How to get my boat on the bunk trailer?

[Fishing?]

I know a dummy type question.

But here it is, I have a 25' Sea Ray Express Cruiser and every time I try to pull it out I have a hell of a time getting it up to the front of the trailer.

Sometimes the nose of the boat hits the winch, is so close to the winch I can't wind it in without removing the handle, ends up too far away and I am hauling the thing out using just the eye hook at the front of the boat.

I am trying to do this by myself. Driving the boat on to the trailer is out as I am often alone.

I am sure it can be quite entertaining to spectators all that swearing, taking the handle off and on, swearing, doing it over because I was in a hurry and got the cable over the bow roller so have to do it again, swearing even more, standing in water up to my hips, cursing the trailer gods, and winding it back on again. That and I really don't like putting that much pressure on that eye hook.

I think I am getting close to selling the trailer or trading for a roller trailer or putting rollers on the trailer.

Here is an old picture

Any ideas?

 

[brutus]

Not

I know a dummy type question.

But here it is, I have a 25' Sea Ray Express Cruiser and every time I try to pull it out I have a hell of a time getting it up to the front of the trailer.

Sometimes the nose of the boat hits the winch, is so close to the winch I can't wind it in without removing the handle, ends up too far away and I am hauling the thing out using just the eye hook at the front of the boat.

I am trying to do this by myself. Driving the boat on to the trailer is out as I am often alone.

I am sure it can be quite entertaining to spectators all that swearing, taking the handle off and on, swearing, doing it over because I was in a hurry and got the cable over the bow roller so have to do it again, swearing even more, standing in water up to my hips, cursing the trailer gods, and winding it back on again. That and I really don't like putting that much pressure on that eye hook.

I think I am getting close to selling the trailer or trading for a roller trailer or putting rollers on the trailer.

Here is an old picture

View attachment 96118 Any ideas?

sure I understand, but I think your backing your trailer too far in the water, drive the boat on the bunks then use the eye to
Pull it tight, that’s what the eye is there for, been doing it solo for years without putting my feet in the water,just walk the trailer hook up and turn, I just switch to electric winch a few years back but same deal just let the winch do the work, my boat is 25ft

 

[Newf]

What if you added a stop on your roller assembly so that it couldn't pivot back as far as it does now which is what is causing the boat to get too close to the winch. A stop would prevent this and allow full rotation of the winch handle. Can't see it in action so just guessing here.

On mine, which is a totally different set-up, no matter how far I'm in or out of the water with my trailer I can get the boat up to the roller no problem but as soon as I drive out, the back of the boat settles on the trailer and I will always have a 1-2" gap at the front roller. Just the shape of the bow and nothing I can do to change that unless I have the trailer 3/4 the way out of the water and I pull the boat up the bunks so that it can sit flat on the trailer before I start going up the ramp. Easy for me to just pull it up a couple of inches to the roller after I'm up on the level.

 

[Adrenafin]

Electric winch style that have crank for backup

 

[pescador]

Go electric winch. I've dealt with all sorts of winch complexities. Fulton has a 10,000lb unit that'll work likely.. You don't need a backup manual winch with a Fulton electric. It has a manual crank option inside the power which..... I always carry my battery operated drill that will easily turn the manual winch option using a socket that fits it......It's in my truck whenever I plan to launch/retrieve. Hard wire your winch to your trucks battery using a 4x4 winch plug you can buy on Amazon using I think 10 gauge wire. fixed...

 

[Totally unexpected]

Carpeted bunks?,my old trailer had them always struggled putting my 7000 lb boat on it, my new trailer has Teflon bunks slides on like butter 2 speed hand winch barely any effort

 

[grey-cie]

I tried everything and finally hit on Dawn detergent works fantastic. Teflon worked great too but started damaging my hull.

 

[Fishing?]

Carpeted bunks?,my old trailer had them always struggled putting my 7000 lb boat on it, my new trailer has Teflon bunks slides on like butter 2 speed hand winch barely any effort

Ya, carpeted bunks, two each side.

One other thing about the trailer, it is a Carnia, it has pivoting cross members that the bunks are attached to. Weirdest system. I guess supposedly when backing off the cross members rotate lifting the boat up and back without the boat moving on the bunks. I think there were some EZ trailers that did this as well.

And I better come clean, I bought the boat then bought the trailer so the trailer was not fitted to the boat but it seemed to sit on the trailer properly.

I will try teflon. Ideally I wanted to maybe go to rollers on the front and bunks on the back but this Frankenstein trailer with pivoting cross members make that rebuilding the entire trailer and adding at least one/two more cross member(s).

But with the price of 3X5 tandem trailers going up to ridiculous prices rebuilding might not be so bad by comparison.

 

[scott craven]

Have you tried moving your winch stand forward ?

