Re: M_Boats: Thoughts on down-sizing
In a message dated 9/15/2006 2:53:23 P.M. Central Daylight Time, chbenneck@juno.com writes: Hi David, As with all sailing questions, ...... that depends. It depends on your sailing area; on your and your friends sailing experience and confidence in what kind of weather you can face. Under Sunday afternoon, 10 knot breeze, good weather forecast, no sudden squalls or fronts roaring through, two adult couples in an M15 cockpit is fine, and would be fun. The M15 stern squats a bit in the water with four adults in the cockpit, but you can have an enjoyable time. The situation changes though, if the weather deteriorates; the wind strength increases, you, and your friends are relatively inexperienced sailors, and home port is still far away. Now you are going to have to reef the main; maybe change the head sail to a working jib, close the companionway hatch and put in the hatch boards. Then four adults in the cockpit become two too many for easy boat handling. ....so the, ".....that depends" is a function of your sailing experience, your boat handling experience in deteriorating weather conditions; how far away is a safe port, or your home port; is the weather phenomena a short term situation - a local summer thunderstorm that blows by in half an hour - or is it a Nor'easter slowly settling in for three days; can you anchor somewhere in a good lee; ..... ? You alone can answer these questions. Connie _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats Thanks for the good advice. DAVID O. RUDD Gallatin River Communications L.L.C. 625 S. Second St., Springfield IL 62704 (217) 744-2420 Fax (217) 744-2421
I am having a trailer made up for a '75 M-17 that I purchased. Instead of keel rollers the boat trailer dealer (Dave's boat trailers in Bowie MD) is recommending a skid for the keel support. I do not recall any trailers having this configuration. Any thoughts on whether this is a good/bad idea? Thanks Robbin
I think skids are good idea. Little more friction pulling the boat up the bunks if that's necessary, but still a better idea in my opinion. If the skid has sides, it works as a nice guide too. Also spreads the load on the keel better than a roller. t Tom Smith & Jane Van Winkle M17 #496 -- dharma bum
Robbin, I had that type of set up on my Seaward 23 trailer, made by Performance. The Seaward weighed 2800 pounds with a winged keel. I never had any problems. Jerry Williams M15 A'Claim ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robbin Roddewig" <robbin.roddewig@verizon.net> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 6:06 PM Subject: M_Boats: skids versus keel rollers for M-17 trailer
I am having a trailer made up for a '75 M-17 that I purchased. Instead of keel rollers the boat trailer dealer (Dave's boat trailers in Bowie MD) is recommending a skid for the keel support. I do not recall any trailers having this configuration. Any thoughts on whether this is a good/bad idea?
Thanks Robbin
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Most of the original Trail Rite trailers that these were shipped out on had a single keel roller. The weight is carried on the bunks and that one keel roller, and it is a lot of weight for one roller to carry. Tod modified his to add one or two extra. I wish mine had at least 2 and 3 or 4 would be better. Boat and trailer are now over 25 years old, so I guess the match worked! The roller allows me to launch and retrieve from slightly shallower water than a skid board would. To retrieve, I now winch it on, which centers the keel on the roller. First time, every time. A skid would be ok, but I suspect it would mean I'd have to back up a few feet farther. On most ramps, that puts my exhaust, and a large part of the back of the Suburban under water. If he puts a tongue extension on, it would be a little more work at the ramp, but should solve the problem. Howard On Sep 19, 2006, at 5:06 PM, Robbin Roddewig wrote:
I am having a trailer made up for a '75 M-17 that I purchased. Instead of keel rollers the boat trailer dealer (Dave's boat trailers in Bowie MD) is recommending a skid for the keel support. I do not recall any trailers having this configuration. Any thoughts on whether this is a good/bad idea?
