Trailer repairs

Rumour has it that trailers are neglected.

Websites and magazine articles give lots of detail on the care and maintenance of trailers (see Cleaning,  here),  but who actually does this?

The LS likes trailers.

His car is a smallish hatchback which can carry some equipment:  camping gear;  peripatetic presentation materials;  Christmas presents;  you know the kind of thing.

For bulkier things (trips to the tip;  timber from the merchant) a trailer solves most problems.

The trailer under the Sandweaver was clean and tidy at first inspection,  but,  as detailed here,  had a few problems.

After the first shakedown cruise the scale of the trailer's problems became clearer.   Most of them were beyond the skills of the LS (Actually,  they were likely to be hard work;  outside the ethos of Lazy Sailing.).

Some years ago the baby son had bought a big oak log from a timber merchant in Essex.   He planned to rive it into staves for a chair,  but first it needed to be moved from Essex to Cambridge.

By trailer,  obviously.

The trailer was hired from Anglian Trailers,  near Bury St Edmunds who were meticulous about the lad's driving licence:  they weren't sure that it qualified him to tow such a big trailer.   He has subsequently taken a trailer course,  and is now fully qualified.   But on the day,  his Dad drove the car and trailer.

The hirer was less meticulous about trailer maintenance (despite advertising trailer servicing and maintenance on their website!) and it had to be taken into the workshop for the lights to be repaired.

So the LS 'phoned Anglian Trailers and explained his problems.   They were very kind,  very chatty,  very free with advice and totally unhelpful.

Snipe Trailers were even less helpful.

TrailerTek offered only straightforward servicing.

For some years the LS had offered Inland Waterways Helmsman courses.

The manager of Jones' Boatyard,  at St Ives,  had seen the value of this and had often referred his clients to the LS for own-boat tuition.   Margaret suggested that he might know of a trailer workshop.

He did:  F S Trailers in Huntingdon.   Paul was very cheerful,  with a 'can-do' attitude:  "bring it over and we'll take a look".

So the LS took it over,  and Paul took a look:  "the bearings are shot,  and the stub axle might be bent;  leave it with us and we'll quote for those,  the new tyres,  the breakback mechanism and new mudguards".

The LS expected this to cost a bit.  It did.   Less than £250.00,  within a week!
He picked it up on his way to Thrapston and it towed like a dream.
He took it home late that evening:  it towed as though it wasn't there.

He now knows that he has a trailer he can trust and,  with luck,  he can go sailing this season.

Sandweaver shakedown cruise

When the baby son (TBS,  as opposed to the elder son (TES),  who is a year or so older) returned from his US road trip one of his first duties was to spend a day or two at school checking his students' A level results (better than expected) and then to check the GCSE results and begin enrolling students into this September's 6th Form classes.

One of his filial duties was to 'phone his Mum and Dad (to discover whether or not they were still alive) and to chide the LS into launching the Sandweaver.

A moment of truth:  a shakedown cruise.

Rutland Water was the obvious place.   An hour or so up the A1;  no tides;   a decent slipway;  friendly,  helpful staff;  safety boats nearby.

Friday 23rd seemed as good a date as any.   0845BST outside the gate.

The roadworks on the A14 have a speed limit of 40mph;   stationary didn't seem reasonable until it became clear that a small van had broken down in the outside lane.

After that,  stationary seemed entirely unreasonable until it became clear that a lorry had broken down in the nearside lane.

Later,  on the A1,  the LS received a 'phone call from TBS to say that a mudguard had fallen off the trailer.

At purchase,  these mudguards look very solid,  capable steps.   The first step revealed that they were thin,  brittle plastic which,  in the event,  wouldn't even survive a road journey.

Later in the journey,  the bow snubber fell off and had to be retrieved.

TBS,  following the LS,  reported that the boat was riding smoothly and steadily on its trailer,  but that the trailer wheels were bouncing very fast and very violently.

