Guide boat trailer

[Charger]

Hey guys, Well today my new to me boat trailer was delivered. I knew that I had work to do to it before it could be used. I started by removing the tower that holds the winch. With my boat only weighing in at 78#s thete is no need for it. With that removed it lighten up the tounge conciderably. The next thing I did was to free up the rear crossmember. It was pretty tusted but I got it. I then removed the rear roller assemblies as they are not needed. Next up was to relocate the front rollers to help support the keel and the hull. The next thing I did was to relocate the center roller to the rear crossmember. Now with my boat on the trailer I adjusted everything. It now fits my boat perfectly. Tomorrow I will install a new tounge jack and new LED. Lights. Next week I will get it registered to make it legal. The best part is I no longer have to try to load this onto the roof of our new Jeep Gherokee.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Charger,

That is about a 1800 lb trailer, way too heavy for that boat,
if you don't take most of the leafs out of the spring packs,
you will shake apart your boat.

Dan

 

[dtdcanoes]

And, I will add.....that if this trailer, which looks like my shorelander '86, has the split boom feature I would weld it closed before you adjust the sets for the roller 'bearing points, or at least make sure that when you latch it closed there is ZERO PLAY along the boom. If you do not get the front roller height adjusted correctly esp. too low then there will be a lot of force put upward amidship and that could be a very bad situation for the center board..esp. given the wicked hard spring set up you have at the moment. You will have HOGHEAVEN and it will not be a barby ! The springing should be soft, and I mean SOFT. Just trying for ya !

 

[skifree]

Too stiff

And, I will add.....that if this trailer, which looks like my shorelander '86, has the split boom feature I would weld it closed before you adjust the sets for the roller 'bearing points, or at least make sure that when you latch it closed there is ZERO PLAY along the boom. If you do not get the front roller height adjusted correctly esp. too low then there will be a lot of force put upward amidship and that could be a very bad situation for the center board..esp. given the wicked hard spring set up you have at the moment. You will have HOGHEAVEN and it will not be a barby ! The springing should be soft, and I mean SOFT. Just trying for ya !

I would sell that trailer and find a light weight one.

 

[dtdcanoes]

I think one can have a heavy trailer , lightly sprung and it will be the best as it will not hopscotch around the highway at the slightest opportunity. I'm thinking an overweight gentleman who loves to dance, looks good and moves with authority and panache, gets home safely and pours a limoncello on the front porch. There ya go.

 

[Charger]

Hey Canoe nut, I undetstand what you and the othets are saying. I took the rear rollers completely off and moved the certer wide roller to the rear. I also bolted the rear crossmember and tightened it very tight so it will not move at all. I bought this trailer from my brother who is a boat dealer. He told me that it did not bouce when he delivered it to me. There is really no way to find out the charactoristics until its towed with my boat on it.Basically it is supported on the keel in the front, center and rear. The tie downs go fore and aft along with a center one.
Would bunk slides be better for it to sit onto?

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Apparently not.

As far as that trailer goes, your boat is ZERO weight, the frame and most importantly the springs are designed to carry roughly 2000 lbs. There will be essentially zero deflection of the springs, your boat will be going down the road without suspension. That trailer is too large for even a medium size fishing boat much less you wood boat.

If you don't make any changes to the spring pack, you will ruin your boat on that trailer.

Dan
ps, this has nothing to do with the rollers

Hey Canoe nut, I undetstand what you and the othets are saying. I took the rear rollers completely off and moved the certer wide roller to the rear. I also bolted the rear crossmember and tightened it very tight so it will not move at all. I bought this trailer from my brother who is a boat dealer. He told me that it did not bouce when he delivered it to me. There is really no way to find out the charactoristics until its towed with my boat on it.Basically it is supported on the keel in the front, center and rear. The tie downs go fore and aft along with a center one.
Would bunk slides be better for it to sit onto?

 

[Todd Bradshaw]

It's a really pretty boat, but seeing it on that heavy trailer with those big nasty rollers ready to beat up the hull is hard to look at. You would literally be much better off to stick a couple pieces of plywood about 3' wide down the middle of the trailer, add about 3" of polyurethane mattress foam on top and tie the boat down on top of that.

 

[skifree]

dtdcanoe should buy it ,or if you use it strap a light sprung trailer on top of it. Hate to see you hurt your Guide boat. Hopscotching around?

 

[Charger]

Hey Guys. I took most of your advice's and made changes to the trailer for my Guide Boat. I removed all the rollers and made sliding bunks that rest directly onto the hull and I also made the cross supports come in contact with the keel. I will pad the bunks later on. I took it for a test run down the back roads around my house and it never moved. The trailer doesn't bounce at all and the roads are pretty rough. I think I am good to go. Thanks again for all your inputs.

 

[Charger]

Well I took the trailer and the boat up to the cabin we rent every year. The trip was about 60 miles. Upon getting to the cabin I inspected the boat. As expected there was NO DAMAGE to it at all. The following day I was able to use the boat after the weather cleared. Again as I expected it went very well. So thank you all for your suggestions.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Glad it went well so far, though fatigue cracks take a bit more than 120 miles to show up.

Also, if you used 1x for your cross pieces, (I can't tell from the pics) they are acting as the springs and absorbing the shock load and not passing it on to the hull.

Dan

 

[yelnif]

View attachment 34908
View attachment 34909
View attachment 34910
Hey Guys. I took most of your advice's and made changes to the trailer for my Guide Boat. I removed all the rollers and made sliding bunks that rest directly onto the hull and I also made the cross supports come in contact with the keel. I will pad the bunks later on. I took it for a test run down the back roads around my house and it never moved. The trailer doesn't bounce at all and the roads are pretty rough. I think I am good to go. Thanks again for all your inputs.

Hi Charger, Beautiful GB but your rear roller looks low/ no keel support.?