Quote:
Originally Posted by SteamWolf
You had me until the 964... Think I'd rather buy a beater than drive it like that 
Shouldn't be too hard to make that boat trailer properly so it can be used legally on the road. I have seen extending boat trailers before.
Good work tho! Dodgey FTW. |
Ha, the 964 IS my beater!
As for the trailer contraption, I'm going to whip up a proper launching trailer over the winter, but wanted to get a sense of where the boat has to sit over the axle etc. This was a kind of "proof of concept". I need a total extension of about 40' if I don't want to get my truck's carpets wet again.... extension doesn't have to be super sturdy, decking seems to do the trick just fine. The whole thing actually worked really well once we got it out deep enough, and if I had a bit of a platform by the tongue to stand on, no one would have to go swimming. The boat launch is just a block away, so no need to make it all fancy and legal... but I will make it stout and a bit lower once I ditch the wooden cradle and weld in some steel uprights.
When we took our first crack at it last friday, it was just getting dark and we didn't have as much luck. I just had a 20' extension, and no weights on the trailer. The thing floated BEAUTIFULLY. if I stood on it, it'd go down, but it really wanted to float. I didn't have quite enough depth to get the boat pulled up, and was bouncing the boat up and down trying to yank it up in the cradle. It was getting dark, and windy, and I was getting tired. I gave up and ran the boat back to the mooring. As I tied the boat up and hopped into my rowboat, I noticed an odd silhouette drifting by... it was the $#%$ trailer, fully adrift, floating past my boat and being driven by the wind. It had become unhooked from the truck when I was trying to bounce the boat and trailer. I had to row downriver after the trailer, in the dark, and hitch a line onto it... the ROW back to the boat launch with the trailer in tow. Must have been 400-500 feet. what a night!
So yeah, the extra weight and extra extension made all the difference today. It was warmer out too!