Lifting Frame

[Peter T]

Hi David, I have a bit of work to do yet mate. At the moment, there is virtually no weight in the tow Ball. I will have to keep jacking the boat up, adjust the axle backwards as well as bring the boat further forward on the trailer to get a bit of weight on the draw bar. At the moment, I can lift the draw bat with two fingers. Way too light

[Peter T]

David, this is exceptionally important news for me. Mine is exactly the same at the moment. Thank you so much. I have placed the boat on the trailer in a position that supports the boat on the rollers so that where the lifting straps were would be just clear of the double rollers. I will need to see how far forward I can bring the boat and still have effective support from the rollers. If this is not enough, I will then move the axle back up to around 6 inches. This was the point of building it with the axle mounted to short lengths of 50 x 50 and U bolting it to the main frame. It gives adjustability, but it's not legal here in Tas but once it's spot on, I will re mount another set of Spring hangers and slippers to the frame also lowering the trailer by 50 mm. With the boat on the old trailer, it was exactly the same with not enough weight on the tow ball but the axle position Of the old one was a good starting position for the new one I thought as the draw bar is very heavy given it is built from 5 mm thick steel. Anyway, from what you say, I might only need to move the axle a small amount to correct it if at all. I was worried about the balance on the trailer for when I use the tilt function if I had to move the axle back too far. I guess that if I need to move the axle back and it makes the weight heavy on at the front for tilt function, it would probably only need a shove on the trailer on its rollers with the winch still connected but backed off by a foot or so before the tilt would then come into its own and then reverse winch it off ? Time will tell.
Thanks again for this info, most helpful mate.
Cheers, Peter T

[Ozzie]

With the outboard motor on the back of Spritzig II I can lift the front by hand if the boat is basically empty other than the anchor, but with no outboard and normal gear loaded, the ball weight is about 10%. So, it’s a big movement arm that is sensitive to weight shift . At least that’s been my experience. Good luck with it all Peter.

[Peter T]

Well men, I am close. I moved the boat ( without the outboard on it) forward and used my tow ball scales to measure the tow ball weight and it came in under the minimum 100 kg marking on the scale. I estimate it was around 80 kg. The problem with that was that there was ( Probably) too much weight forward on the tilt as I could not lift it when I released the catch so am now in the process of moving the axle back. HOWEVER, you raise a very valid point in regard to the outboard. When I use the boat, I will always have the outboard mounted to the stern of the boat, so I had better put it on and then check the tilt again. I can still take the boat forward a bit so might have to do that with outboard on. Then I will return to moving the axle. I guesstimate that the boat and trailer will be around 1500 to 1800 kg. Hopefully no more, so will set axle to give 150 - 180 kg as a starting point to go and get it weighed.
Thanks for the feed back, most helpful.
Regards Zpeter T

[Peter T]

Yes David thanks. I wonder if the anchor and chain is equat to the outboard at the other end? Interesting

Peter

[Peter T]

Ok guys, I need a little help please. When the boat was on the old trailer, it was very light on the tow ball. Looking at all the pics I can find, my old trailer seems to be a bulk standard I563 trailer un-galvanised. When I built the new one, I virtually copied the old one as far as measurements were concerned. I have just moved the axle towards the back by 230mm. I consider this quite a lot. I am now getting 97 KG on the tow ball down load but the tilt function of the trailer is now quite heavy ( I can pick it up but only just when I release the locking mechanism) , so I now believe that the axle is in fact too far back. I know we talk about the tow ball download should be 10% of total, but I am in doubt that this is correct in this instance. When I towed the boat home and it had only very light tow ball down load, I had no problems with it swaying or playing up in any way, it just followed as it should. Have a look at the pic below and note where the axle centre lines up on the boat. it is almost directly in line with the back edge of the back side window of the boat. could some of you please do me a favour if you have your boat on its trailer. Could you please post a photo similar to this one on here so that I can compare where the centre of your axle lines up on the boat. If it is possible ( you can use a block of wood and a set of bathroom scales, could you please weigh the weight on the tow coupling . the extra weight of the piece of wood wont count for much. this would be most helpful. Thank you

Regards Peter T. Looking forward to replies. Thanks again. Cheers

[Peter T]

Thanks David yes mate I thought I was right. No way can you get 150 kg on the ball
Regards Peter

[Geoff]

G'day Peter,

For reference: I bought my boat in Sydney and towed to central Qld. Everything from dual carriageway freeway to single lane roads where you have to drop a wheel when someone comes toward you. Original 1977 tilt trailer. The thing towed like a train on rails, perfect, behind a Mazda Tribute.

When I took the trailer off the car and climbed the transom ladder, the nosewheel picked up. I am 100kg. I read the forum posts about towball weight so I set up the scales and had about 50kg. So according to what I had read it should have towed badly and probably swayed a lot, but didn't.

Anyway, I moved the winch post fwd until I had 100kg. Still not 10% of the stated/estimated 1200kg. Doesn't tow any differently but loaded the rear springs of the towcar, I reckon I would be getting flashed on low beam at night. So I moved it back about halfway. I can climb the ladder without tipping it up.

I am sweating on a call from the local grain board manager, next time he is in he is going to ring me so I can take mine in and get it weighed. Small town, and its the only public weighbridge. And its Qld.

I will check the noseweight at the same time. As soon as I do I will post the numbers for comparison to yours.

[Peter T]

Thanks Geoff. Looking at yours side on view, your wheels are back as far as mine at the moment. What I am going to do is adjust the wheels forward again until the tip function on the trailer works with ease. Then I will fit the bunks ( will need to move the bunk brackets) then take it for a drive to the weigh bridge. I do not believe that with a tip Trailer, 10 % of GVM for ball download is required and you have confirmed for me how mine was when I towed it home from one end of Tassie to the other without any issues. As David said, put anchor, chain etc in its locker, mount the spare wheel off the winch post and try it out. Also, David weighed his tow hitch for me and it came in at 21 kg, although his boat had been moved back to 6 inches or so. At the end of the day, a tip trailer is useless if you can’t tip it because it is too heavy on and the boat needs to sit properly on its rollers so you can’t take it too far forward and the measurements of the new one are same as the original. I can’t see how it can be wrong. David sent me a photo of his on the trailer and his axle is in line with half way through the window. Your and mine at the moment , it lines up with the back edge of the window. Thanks so much for your reply. Most helpful.
Regards Peter T

[Geoff]

Hi Peter,
This is not advice, only my own personal observations. I think where mine is it would be very hard to tilt the trailer while it’s on dry land or even while it’s horizontal I guess. But my practical experience with launching is that when I give the boat a little push on the boat ramp the trailer tilts by itself as soon as I release the catch. There is no effort to tilt.

What I mean is, the tilting function doesn’t happen at the winch post. It doesn’t start until the boat has gone back a couple of feet. By then there is plenty of counterbalance in action.