Our plans call for us to trailer Serendipity to the North Channel, and cruise there for two weeks. The alternative was sailing there and back in two weeks, with no cruising time in the North Channel!
The Trailer
We had the trailer built from scratch by a local welding shop. It works great, but, as with many new ideas, this one needs to be "tweeked" a bit to be 100%. The trailer is set up with electric brakes, a custom fitted bed, dual axles and a 12' tongue extension. It works perfect for launching but we had some problems with getting her back out of the water.
Inertia A WW-24 weighs 2 1/2 tons, and certainly more when she is loaded for cruising. Just filling the water tank adds 100 lbs, so adding in fuel, anchors, all the gear and so on, there could easily be another 500 lbs.If you load all that on a trailer, then start to pull the trailer up a launch ramp you will find that the trailer will move much easier and faster that the boat!
We discovered that it is impossible to get her to stay all the way forward on the trailer, moving up the launch ramp, without a very strong cable holding her in place. As we did not provide for this option in the design, ( no, I don't know why we didn't), the boat kept sliding back as we tried to pull her up the launch ramp. The very best we could do was to get her within one foot of where she should have been.
This, in turn, made the trailer very stern heavy; to the point where we could not retract the tongue extension.
The Trip Home
Now here's a picture: A 2 1/2 ton boat sitting on a trailer, with a 20 foot tongue ( 12' extension + the original 8' ). We live approximately 12 miles from our marina and I made the entire trip traveling no more than 15 MPH. I can tell you my popularity around here plummeted on that trip home! I must have angered about half the population of Traverse City, Michigan, going that slow for that distance!
The Solution
That slow drive home did, however, give me plenty of time to figure out a solution. My truck has a fifth wheel hitch. I plan to have a winch bracket made to fit the hitch.I'll use a stout winch to crank Serendipity on to the trailer and more importantly, to hold her in place while we drag her up the launch ramp.
Jim Schroeger
"Serendipity"
Traverse City, Michigan
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