Re: [bolger] trailerability / usability
And if you live in said boat too, you will realize the greatest bargin. The line between work/play should disapeer and not just for the retired...
Ken
so everybody, let's not be so cheap to avoid spending some moorage $, it
just might be worth it for convenience and therefore greater
time-on-water!!!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Ken
so everybody, let's not be so cheap to avoid spending some moorage $, it
just might be worth it for convenience and therefore greater
time-on-water!!!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Another experience weighing in on this topic:
I made my Black Skimmer eminently trailerable when she was my only boat in
an area perfectly suited to her: the shallow northern reaches of the
Chesapeake.
She sure was heavy for trailering -- about 2900lb with all gear (remember
this design has over 500# steel-plate ballast inside the hull, and no
concessions to lightweight construction), the boat and trailer got to about
3500lb total, checked by rolling across a trucker's scale. Really knew she
was behind the 'ol tow vehicle (an early-style, that is,
square-corner-bodied, Dodge Caravan V-6 with the 3-speed automatic -- be
forewarned the same vehicle a coupla years later with the "new improved"
four-speed auto was way too fragile in the tranny department!)
Trailer was a full-roller "easyloader" type, with all the pivoting
roller-sets re-adjusted away from vee-shape to make a flat-athwartships
support for the hull. At 1" thick, the boat's plywood bottom was not at all
stressed by the point-loading of the rollers -- no "dents" formed, even with
an across-our-continent drive!. Could actually use the trailer's winch to
crank the boat up the trailer when the launch-ramp wasn't steep enough for
full-immersion of the trailer.... but needed vertical poles on the trailer's
sides to keep the boat centered.
Built a metal tabernacle of sorts, fastened at deck-level to the front of
the cabin-top, for the loooooooooooooong mast; certainly not
counter-balanced; I found it necessary to set up an eight foot pole off the
trailer's winch-post for a decent purchase, then winched the mast up. When
pivoted down, the mast and mizzen and boom all fit into a removable crutch
over the companionway; tail ends supported by another crutch on a 5' long
pole that fit into the mizzen-mast "socket". Leeboards were stored flat,
bolted onto the trailer frame under the boat's bow. Took two of us a good
hard 45 minutes to rig and launch her after arriving at the ramp (willing to
discuss the adaptations, and the "drill", if any others are interested). I
bet all this is a bleeping lot more work than setting up a Micro....
Did this for a couple of seasons. (now, mind you, the drive from our home
to the launch-site was nearly two and a half hours each way.) Then got a
dockside mooring (yeah costly) at the same location, same long drive to use
the boat, and found we used the boat at least four times more often thru
those "moored" summers. Sure was nice to arrive at the marina, toss on two
duffles and a rubbermaid cooler, untie and be off for the weekend.
so everybody, let's not be so cheap to avoid spending some moorage $, it
just might be worth it for convenience and therefore greater
time-on-water!!!
on the other hand, please realize that even a damnheavy Bolger boat not
necessarily designed "from the ground up" to be trailerable, can indeed be
adapted for trailering.
Wayne Gilham
....now resident on the left coast (Puget Sound) with "Rayador" (the name? go to your Spanish-language bird-guide-books...) sitting on her trailer in my driveway, just can't part with her exquisite functionality, even though there's also a big ol center-cockpit Irwin 43 ("tupperware!") eating up the mooring budget....she's now the one ready to go at the drop of a duffle-bag.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I made my Black Skimmer eminently trailerable when she was my only boat in
an area perfectly suited to her: the shallow northern reaches of the
Chesapeake.
She sure was heavy for trailering -- about 2900lb with all gear (remember
this design has over 500# steel-plate ballast inside the hull, and no
concessions to lightweight construction), the boat and trailer got to about
3500lb total, checked by rolling across a trucker's scale. Really knew she
was behind the 'ol tow vehicle (an early-style, that is,
square-corner-bodied, Dodge Caravan V-6 with the 3-speed automatic -- be
forewarned the same vehicle a coupla years later with the "new improved"
four-speed auto was way too fragile in the tranny department!)
Trailer was a full-roller "easyloader" type, with all the pivoting
roller-sets re-adjusted away from vee-shape to make a flat-athwartships
support for the hull. At 1" thick, the boat's plywood bottom was not at all
stressed by the point-loading of the rollers -- no "dents" formed, even with
an across-our-continent drive!. Could actually use the trailer's winch to
crank the boat up the trailer when the launch-ramp wasn't steep enough for
full-immersion of the trailer.... but needed vertical poles on the trailer's
sides to keep the boat centered.
Built a metal tabernacle of sorts, fastened at deck-level to the front of
the cabin-top, for the loooooooooooooong mast; certainly not
counter-balanced; I found it necessary to set up an eight foot pole off the
trailer's winch-post for a decent purchase, then winched the mast up. When
pivoted down, the mast and mizzen and boom all fit into a removable crutch
over the companionway; tail ends supported by another crutch on a 5' long
pole that fit into the mizzen-mast "socket". Leeboards were stored flat,
bolted onto the trailer frame under the boat's bow. Took two of us a good
hard 45 minutes to rig and launch her after arriving at the ramp (willing to
discuss the adaptations, and the "drill", if any others are interested). I
bet all this is a bleeping lot more work than setting up a Micro....
Did this for a couple of seasons. (now, mind you, the drive from our home
to the launch-site was nearly two and a half hours each way.) Then got a
dockside mooring (yeah costly) at the same location, same long drive to use
the boat, and found we used the boat at least four times more often thru
those "moored" summers. Sure was nice to arrive at the marina, toss on two
duffles and a rubbermaid cooler, untie and be off for the weekend.
so everybody, let's not be so cheap to avoid spending some moorage $, it
just might be worth it for convenience and therefore greater
time-on-water!!!
on the other hand, please realize that even a damnheavy Bolger boat not
necessarily designed "from the ground up" to be trailerable, can indeed be
adapted for trailering.
Wayne Gilham
....now resident on the left coast (Puget Sound) with "Rayador" (the name? go to your Spanish-language bird-guide-books...) sitting on her trailer in my driveway, just can't part with her exquisite functionality, even though there's also a big ol center-cockpit Irwin 43 ("tupperware!") eating up the mooring budget....she's now the one ready to go at the drop of a duffle-bag.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]