Thanks Robbin
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I had a Seaward Fox that had skid boards on the trailer. I once had to use a shallow ramp and ended up winching the boat in. Those boards roughed up my gel coat pretty bad. I don't believe that rollers would have done that. Joe On 9/20/06 2:53 PM, "Howard Audsley" <haudsley@tranquility.net> wrote:
Most of the original Trail Rite trailers that these were shipped out on had a single keel roller. The weight is carried on the bunks and that one keel roller, and it is a lot of weight for one roller to carry. Tod modified his to add one or two extra. I wish mine had at least 2 and 3 or 4 would be better. Boat and trailer are now over 25 years old, so I guess the match worked!
The roller allows me to launch and retrieve from slightly shallower water than a skid board would. To retrieve, I now winch it on, which centers the keel on the roller. First time, every time. A skid would be ok, but I suspect it would mean I'd have to back up a few feet farther. On most ramps, that puts my exhaust, and a large part of the back of the Suburban under water. If he puts a tongue extension on, it would be a little more work at the ramp, but should solve the problem.
Howard
On Sep 19, 2006, at 5:06 PM, Robbin Roddewig wrote:
I am having a trailer made up for a '75 M-17 that I purchased. Instead of keel rollers the boat trailer dealer (Dave's boat trailers in Bowie MD) is recommending a skid for the keel support. I do not recall any trailers having this configuration. Any thoughts on whether this is a good/bad idea?
Thanks Robbin
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Take a look and see if the Center Board is visible past the keel. There have been a couple of boats both 15 & 17 that have replaced their CB due to the weight on the CB while trailering. If the CB is clear and tucked up in the keel housing no worries. Bill On 9/20/06, Joe Moore <jmoore@kconline.com> wrote:
I had a Seaward Fox that had skid boards on the trailer. I once had to use a shallow ramp and ended up winching the boat in. Those boards roughed up my gel coat pretty bad. I don't believe that rollers would have done that.
Joe
On 9/20/06 2:53 PM, "Howard Audsley" <haudsley@tranquility.net> wrote:
Most of the original Trail Rite trailers that these were shipped out on had a single keel roller. The weight is carried on the bunks and that one keel roller, and it is a lot of weight for one roller to carry. Tod modified his to add one or two extra. I wish mine had at least 2 and 3 or 4 would be better. Boat and trailer are now over 25 years old, so I guess the match worked!
The roller allows me to launch and retrieve from slightly shallower water than a skid board would. To retrieve, I now winch it on, which centers the keel on the roller. First time, every time. A skid would be ok, but I suspect it would mean I'd have to back up a few feet farther. On most ramps, that puts my exhaust, and a large part of the back of the Suburban under water. If he puts a tongue extension on, it would be a little more work at the ramp, but should solve the problem.
Howard
On Sep 19, 2006, at 5:06 PM, Robbin Roddewig wrote:
I am having a trailer made up for a '75 M-17 that I purchased. Instead of keel rollers the boat trailer dealer (Dave's boat trailers in Bowie MD) is recommending a skid for the keel support. I do not recall any trailers having this configuration. Any thoughts on whether this is a good/bad idea?
Thanks Robbin
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-- Bill www.MSOGPhotoSite.com
Howard is right, when I re-worked my trailer I did add some more rollers. There are now four rather than one, and the two that are in way of the protruding c/b are about 3/4" lower in an attempt to reduce the load on the c/b. The axle on the original single roller had bent. So far so good. I also added some sill foam padding under the bunk carpeting when I replaced my bunks to try to reduce hard spots where the lapstrakes contact the bunks. There are a couple of spots where gelcoat has worn at the corner of the strakes. Tod Mills M17 #408 BuscaBrisas
Sincere thanks to everybody who shared their thoughts on down-sizing to an M-17 from my Vancouver 25. After carefully reading every reply it seems I have some thinking to do!!
participants (9)
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Bill Lamica -
DORUDD＠aol.com -
Howard Audsley -
htmills＠bright.net -
Jerry Williams -
Joe Moore -
Morris, Giles -
Robbin Roddewig -
Tom Smith