Note to LS:  replace the mudguards with steps.

"Shakedown" in a very literal sense!

The people at Rutland Water are so very friendly and helpful.   The Watersports Centre is operated by Anglian Water,  which owns the reservoir and supplies drinking water.

The Sandweaver was rigged quickly and easily . . 

(More quickly and easily than a smart GP14 nearby;  stepping that GP14 mast is a nightmare.)
(Actually,  there was a hitch:  the mast has a heel fitting which carries the sheaves for the jib,  main & spinnaker ha'lyards.   This fitting should be held to the mast by two small screws.   The absence of these screws allowed the fitting to come loose and jam into the step.)

 . . and reversed down to the slipway.   A wide,  shallow,  gently-sloping slipway.   The trailer had to be detached from the car and fully immersed before the boat would float.

Three things,  perhaps.

1   The centreboard must be lifted fully and held up,  out of the way.

2    The break-back mechanism of the trailer must be made to work.

3    The rear skids of the trailer might be replaced with tilting rollers.

With the boat afloat and secured to the pontoon the engine was mounted and tested;  no problem.

Water bottles and luncheon were loaded;  no problems.

The A frame,  to hold up the after end of the boom,  was a success.

The real problem was the amount of water gushing into the boat from the centreboard case.   The vibration of the journey had loosened the pivot nut,  which,  with its washer had fallen into the bilge.   With the nut and washer replaced the gush was reduced to a seep.   The LS can live with a seep.

Note to LS:  replace the nut with a Nylock nut,  and replace the rubber sealing washers.

Why,  why do boatbuilders put the centreboard pivot bolt below the water line?

Paul Fisher often puts his below the boat,  in the keel,  where it cannot leak.

Francoir Vivier often puts his at the top of the board,  well above the waterline.

The Torqeedo 503 pushed the Sandweaver away from the pontoon,  between the children on their paddle boards,  canoes and inflatable things,  and out into clear water.

The Wykeham Martin furling gear worked perfectly,  but the jib set badly.   The ha'lyard is thin Dyneema with no purchase.   The LS couldn't get the luff tight enough,  and the line slipped on the cleat.

Two possible solutions:

1    Ditch the Wykeham Martin (TBS loves them,  but the LS is not so sure) and hank the jib to the forestay.

2    Attach a block to the head of the jib to give a 2:1 purchase.   This might be quite difficult.  The ha'lyard is part Dyneema and part wire;  the join (inside the mast) won't pass the sheaves at the top or the bottom.

The mainsail was set quickly and easily.   Again,  the LS couldn't get enough tension on the ha'lyard and the Cunningham has only one part.   The gooseneck is fixed.

The sail worked well enough,  but it's old and baggy.

The boat sailed well.   3.5 knots with little or no heeling when hard on the F2 to 3 wind.  4.3 knots downwind with (maybe) F3.

When the wind picked up a little,  and the boat heeled,  the reefing lines worked almost perfectly:  the starboard cheek block needs to be moved 2 inches forward on the boom.

The rest of the shakedown cruise was idyllic.

The reservoir is set in beautiful countryside,  the fishermen weren't too obnoxious,  and the two sailors didn't quarrel (much).   The wind was light,  but enough to give up to 4.5 knots on the beam.

Returning to the pontoon,  the jib furled perfectly;  the mainsail came down easily and was tied to the boom;   the electric motor gave perfect control between the children.

With the trailer fully immersed the boat floated on and was secured.   Taking down the mast and securing the boat for the road was easy and leisurely.

The road journey home was hell.

At 40mph the trailer ran fairly smoothly.

At 50mph it set up a vibration which shook the entire car.

The lighting board finally gave up;  it'll be replaced with LED lamps.

Perhaps a visit to the trailer workshop at Bury is called for?

Sandweaver 16

The LS has bought another boat.

