Bunk height on CP16 homemade trailer

[Railroad Greg]

Does anyone have the time to measure the bunk height and how far the bunk is from the center of the keel roller or board.
(1)  Bunk height from the top of bunk to the top of trailer frame?
(2)  The distance from bunk to the center of the keel roller or keel support board?
                                           Thank you for any help

[mikew]

Greg, on my 1983 Hutchins trailer , I measure 23" from center of keel to center of bunk at the front bunk verticle pipe support
and 22" at the rear support pipe.
I measure 11.5" from the top of the bunk to the top of trailer side rail at the lowest point of the bunk curve which lines up with the
trailer axle. I have v rollers under the keel. Most all of the hull weight is on the keel, the side bunks only prevent the boat from falling over.
Note: these measurements were taken in the snow with a flashlight at 17 deg outside,  but anything for a fellow Compac sailer.

Mike

[JTMeissner]

Greg, Mike beat me to the response, but I have some very similar measurements on my 1991 MagicTilt trailer.  Boat is in the garage getting refurbished, so I could take a bit more time measuring and getting some photos.

The keel area is roughly a foot wide, with 12" between the metal uprights and 11" rollers:


At the aft set of supports, I measured right about 22" from the keel center line and 14" to the top of the wood.  At this point, the hull is about 1/4" off the support as it curves slightly under the low point in the middle near the axle.  The hull deflects the side supports.


At the front set of supports, slightly different with 21" from keel center and 15" to the top of the board.  Similar though, the hull is not actually resting on the board at this point.


In the middle, near the axle like Mike, the top of the support board is about 12.5" above the frame.  Hull deflects and rests along this board for a few feet each direction.  This changes depending on how centered the boat is on the trailer (right now it's slightly more starboard on the trailer).


During the refurb, I am thinking that I may drop the rear supports down a couple of inches or so in order to make it easier to load the boat as the side of the hull will no longer have to overcome a slight bump at the supports.  The nuts on the trailer are stripped beyond repair and will need to be cut off which is why it hasn't happened earlier.  The boat sits mostly on the 8" wide keel on the front two rollers with these side supports ensuring it cannot tip in either side direction.

HTH,
-Justin

[Gerry]

You folks are amazing.  There is nothing I can't learn from this site.

Gerry

[Railroad Greg]

Mike and Justin,
I owe you both.

Mike you keep warm and I'm so grateful for your flashlight adventure in the snow. Thank you so much!

Justin, thank you for the great pictures and measurements.

 

[Railroad Greg]

The pictures where so helpful I wanted to be able to upload pictures for future forums.
Here is the Dilly trailer that came with the purchase of my 1978 cp-16







The metal on the trailer is in good shape other than surface rust. I stripped it down to bare frame and started building the frame to carry Knee Deep.
Thanks for all the info.

[mikew]

Greg, to keep your build simple a flat keel board could be used instead of rollers. The challenge would be to build supports for the
2x4 side bunks, these have a pivot bolt that allows the board to lie against and flex to the shape of the hull. In addition Compac trailers have either 2x4 or PVC guides to keep the keel lined up straight when cranking it in. I believe most all the weight is on the keel. If you google Compac 16 trailer , images, you should get some ideas.

Mike

[Railroad Greg]

Thanks for all the help.
I'm working on my 6ft trailer hitch extension.
Here is the after picture after a lot of head scratching and fun work.

[Railroad Greg]

[Pacman]

Nicely done.

I too prefer a flat keel board instead of rollers.

I think it is kinder to the bottom of the keel because the load is spread over a much greater area rather than putting all the load on a just a few square inches of roller contact area.