Gunwale or sling trolley?

JuanCH

Member
Hi there, any experiences with these 2 types of trolleys? Gunwale trolley more stable I guess. may damage gunwale.

Sling trolley, less stable , esp when coming out of the water. More stress on bottom of the boat?

What are your thoughts?
Thxs
 
My recommendation is to use both. For example use a dolly with sling when coming in and out of water. Many dollies you can attach flip-up / flip-down gunwale supports. If I am at the club or regatta, for short durations I simply just keep it on the sling. However, if it's staying on the dolly overnight or for longer term, I flip the gunwale supports up with ease. And certainly if anyone wants to be completely OCD on it, you can flip them up immediately once out of the water.


One disclaimer - NEVER travel with these plastic gunwale supports up (ie the Laser on a dolly and then the Laser/dolly combo on a Right-On-Trailer - the supports need to be down, otherwise they will break). Therefore, if travelling either sling it or be on a system designed to travel/tow with metal gunwale supports like a Trailex or Kitty Hawk trailer. You can use the Trailex and Kitty Hawk type of trailers as launch dollies, but a true Laser dolly is definitely lighter and overall easier.

I have used a dolly/trolley with all metal gunwale supports and no sling. These types work fine and the hull is never taking the sling stress. I guess that is a plus. However, I believe they are typically heavier than the sling dollies.
 
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All our club Lasers have been damaged by gunwale hung trolleys. I'm buying two more and so far the ones I've been to see also have damage. They are a really bad idea.
 
In ILCA District 11 (Mid Atlantic, USA), most use a dolly to get the boat in and out of the water and keep their Laser/ILCA on the dolly if they are at their 'home' club if there is space. When traveling, the boat gets transferred to a road trailer or the roof of a suitable vehicle.
Using a road trailer for launching from a sandy beach can be a bit of a pain. But a trailer works fine for launching from a ramp (with the help of a car).

PS: I have been corrected. In the USA, the word dolly is used as a synonym for trolley. Not sure about Canada or Mexico.
 
All our club Lasers have been damaged by gunwale hung trolleys.
What does ”damage” include in this case? I’ve had a gunwale-hung for about 15 years and haven’t had any problems (although I’ll better check tomorrow :oops: .

What I call a trolley is what USonians apparently call a dolly... and a trailer is a trailer :D

_
 
Hey Brits, Aussies, & Euros - tell us what's more right . . . use of the word "Trolley" being more similar to our parking lot and beach "Dolley" or as Wave Dancer says its more similar to American use of the word "Trailer" (ie towing a boat behind a car). I can see both cases for the word 'trolley", but when I see @JuanCH asking his question I am imagining he/she is asking to compare a beach Dolley/Trolley with a sling to a beach gunwale Dolley/Trolley" like this one below (not a road trailer):


Our club has a metal gunwale trolley and its only for beach/ramp launching (not at all a behind a car road trailer). BTW, I use it fine and it does not hurt the boat. At the end of the day I would buy the sling ones as they are easier.
 
In the UK, trolleys are for transport around the dinghy park off the road trailer. We tend to use combo ones where the trolley sits on a road trailer.
It maybe age related as all ours are quite old and I've often seen members sitting on them. When you turn them over there is cracking around where the gunwale supports contact the hull.
Sling trolleys are only a little more expensive and make it easier to put covers on or take them off as sometimes the cover is trapped between the trolley supports and the boat.
 

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