Eager to get my SunDayCat onto the water for this season, but ...

[Roland of Macatawa]

Michigan's DNR has closed the major boat launch ramps on Lake Macatawa (access to Lake Michigan) temporarily/indefinitely due to high water, 11 inches above last year. Some local township ramps which are much in smaller capacity, in both volume and water depth, are still open. They of course are now overloaded. Need to find an alternative launching option.

[Roland of Macatawa]

Michigan DNR has relented and reopened the launch ramps although the water level has not receded.
Had my first daysail of the season yesterday.
Most off-season revisions/upgrades worked out fine. But some need a little tweaking.

[Gerry]

We have the same problem on this side of Lake Michigan.  The water is so high at the ramp that I can't back my SUV in far enough to launch my CP16.  It sits (lonely) on its trailer in my yard waiting until I can borrow a neighbors truck high enough to keep the exhaust out of the water.

[Roland of Macatawa]

Michigan DNR has reclosed the local launch ramps, as the water level continues to slowly rise.

[Andre]

Gerry,

As a temporary workaround try a rope launch.  That's what I have to do to launch my Horizon Cat with a Subaru Outback without submerging half the car.  I've made some adaptations, but basically lower trailer down ramp with a rope tied to the car.  Should be a piece of cake for a 16.

Works quite well after a few attempts and you won't  have to borrow another vehicle. 

Andre

[Jim in TC]

Gerry,

As a temporary workaround try a rope launch.  That's what I have to do to launch my Horizon Cat with a Subaru Outback without submerging half the car.  I've made some adaptations, but basically lower trailer down ramp with a rope tied to the car.  Should be a piece of cake for a 16.

Works quite well after a few attempts and you won't  have to borrow another vehicle. 

Andre

That is a really interesting idea. The ramp I use has been in high but usable water most of the time, but flooded badly a couple days ago and our launch scheduled for tomorrow is in some jeopardy. I think I would feel comfortable trying your idea out with our little Sun Cat if necessary. Thanks for the comment!

[Roland of Macatawa]

Now Michigan DNR has again reopened the local launch ramps, although the water level has not receded. Winds, however, cause the level to fluctuate a little bit as they drive the water either East or West on Lake Michigan. So we never know, until we get there, whether or not the launch ramps are open. Cannot find any public announcement of their closed/open status. The Corp of Engineers forecasts that the water level will continue to rise another 2 inches by the end of June.

[bruce]

When I was checking out ramps in Maine that we might use, I found that unlike around here where most ramps are inclined about 7-8 degrees, many in ME were around 4 degrees. Floating the PC off the trailer was going to be difficult.

To me, the weakest link in using a rope or removable rigid tongue extension is the reliance on the tongue jack with it's tiny wheel. On a flat driveway, it isn't a problem, but rolling over a ramp with traction grooves or otherwise rough surface I can see trouble. One solution I found, but never tested, was using a panel or slab dolly to drop the trailer tongue onto giving you potentially nice, big 8-10" wheels. You'd just have to make sure the dolly didn't slip fore and aft when you didn't want it to. Lots of versions out there, some self- clamping and otherwise adjustable, or make a jig out of scrap plywood if necessary.

Just some examples, although Vestil is a good brand in my experience.
https://www.globalindustrial.com/g/material-handling/trucks-carts/panel-mover/adjustable-heavy-duty-plate-slab-dolly-dollies?trackType=null

[Andre]

Bruce and Gerry,

Yes using the trailer jack wheel with my probably close to 3000 lb HC with 300+  lbs of tongue load was definitely a problem, hence my "adaptations" which is basically a tongue support wheel made of 2x6s, a 2x4, and a wheelbarrow wheel.  My first rope launch with the stock trailer jack and wheel did produce enough jack "chatter" to make me worry.  I think with a much lighter CP 16 it wouldn't be as much of a problem.  I will gladly share photos of the "contraption" as I call it that I built although I don't know how to post pictures here and higher res images are helpful.  So let me know if you'd like some photos.  I can't claim a patent on it ( ha, ha) since I stole the concept from another web site , although he used a welded steel construction and I used lumber, epoxy, and bolts.

Andre

[bruce]

Andre,

I'd love to see photos of your device, I'm no stranger to DIY! Hit the Additional Options below the Post Reply window, and you can attach a photo or file of listed types from your device. You can attach up to 4, but they each have to be 250KB or less, so crop and reduce file size as necessary.

Tongue jacks vary in capacity. I've upgraded mine to a Fulton 1,200 lbs. I estimate my boat, ballast, gear, and trailer weigh about 1,200 lbs at most, and my tongue weight should be on the order of 150 lbs max, but I see significant flexing of the jack as I roll the boat around, thus the concern. A better tongue jack design may be perfectly serviceable for the weights we're talking.

[Zephyros]

I christened my new 3 1/2 foot Suncat trailer tongue extension this week. My North Texas lake it 5 feet overfilled due to all the rain, half the lakes boat ramps are closed and the ones that are open are very shallow. I was shocked I needed every inch of my new extension to float the boat, but it worked. I still had to have my Kia Sorento rear wheels in the water so next time I will add my temporary 18" hitch extender as well.

Not sailing yet due to a number of mods and maintenance items I'm doing, this week was just to tie up to the dock while I changed out the bunk boards. Here is a photo of my Fulton folding tongue hinge with a 3 1/2 foot 3" tubing extension.

[bruce]

Excellent, Tom! That's a great idea to use the hinge to extend the tongue, not just make it shorter for a garage. Any issues on the road?

[Zephyros]

I've not finished the road evaluation yet, so far just 3 miles to the boat ramp. I do notice a little bounce on the bow stop area of the trailer in the rear view mirror, but then again I'm staring at it and did not really notice one way or the other pre-mod. I suspect when I reload all the gear, outboard, fuel tank etc. I will clearly be underweight on the tongue. I plan to take it to a weigh station to get real numbers and then slide the axle assembly forward as needed. But then again, that can wait for next winter since I only have a short trip to the ramp. I've already lost to much sailing time this spring with my endless lists of to-do's. Aiming for first sail by the end of the month.

[Renae]

Gerry,

As a temporary workaround try a rope launch.  That's what I have to do to launch my Horizon Cat with a Subaru Outback without submerging half the car.

And I worried (needlessly, it turns out) about pulling my Suncat with a Mazda CX-5!

[Andre]

I'll follow up soon with a photo and description, but just so you know, my boats (PC and HC) are kept in a lot about 200 yds from the ramp so I only tow my HC and trailer that far on level ground at about 10 mph and the trailer has hydraulic brakes.  No way would I venture onto public roads with my Outback doing the towing!

When I brought it down the 120 miles from Norwalk, CT I used a rented Ram 1500 pickup.

Andre