DIY keelboat launching trailer
Practical Boat Owner|November 2020
Sam Longley designs and builds a slipway boat launching trailer
- Sam Longley
DIY keelboat launching trailer

My daughter Sarah and I own a Squib sailing boat. It works like this – she sails it, I pay for it. Daughter rights, I’m told! It is called The Comfy Chair, which, Monty Python aficionados will know, is the torture for the little old lady in the Spanish Inquisition sketch. Sarah races The Comfy Chair at Stone Sailing Club with Edd, a friend of ours.

In the winter the boat is kept at Edd’s house 300 yards from the club, accessed along a private, unmade road.

During the season we keep the boat on my mooring in the river Blackwater. Although the hull is coated with Copper- Tek (similar to Coppercoat but no longer sold in UK), Edd hauls the boat out at least every 3-4 weeks to jet wash the hull for racing.

To do this we have a launching trailer; to put our road trailer in the water would be inadvisable as the brakes and bearings etc would soon corrode. The problem is that our existing launching trailer is now rusting severely and is beyond repair, so I had to design and build a new one.

I feel that my design, being reasonably economic in its construction, may be of use to others. Many owners store their boats on the hard at yacht clubs and road trailers are not necessary, unless moving on to the highway.

Designer trailer

For the initial design I drew up a list of requirements.

• I wanted to use angle iron for the main structural members. The original had single box sections and these just rusted from the inside out and could not be painted for protection.

• I also wanted to use bolted connections instead of welded joints. I have a welder, but by using bolts the trailer can be dismantled if we need to move elsewhere, or if we need to store it somewhere. Also, any parts that rust can be unbolted and changed.

この蚘事は Practical Boat Owner の November 2020 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

この蚘事は Practical Boat Owner の November 2020 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

PRACTICAL BOAT OWNERのその他の蚘事すべお衚瀺
Orca sink yacht in Strait of Gibraltar
Practical Boat Owner

Orca sink yacht in Strait of Gibraltar

Spain's maritime rescue service, Salvamento Maritimo, has reported that a 15m (49ft) yacht sank in Moroccan waters in the Strait of Gibraltar following interaction with a pod of orca.

time-read
1 min  |
Summer 2024
No kill cord or lifejackets were worn during fatal powerboat crash
Practical Boat Owner

No kill cord or lifejackets were worn during fatal powerboat crash

A kill cord and lifejacket are useless unless worn-that's the warning from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), following its investigation into a powerboat crash that killed a 32-year-old woman and five-year-old girl on 2 October 2022.

time-read
2 分  |
Summer 2024
Multihull sail work
Practical Boat Owner

Multihull sail work

Brush up on multihull sailing skills before heading off on charter with Gavin Le Sueur's guide to spinnaker handling, tacking and gybing

time-read
4 分  |
Summer 2024
Five top causes of engine failure and how to prevent them
Practical Boat Owner

Five top causes of engine failure and how to prevent them

Jake Kavanagh talks to Sea Start marine engineer Nick Eales about how to avoid the five major causes of an engine breakdown at sea

time-read
10+ 分  |
Summer 2024
Sail the Atlantic with strangers
Practical Boat Owner

Sail the Atlantic with strangers

Would you sail across the Atlantic with someone you've just met? Ali Wood meets the cruising crews who've done just that

time-read
10 分  |
Summer 2024
IZIBoat: simple sailing
Practical Boat Owner

IZIBoat: simple sailing

Rupert Holmes sails an innovative catamaran design intended to widen participation in sailing among those with little time to get on the water in more conventional craft

time-read
7 分  |
Summer 2024
30 WAYS TO GET AFLOAT
Practical Boat Owner

30 WAYS TO GET AFLOAT

From tall ships to small dinghies, you needn't own a boat to sail. Ali Wood looks at the options, and how skippers can also find crew

time-read
10+ 分  |
Summer 2024
Boats for restoring under £20,000
Practical Boat Owner

Boats for restoring under £20,000

Duncan Kent picks the best sub-35ft sail and power boats to look for when aiming to undertake a restoration on a budget

time-read
10+ 分  |
Summer 2024
Seaworthy dinghies for less than £500
Practical Boat Owner

Seaworthy dinghies for less than £500

For low cost traditionally-styled GRP trailer-sailers, consider the Foreland and the Otter available at bargain basement prices

time-read
5 分  |
Summer 2024
Playing with coloured sails
Practical Boat Owner

Playing with coloured sails

Maintaining an hourglass-shaped balloon and ratcheting up the log numbers

time-read
3 分  |
Summer 2024