 

[tightlines]

I have the same trailer (Carnai trailer) with a 232 Grady White similar size. My strategy when I had carpeted bunks was to dip them all the way in the water to reduce the friction, then pull the trailer out of the water so the front 1/3 of the bunks are completely out of the water. Trim your main motor up a little bit and then drive the boat right onto the bunks. The boat will center but you won't be all the way up. At this point power is your friend. Hit the throttle and drive the thing right to the winch strap. You should feel your boat bump the 2 bumpers/rollers at the winch strap. You shouldn't even have to get your feet wet doing it this way. I recently rebuilt my entire trailer because it was 2007 and was falling apart. I replaced the bunks with attached pictures with some plastic I picked up from Robertson plastics in Surrey (routered and countersunk). The plastic slides have reduced friction and now it's much easier and don't have to use as much power but I still use the same method. Takes less than 5 minutes to load this way from dipping trailer to hooked up and out of the water. The boat should center itself everytime as long as the trailer isn't too far into the water. Good luck!

 

[Squire]

I had a hard time winching my boat up on the bunks as well and adding two center rollers up front helped immensely. I still had to deal with the anchor hanging from the pulpit hitting the winch post. Once I cut the post down I had no issues.
I now winch the eye up tight to the bow roller and hook up the safety chain before pulling ahead. The stern of the boat is still floating and settles into the center as I pull ahead. If I don’t go deep enough with the trailer it’s still a pretty tough drag across the bunks.

 

[brutus]

Roller are nice to unload , but to load is a PITA, boat won’t stay on if the ramp is a bit steep, slides back down, so now with electric winch I hook up put the bow center of the trailer and let the winch pull it up. Good luck and stop worrying about what other think, most will sit there and laugh instead of helping out

 

[Ccook]

I know a dummy type question.

But here it is, I have a 25' Sea Ray Express Cruiser and every time I try to pull it out I have a hell of a time getting it up to the front of the trailer.

Sometimes the nose of the boat hits the winch, is so close to the winch I can't wind it in without removing the handle, ends up too far away and I am hauling the thing out using just the eye hook at the front of the boat.

I am trying to do this by myself. Driving the boat on to the trailer is out as I am often alone.

I am sure it can be quite entertaining to spectators all that swearing, taking the handle off and on, swearing, doing it over because I was in a hurry and got the cable over the bow roller so have to do it again, swearing even more, standing in water up to my hips, cursing the trailer gods, and winding it back on again. That and I really don't like putting that much pressure on that eye hook.

I think I am getting close to selling the trailer or trading for a roller trailer or putting rollers on the trailer.

Here is an old picture

View attachment 96118 Any ideas?

Back in and get your bunks wet. Then pull out making sure you never put your wheels in the water. Drive your boat into the trailer. The wet bunks reduce drag. Then use the eye bolt to winch in onto the trailer. Install pvc tubes vertically on your trailer to help guide you on. The eye bolt is used for towing and installed with a backing plate. You won't hurt it.

 

[Fishing?]

One problem, I am by myself and have a bad knee (to be replaced some day).
The one time I tried driving on two things happened, one, jumping off the boat and two, maybe because I was not on far enough, it didn't want to stay on the trailer.

I will give another shot though. That teflon idea might help.

 

[Clint r]

My trailer came with something like one of these. Don’t know how it would work with a bigger boat but it works great for mine at around 3000lbs. I still tighten the winch strap before pulling out of the water though.

Amazon.com

 

[tightlines]

One problem, I am by myself and have a bad knee (to be replaced some day).
The one time I tried driving on two things happened, one, jumping off the boat and two, maybe because I was not on far enough, it didn't want to stay on the trailer.

I will give another shot though. That teflon idea might help.

The key is to position your trailer within 1.5 ft from the dock, you should be able to step over the side of the boat right on the dock

If you are sliding off, the trailer is probably too far into the water. You want at minimum the front 1/3 of the bunks dry

Good luck!

 

[Red Monster]

 

[Red Monster]

I tried everything and finally hit on Dawn detergent works fantastic. Teflon worked great too but started damaging my hull.

You didn't try this? Just spray it on, and you won't have any problems with sticky bunks. I spray it on every year or so, and I have the same can I bought ten years ago when I bought the boat/trailer. Be careful unloading as always; don't unhook boat until its in the water.

 

[zurk]

get teflon bunk overlays from highliner in delta and screw those in on top of your existing bunk carpets. then spray liquid rollers on it.
just like a roller. easy on off.

 

[Ccook]

One problem, I am by myself and have a bad knee (to be replaced some day).
The one time I tried driving on two things happened, one, jumping off the boat and two, maybe because I was not on far enough, it didn't want to stay on the trailer.

I will give another shot though. That teflon idea might help.

Get bunks wet. Move trailer out of water so you have drive up onto the trailer.The winch will bring the boat tight onto the wet bunks without having to move it very far. Will send a video