Sandweaver 16

He had become too old and fat and lazy for the Hobie Tandem Island.   It was an exciting and fast boat,  but not the coastal cruiser he had hoped for.   He resented the need to find a beach on which to pitch his tent.   Pitching a tent is something to be done overnight,  especially when coastal wild-camping,  and tides simply don't coordinate with day and night.   When cruising the coast in a dinghy it's necessary to sail with the tide,  and anchor,  sleep and eat when the tide is contrary.

So he sold the Hobie to a charming lady in Norfolk who knew exactly where and how she wanted to sail it.   She's about half the age (and girth) of the LS,  with ten times his energy.

The LS has bought a Sandweaver 16.   Sixteen feet (4.87m to you) of fibreglass with (alas) an aluminium Marconi mast and a Bermudan mainsail with roller-furling jib.   It's astonishing how a grown man can dream for so long about a varnished clinker dinghy with a balanced lugsail and then get a Sandweaver 16.   A triumph of common sense over romanticism?

The keel didn't rest on the rollers

One of the essential features of a cruising dinghy is that it can,  unlike most yachts,  be trailed from home to a launch site,  and then taken home from the same,  or another,  launch site.
The trailer,  and the position of the boat on the trailer,  are important.
The weight of the boat should be taken on all of the keel rollers.   The side rollers and slides are there to prevent the boat rocking side to side,  not to take its weight.   At purchase,  the Sandweaver was not fitted to its trailer:  its keel didn't touch two of the rollers  at all,  and its entire weight was borne on the two slides and the forward roller.   A couple of hours of anxious (scary) work with blocks,  jacks and spanners underneath the boat readjusted it all.

Break-back release pin & spring

The boat should be fore and aft on the trailer so that the weight of the tow hitch is about the same as a person:  no more than 7% of the weight of the fully loaded trailer:  in this case 35Kg (95lbs).   With the keel on the rollers the boat moved fore and aft fairly easily,  and the bow snubber of the trailer was adjusted to this.
It's important,  of course that the boat is easy to launch and recover:  a break-back trailer is one of the best ways to achieve this.   The pivot was oiled and the release pin & spring sprayed with easing oil,  and cleaned.   Sadly,  the outer arms of the trailer had been pinched tightly to the draw bar.   Adam advised that spreading the trailer arms might damage them or the weld,  and that it might be better to use the trailer without breaking its back for the time being.

The trailer was tested (to partial destruction) on the A14 and A1 for the Sandweaver's shakedown cruise.   It did not do well,  so it was taken to F S Trailers at Huntindon,  where Paul declared that "the bearings are shot:  the stub axle might be bent".   The tyres and mudguards need replacing,  and he quoted a very reasonable price for freeing the breakback mechanism.

The winch strap was at the wrong angle

The trailer winch,  which hauls the boat onto the trailer,  was in good condition and needed only cleaning and oiling.   The winch strap was sound and the carabiner which links the strap to the boat was not too bad.
But the U bolt in the stem of the boat was in entirely the wrong place,  so that the strain on the winch forced the bows down toward the trailer.   The best place for that U bolt is at the same height as the winch so that the boat is pulled straight onto the trailer.   The angle had caused the U bolt partially to pull out and had caused stress crazing in the fibreglass of the stem.
The U bolt was replaced with an M12 ring bolt through the stem band and stem,  and held with a shaped timber pad,  a large square washer and Nylock nuts.

The boat was described in the advertisement as "ready to sail":  an exaggeration bordering on an untruth.

The end-stop was missing from the mainsheet track,  and the mainsheet had been cobbled together with a set of blocks and jamcleats,  but no traveller car.   The first tack would have brought disaster.   A pair of blocks from the LS's bo's'n's* store and an endstop & car from Force 4 chandlery sorted out the mainsheet.   The shakedown cruise revealed that the mainsheet was a little heavy,  so the 2-part purchase was replaced with 3 parts.

