Solutions

Outlined below are some factors involved with coming up with a workable solution.

Now might be an opportune time to discuss a challenge that all boat owners must overcome when retrieving their craft.

What is the proper depth of water for the trailer to be sitting at in order to position the boat properly on the trailer?

If the water is not deep enough, the boat will not even go on the trailer.

If the water is too deep, the boat may not be positioned properly on the trailer because the keel guides are too deep to use the keel guides to ensure the boat is in its correct position.

May I suggest a method of achieving the correct depth of water for keel boat trailers, especially if your trailer has to be under 5 feet of water. My suggestion would be to install a vertical frame, permanently attached to the trailer frame, on each side of the trailer. At the top of each frame should be a roller, made of a suitable material that will not mar the sides of the hull. The rollers should accommodate the widest part of the hull. The guide supports should be marked to indicate the correct water level required to float the boat to allow easy launching and retrieval.

Just for your information, most centerboard/daggerboard boats do not have this problem as their boats can be launched and retrieved when the tops of their fenders are just under water.

Make a note of the water level required for your boat and trailer and save yourself a lot of grief.

#1 Use a tow strap, strong rope, or wire tow cable and attach to tongue of trailer and attach securely to tow vehicle and slowly back the trailer, staying on the ramp, out into the lake until a suitable water depth is attained to pull your boat onto the trailer.If you are using a 2 wheel trailer, you will need to somehow support the front of the trailer (usually the trailer front pivot wheel) to prevent trailer tongue from dragging on the ramp. If you have a 4 wheel trailer, supporting the tongue may not be necessary.You must also be prepared to get wet as the trailer will undoubtably require some guidance and you will likely need to manipulate the boat onto the trailer.

Trailer ready for submersion

YUP you are going to get WET

Coming out

So far so good

Made it

#2 Make a suitable extension for the tongue that allows you to guide the trailer (usually without being attached to the tow vehicle) to a sufficient depth of water to float the boat onto the trailer. You will also need to be prepared to get wet as the trailer may not be visible when it is under sufficient depth of water and you may have to guide the boat onto the trailer.

 

 

This photo shows an interesting approach to constructing a tongue extension which should give you good control over guiding the trailer.

 

 

 

#3 If possible, modify the trailer to allow your boat to go on at low water e.g. our Matilda 20 required that the boat be retrieved when the water level shown on the ramp reached the 80 foot level. Sometimes,  just the fact there were 2 people onboard prevented the boat from going on the trailer. Then we had to resort to using an extension tongue and sometimes even that was not enough and we had to raise the front of the trailer using the pivot wheel jack and the tongue extension in order to get the Matilda loaded.

The view from the front

A solution to this challenge was to reduce the height of the trailer's frame rear cross member by cutting out a 3 foot section and welding a new structural section under the cut out area. This modification now makes it possible to retrieve the Matilda even when the level on the ramp reaches

65'.

 

 

  

The view from the rear