Quote:
Originally Posted by MAXUM
The bunks should catch the boat flat on the bottom not on the chines. I doubt it would hurt the boat per say but not ideal as you don't want the gel coat on the leading edge to crack with the full weight of the boat on it. Take a look at your trailer again and see if the bunks can be adjusted wider or narrower in relation to the trailer itself. Usually they can be. Trailers are typically made to be adjusted in some form unless it's some sort of specialized application. I'd be careful in using narrower bunks - might be worth having somebody who knows this stuff to have a look and advise you as to the best course of action.
Far as your needing to put the trailer deeper into the water, not sure about that. I have found that with all the trailers I've had sinking them to where the top of the fenders are just at the water surface is the sweet spot, just approach the trailer slowly, aim for the center drift the boat in and let it settle itself, trim up a bit give it a little bump of the throttle (should not take much at all) to get it started up the bunks and 99% you're perfectly centered. Crank it up the rest of the way and you're good. There is no need to "power load" like many do.
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I am going to talk to a couple different Marina's about it, because from all the research I've done on line, it has it going both ways..., some say get it on the "flat" part of the hull, and some say it is better on the chine because it is the "strongest" part of the hull..., so I'm just not sure about it yet, but common sense tells me that it should be on the flat part of the hull. However, I agree with you on the "sweet spot" about the position of the fender's of the trailer, but I usually launch and retrieve my boat by myself, and I just pull it on the trailer with a bow line these days which requires a lot more winching. I don't drive it on the trailer any more at all because of all the uproar over power loading. Just driving your boat on the trailer is someone's definition of power loading these days, no matter how "little" you throttle up to get the boat on the trailer. That's one of the reasons why I thought the bunk trailer has to go in a little deeper than a roller trailer, cause the boat (4300lbs) is harder to winch up the bunks than it was on a roller trailer. What I have found with this bunk trailer though, is if I put it in the water to the "sweet spot" you refer to, (just like I always did with a roller trlr), I get it hooked, and crank it up a little to the point I know it's centered and level, and then I get in the truck and back it up a little to put it in a little deeper to make it a lot easier to crank up the rest of the way. I would rather do that, than put the trailer in deeper initially, and be able to crank it up all the way without having to move the truck backwards, but now I worry about it coming out crooked, and having to put it back in and starting the process all over again. Pros and cons, but I got the system down pretty good already, and can have my boat loaded in just a couple minutes by myself, and I know it's coming out level.