Upgrading the standard Roller Coaster 1

[Old Forum]

Adrian Evans
   
Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 - 03:26 pm:      
The only aspect of Peggoty I'm at all unhappy with is perhaps the trailer. I did find the towing up from Essex hard work, (the tow vehicle is a Fiat Multipla which is fairly torquey and powerful, and should be well suited to the job - the rear axle is very close to the hitch) and I am wondering about upgrades to get a more comfortable tow, and carry more gear. I am concerned about putting too much weight in Peggoty, as she bears onto the rollers through the hull, and not through the keel, and I had thought to wedge a long baulk of timber between the keel and trailer, to take some of the load. Roger, you mentioned on your website upgrading the RC1 to allow for more weight of gear. Would you be able to detail a little what you had done?

I'd also be very interested to see a picture of the bump stops you added on the swinging arms to help centre the boat on the trailer. I did find this tricky on recovery, even without wind, tide or current!

Many thanks

[Old Forum]

David Cawston
   
Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 - 05:11 pm:      
Adrian, have a read of my post in the topic above this one. I have made a removeable support that fits between the keel and the trailer. Now the hull just touches the rollers as opposed to pressing down on them.

I have a high lift jack that I put under the rear of the keel and jack up the boat (whilst still attached to the winch strap only) at the stern and slide the support into place. Also I have uprated the suspension units to 1300kg and run 6 ply van tyres at 54psi. It tows a dream even at 70mph (naughty boy!) and the all up weight of boat and trailer is probably now 1200kg.

[Old Forum]

Roger Parish
   
Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 - 08:51 pm:      
I would echo Dave's comments on upgrading the trailer. My boat plus gear weighed 1100kgs so stronger suspension units are a must. However it is the tyres which will make all the difference. Mine are inflated to 65psi. It would also be prudent to remove the engine and the rudder if you are experiencing problems. Both are very heavy to have at the rear of the trailer. Try putting the engine in the boat over the axle and the rudder in the boot of the car. I have always removed the rudder because it is such a weight to be hanging on the back end. I leave the engine in place because that is more trouble to remove but I'm towing with a landrover so is not so critical.
The rubber bump stops are simply a rubber mallet head cut in half and fixed to the inside of the swinging arms. Any substantial piece of rubber would do and fix with strong plastic ties.

[Old Forum]

Roger Parish
   
Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 09:40 pm:      
Adrian I have just reread your posting and I would like to add the following comment. I uprated my trailer with 1300kgs suspension units and equivalent load carrying tyres to safely carry the boat and its normal gear. I always try to keep the boat weight down by carrying all my personal gear, food,wine and beer for the week in the car and then load the boat when afloat. This approach will not only reduce the load on the hull from the rollers but also make for a more stable oufit.

[Old Forum]

Adrian Evans
   
Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 12:44 am:      
David, Roger, thankyou, that's very helpful. The keel support and bump stops look straightforward and very helpful. It is looking like my landrover forward control won't be ready for the trip to Gigha the weekend after this, so I shall take the backeats out of the fiat and pack as much as possible in the car. I shall probably leave the outboard insitu too: I don't think I can stand it up securely in the car, and I don't think I trust it not to lleak lying down! Uprating the suspension units and the tyres sounds like its well worth doing too. Can I squeeze it in in the next week, though ? hmm...

[Old Forum]

Julian Swindell
Username: Julian_swindell

Registered: 03-2007
   
Posted on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 01:22 pm:      
I am currently working on my trailer with Pelican sitting on a couple of tyres on the grass. Just a few observations on trailers, now that I am thinking about it.

People are worried about the boat resting on the hull rollers rather than on keel rollers, as is common with some boats such as Drascombes. I wouldn't be too worried. The Winkle Brig was designed to be suit a swinging cradle trailer with hull rollers, so it should suit that arrangement perfectly. Changing from supporting it on eight hull rollers, as intended, to three or four keel rollers might well cause problems with a keel that may not be designed to take such point loads. I have certainly experienced no problems in this area at all after three years and several hundred miles of towing and over 50 single handed launch and recoveries.

My hull rollers look like Dave's above. Roger's (also above) are supported quite differently and I must say Roger's looks a much better arrangement with the roller being supported both sides. I have found with my arrangement, the rear-most, inner roller (are you following this) actually presses against the side of the keel and so there is no need for centring bumps stops. You couldn't actually fit them in.

With regards to centring the boat, I have found one golden rule, don't push the trailer any further into the water than you absolutely have to. The boat yard staff keep telling me to shove the trailer right in and float the boat onto it, but this caused a near disater one tme when I tried it. The boat didn't centre at all, one roller was tilted over and when the boat was hauled out the brackets supporting those rollers were bent badly. I had to get a fork lift truck at the yard to lift Pelican up so I could sort it out. I have only just managed to get the brackets straightented by the local blacksmith.
If you push the trailer in just far enough, and no more, the cradle swings vertical and the rollers nicely grip the bow of the boat. Crank in some tension and the boat pulls into a straight line with the trailer. It will hold it here even in the fiercest cross current, but the bobstay can be a real hinderance to getting the bow into the cradle.

The second golden rule (and I'll probably think of a third one before I get to the end of this) is stop cranking immediately you think "this seems a bit harder than usual". There will be something wrong. Usually, in my case, a bilge board left down. Once, embarassingly, because a stern line was still tied to the end of the pier! Always stop and have a look.

To be continued when I remember what the third golden rule was...

[Old Forum]

Julian Swindell
Username: Julian_swindell

Registered: 03-2007
   
Posted on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 01:34 pm:      
Third Golden Rule!!!

Always check that you have switched the b******* engine off! I had to make a recovery on a really busy slipway with boats queing to come and go. I manouvered the trailer in like an expert, legged it to the boat on the pontoon like a sprinter and motored it right into the jaws of the trailer like a pro. Lept out and cranked it on board with one fluid athletic movement and stood back to bask in the admiration of the watching crowd. The only thing that spoiled the moment was the horrible sound of an engine running dry. Some idiotic skipper had forgotten to switch it off before he cranked it in...