67 flatback launch difficulties

[John Jones]

Mine does great with just the guide posts since I put the front bunks on.

I have an issue with the glide sticks, etc.  You now have less than 1/2 the square inches available to spread out the load.  My flats boat came with them and one was cracked and gouged the hull also.

[RichieZee]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all your input, I really do appreciate it.

Rich

[Ben87]

Like JimCT, I'm even further north in MA.  Our 87 222 is on a 1993 Magic Tilt dual axle 16-roller trailer.  The rollers are set up so that they roll between the strakes, it is set up well and centers quite well, not perfect everytime  but is decent.  So long as the trailer is not backed in too far, and like many on here mentioned earlier, putting the trailer in too far makes the bow hang up on the front rollers, there is definitely a sweet spot.  

Last winter, as Dusky did not want me using a roller trailer, in reality, they did not want any owner using any other trailer other than the
Continentals they sold, I was worried/concerned that with the insane tide-swings we get up this way that I'd have trouble loading and unloading with a bunk trailer.  Now that I have been putting in and pulling out at every tide stage and at every ramp that I have gone to with not a single issue, I won't go back to a roller trailer, no way, no how.  I like the roller trailer as it is what I had been using for so long with no problem but with any sort of current or wind, the boat would load off-center one way or the other.  Now with the bunk trailer, like many mentioned, I could close my eyes and as long as the hull is  between the guide poles, the boat will center itself on the front bunks and the main bunks every time.  

It did not take long to find the sweet spot with the bunk trailer.  When I visited Singer Island FL this past August, I must have spent a total of 6 hours just watching boats go in and out of the water/loaded unloaded on all the bunk trailers, unfortunately, everyone knew what they were doing so there was no real entertainment but it was still fun to watch others.  It is so true that up here many more have roller trailers and I'm usually one of the only ones that has the bunk but I make many look slow with how fast I can deploy and retrieve alone.

[Undertow2]

I have always thought that trailering, launching and loading of a boat is as challenging as becoming a good boat operator.  There ain't no shortcuts and no substitute for experience.  Reading this thread sure did make me grin.
And I thought I had gotten fairly good at loading until I got the Banshee.  Flat bottom, 3" draft, jack plate, etc. make it real fun.  Every ramp is different.  One of the old engineers from Performance set my Boatmaster  trailer up and we tweaked it 3 times.  Got the roller PVC guides and all.  Still very tricky.  It's kinda been a study of trailer submersion depth and ramp angle algorithms.  I don't know what an algorithm is though.  Heck I don't know if I even spelled it right.
Am looking very forward to a nice v-bottom setup with AS and easy days of loading.

[John Jones]

Not picking on you Capt John but I remembered another issue I had with side bunks.  My neighbor had an '80 something 24' T-Craft.  He put on the carpeted side bunks.  (He didn't need them.  His loading problem was that was he was hard-headed and always put the trailer in too deep ;) )  After about 3 years with the side bunks we took them off to compound the boat.  He had hull blisters under the side bunks.  He had them adjusted tightly to the sides of the hull and the constant dampness, even from rain, gave him the rash.  Admittedly, if they were not so tight it might not have happened.  The old T-Craft may not have had the best gelcoat either.

Just something to ponder.

[GoneFission]

You don't put the side bunks up against the hull - - they should be at least 1" off the hull.  You need to be able to clean or wax under them, and if they are against the hull, they can also abrade the hull with trailer vibration.  Side bunks simply help center the boat in heavy winds or current.  Combined with center bunks, they really do make putting the boat on the trailer pretty much foolproof.  :)

Regarding the GlydeStyks, it is correct that you only have about 1 inch of bearing surface per stick.  I put two rows on my main bunks and three rows on the bow bunks.  With full contact for some 16 feet on each side and a 3500 lb boat, that's less than 5 lbs/square inch of bearing surface.  I think that's enough, especially compared to rollers that only have about 1 square inch per roller pair - with 32 roller sets, that's over 100 lbs. per square inch - 20 times as much!  

[John Jones]

Like I said, he was hard-headed.  

Doubling or tripling the glyde sticks should do it.  I see so many at the ramp with just the single thin strip.