The reefing lines were harder.   The mainsail had cringles for slab reefing,  but the boom had no cheek blocks:  it did have two tube cleats,  but they both faced aft!?   The LG's jury-rig involved 4 lengths of Hempex (and is too embarrassing to be shown in a photograph).
Later,  a pair of cheek blocks was screwed to the after end of the boom and 6mm Hempex used as reefing lines.   They are led forward to tube cleats on the boom.   The two forward reefing lines were led to nylon horn cleats on the mast below the gooseneck.

The main ha'lyard appeared to be OK.
The shrouds are held out by adjustable spreaders,  the ends of which,  being sharp metal and wire,  are covered by plastic or rubber boots to prevent the spreaders tearing or chafing the sails.   The boots had perished and cracked;  they were easily replaced.   

At purchase the jib had a wire luff with a swivel at the peak:  the tack roller lay on the broker's desk and was thrown into the sale.   The boat is now rigged with the Martin-Wykeham furling gear:  it can't be reefed.   A block at the stemhead and a 6mm line from the well through the block to the forestay ensured that the mast could be raised and lowered by one person.

Jib sheet fairlead and camcleat

The jib sheet sliders had been adjusted to be used by crew sitting forward in the boat,  but the LS will usually sail alone.   It was a simple matter to readjust the angle of the camcleats.

Rudder:  screw removed!

For a while the rudder was a mystery.   The vendor had pointed out that the uphaul didn't work:  had the bungee downhaul hardened over time?   No,  it hadn't:  to prevent the rudder floating up someone had driven a screw through the rudder cheeks into the rudder!   With the screw removed,  a spare length of cord as an uphaul and the fairlead moved to provide a fair lead the rudder lifted perfectly.
At the shakedown cruise it became clear that the downhaul bungee cord was not up (?down) to the job.   It was replaced with a downhaul cord and safety-release cleat.
The entire assembly was dismantled and given three coats of varnish.

Stainless steel engine mount
bolted to the stern deck

Electric outboard motor

The bracket for the outboard motor is something that the LS has not seen before.   Even though it's stainless steel it's lighter and smaller than most,  and it can be mounted and dismounted from within the boat.   It holds the Torqeedo 503 perfectly:  the long shaft projects well below the transom so that the propeller is in clear water.   The motor itself,  when not in use,  fits across the stern of the boat forward of the transom,  aft of the thwart.
If one must have an outboard motor an electric machine is a joy.   No petrol or oil,  no plugs to foul, no ignition to fail.   Virtually no noise,  and enormous torque from a big,  slow-turning propeller.

Rope tidies

The boat itself is spacious,  being nearly 2m in the beam,  but has little stowage space.   There are no lockers or lazarettes;  no bins or crates.   It's a day-boat,  with no attempt to provide sleeping space.   Curiously,  there was nowhere to hang lines,  but this was quickly put right with a set of rope tidies from Bayside Marine.   There is no galley,  no pantry,  no heads,  no tent and no bed.
There are two anchors:  one is a grapnel,  which most sailors don't like,  although it does have 2m of chain and 15m of line;  the other is a folding Fisherman,  which the LS doesn't like.   A coastal cruising dinghy is unlikely to anchor in water deeper than 5m (although Margaret Dye would have disagreed) so about 30m of line would be better than the 15m available.
The bo's'n's store has a Danforth anchor with 5m of chain and 50m of line,  but,  having seen a Danforth trap and ruin someone's fingers,  the LS is likely to use this only if nothing else is available. In the event,  he did use it.

There are two thwarts;  one aft at the helm,  the other forward across the centreboard case.   They are nearly 6 feet (2m) apart.   Two six foot planks,  resting on these thwarts,  alongside the side benches,  became an excellent bed.   Even better with the inflatable mattress and a sleeping bag.

*

For those who enjoy apostrophes this is a lovely word:  two sets of missing letters and a possessive!

Those who don't enjoy apostrophes can ignore my glee.