-mart. I also have a spare set of bearing, just in case. If you have a spare already, check it carefully. The ones that came with my boat were in terrible shape when I inspected them and wouldn't hold any air at all. Good thing I checked it before my first big trip.

The only thing I've had happen to my boat while trailering is I get a small amount of diesel soot on the starboard hull- washes off as soon as I get the boat in the water.

I don't trust bungees for securing the boat or the mast. IMO, bungees are only ok to keep lines/rigging from flopping. Bungees can stretch (duh) and given enough force (running over pothole), can let you down. I secure my boat with ratchet straps (not too tight, or one can crack a hull), and secure the mast with extra 1/4" halyard- no chance of the mast bouncing out of the harness if I tie my knots correctly. So far, so good.

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Eric C

Force 5 project boat
Unnamed

Previous boat
1980 Nacra 5.2
"Double Vision"
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Eric,

Great advice, I would never have thought various lug sizes were in play. I agree with the comment about bungees...have you ever noticed/counted how many bungees are laying on the side of the road. Yeah, I see a few ratchet straps in the road too but that's more likely user error than fatigue.

Thanks

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Bert Scott
Niceville, FL
Nacra F18
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If there is a Northern Tool near you they have the tire/wheel combos pretty reasonable. They also have the entire hub/bearing assemblies complete and already greased. You need to know the shaft size though. I caught them switching brands and got two sets for less than $25ea.

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Mike Brady
Sugar Land, TX
Sailing off Magnolia Beach in Lavaca Bay TX
http://358degrees.blogspot.com/
P16 "Pooh Cat"
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Damon-

Checking out your pic, I noticed you had the rudders off but the castings still on. I suppose that's the easiest way, right? 2 nuts/bolts and its off... Would the nylock nuts start to wear after a while?

Removing the cotter keys, pins, washers, bushings, etc. and getting it all back on in the right order is a real PITA. Consequently, I haven't been removing my rudders for my short 1-2 hour trips, but am starting to suspect its a bad decision in the long-run.


PS - what's the tang on the comptip for? Spin?

--
Jeff R
'88 H18 "Jolly Mon"
'10 C2 USA1193
NE IN / SE MI
cramsailing.com
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rehmbo

Damon-

Checking out your pic, I noticed you had the rudders off but the castings still on. I suppose that's the easiest way, right? 2 nuts/bolts and its off... Would the nylock nuts start to wear after a while?

Removing the cotter keys, pins, washers, bushings, etc. and getting it all back on in the right order is a real PITA. Consequently, I haven't been removing my rudders for my short 1-2 hour trips, but am starting to suspect its a bad decision in the long-run.

We could probably start a five page thread on the subject of whether to trailer with rudders on or off.

The "remove one bolt" method I use now was shown to me by a long-time Hobie 18 skipper who saw me struggling to remove my rudder system by pulling the pin. Seems the pins always get slightly bent and very difficult to remove, plus you end up with all those parts to keep track of.

This method is much simpler, but does work best when you have the Hobie 20 style tiller bar connectors so you can separate the tiller arms from the tiller bar, but I did use this method on my 1981 that didn't have it.

Most of my trips are in 500 mile range (one-way), if I was only going an hour or two I might not bother.

rehmbo

PS - what's the tang on the comptip for? Spin?

Yes, the previous owner had planned to add a spin to the boat but sold it to me before that was done. I've considered adding the spin but don't want to take the "spin on a non-spin boat" Portsmouth hit for a jury rigged system on a boat that already has a giant jib.

I do have "spinnaker-envy" every time I'm in a mixed fleet though.

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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Damon, I have considered using a clevis pin instead of a bolt and nut system for the rudders. I also remove my rudders so they don't wear my rudder lines out bouncing around. I am trying to find a quicker way to attach and detach the rudders.
What are your thoughts on using a clevis pin with a ring ding?
Also feeding the rudder lines through the rudder holes is a pain trying to tie and untie the knots. Do you have a suggestion on this?

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Alex

Prindle 16 "Shake & Bake"
Portland, Oregon
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al.reed

What are your thoughts on using a clevis pin with a ring ding?
Also feeding the rudder lines through the rudder holes is a pain trying to tie and untie the knots. Do you have a suggestion on this?

The rudder system on the Prindle is completely different than the Hobie, so I don't really have any input on it. We've got lots of Prindle folks here, so chime in peeps!

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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Right now what I do is leave the entire rudder system as once piece and pull the pins. I fold each side in on itself. Loosen the lines holding the rudders up a bit so the rudders can lay parallel to each other. I tie a bit of rope around the center to hold it all together and toss it in the catbox. It is doable by your self and pretty easy with a helper. Hardest thing is to make sure to keep the peices parallel so as not to bend your bolts connecting your cross piece to your tiller arms.

I used to take the bolt out and untie the knots. (pretty easy if you tied a figure eight, not so much if your wife tried to help and tied and overhand). When I put nylon shims in to try to take out some slop i decided that was to much hassle so went tot he way I listed above.

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Dustin Finlinson • Magna, UT
Member: Utah Sailing Association
1982 Prindle 18
1986 Hobie 17
1982 Prindle 16
1980 Prindle 16(mostly)
1976 Prindle 16(mostly)
Check out "Prindle Sailors" on Facebook.
--

Thanks Dustin. It just seems like more of a hassle to remove the entire rudder/tiller system, but maybe I will try it.

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Alex

Prindle 16 "Shake & Bake"
Portland, Oregon
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I tow rarely so I remove the rudder and tiller. I am not so worried about the lines taking the beating, I worry more about the gudgeons coming out of the hulls, the rudder blade is a lot of load bouncing around on a moving trailer.

