Magic-Tilt Trailer Mods

[MKBLK]

Late this past summer, I drove up to Groton, CT to bring home my "new" CP16 - "Pegasus". The previous owner, Brian, had told me that he had just replaced one of the three rubber rollers. When I got home, I noticed that another roller could use replacement since I'm a "true" trailer sailor" and the boat would be going on and off the trailer fairly regularly. Brian kept the boat in the water, so it wasn't as critical. Studying the rollers, I determined that they were failing because the nylon end pieces would pop out from the weight of the boat. The supporting rod is about 12 1/2" clear while the roller is 11 1/2". This left about 1" of slop. When the nylon ends popped out, that would stress the rubber to failure. So, as I put the new roller in place, it occurred to me to simply make a spacer. I recycled the old nylon ends by cutting them in half and putting them on either end of the roller... no more slop! Hopefully, that solves that problem. I will do the same to the other two rollers when the boat is in the water.

Marty K.

[AFurlan]

Roller or boards...a personal preferance; I am inclined to PT 2x12 keel boards no carpet to hold humidity because when PT lumber is wet it becomes slippery. If you would consider for the future here is how we did it: my trailer carries a "V" in all cross braces so I first placed a 2X6 PT plank along the middle and anchored with 5/16 SS bolts the placed the 2x12 centered on top and fastened with SS deck screws. the initial outlay was $20 +/- been years and I have yet to repair or replace. BTW we have two Compact 16 and a Catalina 22 set up this way in our Sea Scouts Ship.

[skip1930]

" failing because the nylon end pieces would pop out from the weight of the boat " hummmm I'd put more boat weight on the hull bunks.

skip.

[MKBLK]

AFurlan - I like your idea. I'll see how my "fix" works out and if it doesn't make a marked improvement, I may try the PT method in the spring. Re: the Sea Scout ship. The Catalina seems like a great boat for a scout unit. My unit had a 45' Packet boat as the Sea Scout ship. Even though it was a stink-pot, it was very cool and served it's purpose in developing nautical skills...

Skip - My bunk boards seem to be carrying quite a bit of the load already. I had read somewhere on this site that the bunk board load should be minimal, just enough to balance the boat.

I wonder... did I do myself a disservice carpeting the PT bunk boards?

One of the other  issues I had with launching the CP16 was it didn't seem to want to slide off into the water easily, even when using the "tilt" feature. When replacing the rear roller, I noticed that it seemed a bit high, so I've lowered it somewhat. Hopefully, that'll help some. Also, when trailering, the boat is supported only by the two forward rollers, there is no weight on the rear at all. That would be about 600+ lbs. per roller not counting the minimal load on the bunks!

Marty K.

[mikew]

Marty, Congrats on your "new" cp-16. I had the same problem with my keel rollers. After replacing my original 1983 rollers with the ones you described, I noticed the middle hubs starting to pop out and deform. They were white plastic with "fins" molded in. My fix was to add a stack of galvanized washers to make up the space, and prevent the hubs from working out. These seem to hold up OK, but I wanted a better fix. I bought new rollers made from a solid translucent yellow or orange plastic material.( West Marine). These are molded all the way down to a steel pipe in the middle, with no "hub", to fail, and are very strong.
You are right, the boat is made to rest most of its weight on the keel. The side bunks hold just enough to keep the rig steady. The trick
to launching these boats is a ramp deep enough to almost float the boat off. Bearing buddies will keep the bearings trouble free, and it helps to flush  and use WD-40 on the lights if used in salt water.

Mike    

[AFurlan]

I wonder... did I do myself a disservice carpeting the PT bunk boards?

One note, I do not carpet the keel board but I do carpet the bonk boards....I fear that the bunk board if not carpeted would scratch the gelcoat
The challenge is that the carpet holds humidity and so rots the wood rather quickly (maybe in 1/2 the time than "naked boards")
also
We have 15 youth in my Ship (receiving 16 more in the Fall) and anothe 60 in the others Ships in the region...lots of small craft but overnighting for rank requirement is a challenge, you know "big boat big money" anyhow we have fun and keep the youth out of trouble.

Fair winds

[MKBLK]

Update on my mods to the Magic-Tilt trailer -

I mention earlier that I recycled the nylon end pieces from the old the rubber rollers by cutting them in half and using them as spacers to take out the slop. Well, without scuba gear, I can't really "swear" that the fix was successful, except that my experience at Mercer Lake (see my post on Sailing Mercer Lake in a CP16) was a positive one. It was the easiest launch and retrieval yet. The only change I made was installing the spacers and lowering the rear roller about an inch. I would think both things contributed to the improved performance.

Marty K.

[MKBLK]

Update 2 - Getting Pegasus ready to sail this coming Sunday, I took a look at the trailer rollers and noticed that the center one (replaced last summer) was demonstrating the same kind of failure due to slop on the roller axle and wouldn't be road worthy. Since this was the center roller, and the boat is still on the trailer, I knew that this job wouldn't be so easy. First I hit everything with WD40. I then got out the heavy duty 3.5 ton car jack and after loosening the tie-downs, applied the jack (with a piece of plywood) to the keel. Getting the boat up a few inches and relieving the pressure on the roller, I was able to get it free with a bit of effort. Evidently, just in time! That roller probably would have self-destructed next time out. I fitted the old nylon end pieces that I salvaged from the old rear roller and put the rehabbed assembly back in place. Lowered the boat onto the rollers and it looks like it should. One interesting note - as I jacked the boat up, I noticed that the only thing really holding the boat on the trailer was the bow eye! I had daylight over the bunks on both sides and daylight between the first roller and the keel. Of course most of the weight was on the jack, but in the future, I think that once I've achieved the clearance I need, I would use 2x4 or 2x6 props under the gunnels. Also, I did leave the trailer attached to the car to prevent any undo forward or rearward movement (even with tire blocks).

Edit: Lo and behold! Wouldn't you know that having replaced or repaired 2 of the 3 rubber rollers, the third is now in need of attention. Admiring my work on the two repaired rollers, I noticed that the third one (farthest forward on the trailer) is exhibiting the same failure as the other two. Guess I have my work cut out for me... again.

Marty K.

[MKBLK]

Yep, time to tackle the third (and last) roller assembly. The weather in the NE (below NY) is way too good for yard work, holiday decorations and stuff like that. Would really have liked to squeeze in one more sail this season, but I got the look. Ergo, yardwork, decs, and tucking Pegasus in for the long winter's night, got priority.

After backing the trailer (with boat) into the drive-way, got to work on tackling that 3rd roller. This time, since I had already used up my recycled nylon bushings from the previous rollers, I tried a pair of screw type hose clamps on the roller axle and a larger clamp around the fat end of the rubber roller (since it was already starting to split). Repair seems to have worked well. Hopefully, this job won't be revisited for a couple of seasons.

Marty K.