Top side down transporting

[Sailkb]

Check out the trailer I've modified to carry two Sunfish. The cross bunks in the middle are a little close together so I have added support at each end of the bottom boat for added stability. With the top boat trailered upside down, do I need those extra supports between the two boats? I've heard the top side of the Sunfish is more sturdy, so I'm thinking it may travel fine without. .....course I still need to strap the top boat down.

 

[minifish2]

Looks pretty good. Topside down is preferable, and more isn 't needed for the boat's benefit. The two strongest places to have supports on deck-side down arrangements are (1) up near the mast-step and (2) back by the cubby walls. Both areas have more rigid structural support (because of the mast step itself and the forward cubby 'wall' make those sections stronger than most other areas) so that should do fine. One thing you might consider is some additional structure for the upper supports - not so much for weight as for support from the stress for and aft. Maybe either diagonal struts and/or - and this is a common Sunfish bunk trick - use the tied-on rigging itself as part of the support.

For example, you might put attachment points - clamps or whatever - for the two masts, on either side, on the outer wooden edges of the upper supports so the masts act as part of the structure while traveling. Diagonal support is more rigid though, of course. Anything for added support so those vertical supports don't collapse forward or back (or both).

The boat itself should be fine, though, but especially with good tie-downs and a jiggling road, those upper supports will be put to the test, and better safe than sorry.

All-in-all that looks pretty nicely balanced. Nice job.

 

[Sailkb]

Thanks for the reply minifish2. Check out my crude drawing. The blue color is rope, orange is tie-down. Do you think this would stabalize pretty well? The angle iron holding the upper bunks are heavy duty, but there definitely needs to be more support as you've mentioned. ...I think my biggest concern would be keeping in place on a sudden stop in traffic.

 

[sailcraftri]

You have a good start here but I would be concerned with a sudden stop and having the entire rack pivot on you. The blue rope between the angles will keep it from splaying out but not from both pivoting forward or backwards. I would add an angle instead of the rope. Then I would add one angle brace that went from mid vertical angle down to the trailer. See "x" in photo.

 

[emilikins]

I'm trying not to start a new thread ... sailkb modified this trailer for my husband and me, because we've got some storage needs as well as needed a boat trailer & utility trailer, so customizing a foldable HF trailer seemed the way to go! We picked it up this weekend and trailered it a looooong way home with a Sunfish. It tracks great and handles fine on smooth roads, but we were wincing over bumps, lumps, and holes. We think it's a weight distribution issue and that we need to add weight up front by the tongue so we're not getting snap/tug backs over bumps. KB has smooth roads around his neighborhood, so he wouldn't have encountered that on his test runs.

We took some air out of the tires, and that seemed to help some of the jostling, and greased the tongue joint (it folds down), but we are still getting that bouncing, thunking tug over bumps.

Our current newbie plan:

1. Add a weight disk to the tongue. Will this be a problem for the folding joint?
2. Flip the boat around and load it stern-to-car, to keep the heavier end in front of the axle. This will make launching less smooth, and I'm not sure if the cradles will fit right, since they are made precisely to fit the full at certain spots. BUT, thanks to sailkb, the cradles are detachable, and we could probably just flip them around.
3. Or, instead of #2, we extend the hitch or the trailer coupler, move the boat forward a few inches (if the cradles fit right, we do have to clear the bailer plug). Hitch extensions are considerably cheaper than coupler extensions. Will this put any undo stress on my car or the trailer?

I might add thicker carpet to the cradles (right now they have two layers of indoor/outdoor carpet) to hopefully soften the ride for Old Blue, but I think that might interfere with the cut of the cradles.

Thoughts?