The PO made a shelf about 10" x 8' that sets on the back of my hulls, the mast rests on this when it is down. He pulled the bolts and strapped the blades to the shelves too, rather than remove the whole assembly.



Edited by kgatesman on Aug 13, 2011 - 06:41 AM.

I think I would remove my rudders, it's pretty easy on the Nacra. A coule weeks ago we pulled up behind a fellow towing an H16 to cottage country. I remarked tot he wife that his rudders looked pretty low. As we pulled up I saw the right one had ground about 3" off the tip, from dragging when the trailer hit a bump. Unfortunately he went another direction before we could flag him over.

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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
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Damon-

Referring to to the H20 style rudder setup:

Quote

but does work best when you have the Hobie 20 style tiller bar connectors so you can separate the tiller arms from the tiller bar, but I did use this method on my 1981 that didn't have it.

I'm intrigued. Is there a kit available, or does one get the parts individually from a Hobie dealer? Do you just replace the end caps of the tiller-arms and crossbar, or do the tubes also need to be replaced? Any gotcha's to beware of?

--
Jeff R
'88 H18 "Jolly Mon"
'10 C2 USA1193
NE IN / SE MI
cramsailing.com
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rehmbo

Damon-

Referring to to the H20 style rudder setup:
I'm intrigued. Is there a kit available, or does one get the parts individually from a Hobie dealer? Do you just replace the end caps of the tiller-arms and crossbar, or do the tubes also need to be replaced? Any gotcha's to beware of?

Yes, there is a kit (pair of connectors) available in the Hobie catalog, page 21.
http://static.hobiecat.co…ing-parts-spring2011.pdf

I think it costs about $120, one of those things that sounds real expensive but once you have you can't live without.

Tiller crossbar doesn't need to be replaced, the connectors rivet onto the existing bar. These also give you fine-tune adjustments for rudder tow-in.

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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Doh - I've looked through that catalog a dozen times
Sounds like my next minor project.
Thanks!

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Jeff R
'88 H18 "Jolly Mon"
'10 C2 USA1193
NE IN / SE MI
cramsailing.com
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I have P16 - take the rudder system off when you tow. The rudders bounce like crazy otherwise. It is easy to take em of and put em back on -easier than rethreading and retying the lines. Just my 2cents

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85 Prindle 16
"If you aint the lead dog the view never changes"
North Carolina
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this is how i trailor...2 - 3/8" lines tied up rudders TIGHT off of springs and go for it. have logged over 70 trips @ 140 miles round trip each...even made a few 3 hour one way trips with absolutely no problems. takes about 1 minute to untie and about 5 minutes to tie.



Edited by coastrat on Aug 24, 2011 - 01:48 PM.

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bill harris
hattiesburg, mississippi
prindle 16- "BLUE RIBBON"
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When I sail I have to drive three and a half hours pulling my boat. I like to always think I am prepared so I keep two spare tires on the trailer at all times. I replace the tires on the trailer every two years by putting my new spares on the boat and using the old ones as spares. It is also a very good idea to carry a full hub setup.....meaning all you have to do is slid it on the axle and then bolt on tire. You do not want to be running to walmart after you have a flat or bearing go out. I also carry a hydraulic jack....even tho my truck has a jack that can be used. Once again this provides me with a hot standby if one does not work. Don't forget the lug wrench.......It is also important to make sure your fender covers the wheel......when my cat is on the trailer, it is very close to the tire, so if it blows.......I could end up with the rubber beating my boat to death before I have a chance to pull over. I plan install spacers on cradles to lift it up higher.

You do not have to cover the boat when trailering. Never put your boat on a trailer that has rollers....always use cradles. Leave the rudders off so they do not bounce around and damage the rudders or boat.

I also like to make sure my mast is even with the back of the boat so when I stop.....some DA will not run into me. This may be over kill, but I also like to mount my lights on the back cross beam. This way the DA's in back of me can clearly see my tail lights when I apply breaks.

Ed... LOVE your signature pic... but doesn't look anything like you ... In fact, you must have taken that pic from the back of my boat!

These things are GREAT for use in pulling the rudder pins to just take off the whole rudder assembly... in about 10 seconds...

http://www.murrays.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MS&Product_Code=25-220&Category_Code=

Hope to see you around the coast again!
-Rob



Edited by robpatt on Sep 02, 2011 - 08:53 AM.

On my P18, I used to use the pinched rope method as shown by coastrat, recently though I decided to remove my rudders by pulling the pivot pin, 1st though you need to remove the rudder lines and undo the knots, had to use a screwdriver and pliers to coax them loose from being tied for many years. But once undone they can be retied and undone much easier, now all I do is push the line so knot pops out through the little port, undo both knots, remove rudder pivot pin, throw rudder in sailbox, tie lines together using slip knot, takes less than 5 min to remove/install rudders using this method, lock nut and bolt take an 11 mm metric socket.

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TurboHobo
H14T
H16
P18
G-Cat 5.0
P16
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The H20 tiller disconnect is great, well worth the cost and minimal install time. I put them on my H18 when I was still trailering it around. Makes removing the rudders so easy.

I just pull off the crossbar and then drop the two rudder pins out the bottom. Your rudder pins should not be getting bent from one sail to the next if you trailer all the time. If they are getting bent enough to be hard to remove, there is likely something wrong with your rudder adjustment/setup. I do have the stainless pins.

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Scott,
‘92 H18 w/SX wings
‘95 Hobie Funseeker 12 (Holder 12)
‘96/‘01/‘14 Hobie Waves
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