Moving A Boat From Trailer To Trailer

[Elton]

All things being well, I hope to move my boat from its old trailer and onto a new one this weekend.

 

I can see this not being the easiest task on earth - any tips?

[John E Ashford]

You need two motors to tow your trailers.

 

Go to your local launch ramp, float the boat off the old trailer, then bring you boat back onto the new trailer.

 

Maybe that's to easy.

[Elton]

You need two motors to tow your trailers.

 

Go to your local launch ramp, float the boat off the old trailer, then bring you boat back onto the new trailer.

 

Maybe that's to easy.

 

Yep - boat would sink in current state Also, old trailer it's on is well and truly bust.

 

This has to be done on land...

[Colin Brett]

Elton,

 

You remember how you built the pyramids?

 

Invest in some inflatable rollers [they can double up as fenders], Push boat off of the old trailer onto the rollers.

Then winch the boat onto the new trailer.

Or just find a nice piece of grass!

 

Colin

[help_ma_boab]

Yep - I would agree with the 'find a bit of grass route'.

If you have a decent winch on the trailer, and its not the Queen Mary your moving, its really quite easy.

 

Easter weekend at Luce Sands on the Mull of Galloway saw us performing this kind of operation every day for 3 days. The water was way too shallow to recover the boats normally (submerging trailer) on an outgoing tide, so we simply beached the boats on the sand.

By the time we got the 4x4s and trailers down, the boats were hi and dry.

Unhitch the trailer, hook up winch strap, line up rear roller/s on bow/keel and start winching it on.

On my trailer, the trailer actually walks its way under the boat (keel rollers & bunks), on my mates trailer (multiple rollers), the boat climbs up the trailer.

Its a bit easier if you have someone to assist by steadying the boat at the rear, and it helps to have arms like Garth, but quite straightforward.

The multi roller type trailers also have a bonus of the boat 'self straightening' the further it gets on the trailer - on my bunked trailer it sometimes needs a small adjustment at the stern (a quick heave).

 

Its actually a lot easier than it sounds, and grass is not going to hurt the boat - just take it easy - do not try to hurry it.

 

Hope this helps....

 

Bill

[Elton]

Cheers, Bill. I'll let you know how I get on.

[Steve Coppolo]

Hello Elton.

The rollers on your old trailer are knackered and the boat won't roll off easily. You could jack the boat up and block it as you go, then tow the trailer out from under it. Position the new trailer under the front of the boat so that as much as possible is sitting on the front roller. It should then be easy to remove the bolcks and winch the boat onto the new trailer.

 

Good luck and if you get stuck, I'm working that day

[Glasgowdan]

Hello Elton.

The rollers on your old trailer are knackered and the boat won't roll off easily. You could jack the boat up and block it as you go, then tow the trailer out from under it. Position the new trailer under the front of the boat so that as much as possible is sitting on the front roller. It should then be easy to remove the bolcks and winch the boat onto the new trailer.

 

Good luck and if you get stuck, I'm working that day

I would agree, the jacking and using blocks idea would work best. What sort of boat is it? We recently took our 16foot fastliner off the trailer by rolling it off the trailer onto some planks of wood on the driveway, and winched it back on again after the trailer repair was done - if its light enough and you can protect the hull you could do this.

[Leon Roskilly]

Will there be a video available Elton?

 

 

[Tog]

Take the motor off and strip out as much weight as possible.

Get some old tyres and lay them down where the boat will go and let the boat down onto them.(6 seems a nice qty)

Winch boat back onto new trailer.

trailer will probably winch itself under the boat - allow the hitch to go high in the air so the trailer aligns itself with the keel- this also allows you to reposition rollers as required.

1/2 hrs work and quite easy for two able bodies.