Association Forum - Trailer surge brakes

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Trailer surge brakes - backing up

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

John Hill
1st Mate

Member Avatar

USA
25 Posts

Initially Posted - 04/21/2007 : 19:40:50

Greetings to all. Barring unseen events it appears I'll take possession of a 250 WK within a few weeks. It's not a done deal but I'm trying to educate myself on the boat, rigging, launch and retrieval, trailer, and trailering as much as I can in anticipation it will all work out. There is a lot to take in! I was hoping to pick a few brains here.

The boat I'm looking at has a Trail-Rite trailer with surge brakes. Prior to this boat I had a Mac 26X. In order to back-up my Mac trailer up an incline, I had to drill a hole and insert a pin to prevent the surge brakes from engaging. Can anyone tell me what to expect with the Trail-Rite trailer?

Trailering: Do all of you tie down your boat for trailering? I know some of you do. I never tied down my Mac but I know some people do. Opinions?

Another question: I've been browsing the posts here but I want to pose the question. I've read a few posts that suggests it takes about two hours to rig and launch. I wasn't sure if that time is a "first few times", time or if that is an average amount of time for those experienced.

I've done a lot of reading here and feel like I've already learned a lot. My guess/hope is I'll be posing a handful of questions in the future. I'm looking forward to sailing a "real" sailboat as opposed to a Mac, and learning the difference

John Hill

C250 WK #516
Raymore, Mo

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 04/21/2007 : 20:11:17

John,
The surge brake coupler should have lever on the side. The lever will move one way or the other I forget now, but it allows you to back up. We do tie the boat to the trailer with a 2 inch ratchet strap. Takes me about a 1:30 to set up, I take my time and double check everything. It gets faster once you've done it a couple times.

Edited by - on

atgep
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

1009 Posts

Response Posted - 04/21/2007 : 20:40:08

My trailer has a lockout selenoid for reversing. It uses a 5 pin plug. You may want to check from your dealer how many pins are on the harness.

Like Tom, I use a big ratchet strap. Remeber to put a few tists in it to keep it from slapping the heck out of your boat.

Tom.

Edited by - on

kevinmac
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
732 Posts

Response Posted - 04/21/2007 : 23:17:58

My 2006 WK trailer has a small level on the tongue that can be set to allow you to back up. Also, it takes a fair amount of force to engage to trailer brakes. I have backed up out of motel parking lots, and backed the trailer down ramps, without ever using it.

Actually, I forgot it was there

, and it was your message that made me realize I had not been using it. And no, I am not backing against the brakes. When the brakes come on on a WK trailer, you *know* it...

I think the only time you might need it is to back up hill, like into your driveway at home maybe...

Edited by - on

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2980 Posts

Response Posted - 04/22/2007 : 07:01:21

Hi John, it may take two hours at first but that should reduce to one hour or possibly slightly less.

I'd suggest a conversation with the family about it... that it is simply part of the deal and is not a time to hurry to get onto the water. It should be done methodically without anxiousness to get on the water or it could be prone to mistakes or even safety risk taken.

If it is allowed to become a hurry up time... it will become resented as part of the trailer sailing experience.

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 04/22/2007 : 10:42:56

I agree completely with Arlyn, we deliberately take our time while rigging because it's so important to get it right. The last thing I want is for an outing to become a shouting match. It's easy for stresses to build up while you are prepping the boat for launch or especially recovery, and I go out of my way to insure that I explain everything as we go, including the nomenclature of the boat. She's unfamiliar with the terms, so I try to make sure that when I want to do something, I include adequate time to explain what I want to do, what the involved equipment is called, and what I'm going to say when I want something done. That way she learns in a somewhat less stressful environment (she's used to being shouted at by her racing captain, and not knowing what he was talking about, not a very good experience). When something goes wrong, as it nearly always will, I try to turn it into a learning experience, like when our gauge cover fell overboard yesterday, we turned it into a man overboard drill, something she'd never done before, and one of her biggest fears. She learned that it's not so easy to bring the boat alongside of something, even with the engine, and it's even harder to get something out of the water, especially over the freeboard of our boats.

I'm the more experienced sailor, so it's up to me to make sure everything is right, but Rita is determined that that won't always be the case. She feels a bit intimidated right now by how much she has to learn, but understands that practice is the best teacher. We currently take about 2-1/2 hours from pulling into the parking lot to backing away from the pier. This past Friday we took closer to three because we stopped to have lunch, and were taking notes on things we've missed on our checklist as this was only our second sail on the boat. Our recovery & de-rigging went a bit faster (except for the swimming thing) and admittedly because of the delay while getting the boat out of the water, we were a bit rushed because the park closes at dusk. I'm pretty confident of a 90 minute or less rigging & launching sequence in the future, and a bit shorter with recovery & de-rigging.

Welcome to the forum,

Edited by - delliottg on 04/22/2007 10:51:27

John Hill
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
25 Posts

Response Posted - 04/22/2007 : 14:55:57

Thanks for all of the responses.

It's nice to know the trailer likely will have a design feature that disengages the surge brakes when needed instead of me drilling holes.

I guess I better plan on getting some straps for trailering too.

And it's nice to know rigging will be a reasonable length of time. The Mac I had usually took me a little over an hour. The first few times with it took considerably longer. I always take my time rigging. I'd much rather take a little extra time putting it up than have to lower the mast to correct a problem.

I've always been amused how fast one to two hours can be when you are busy thinking about and doing the things you have to do to get a boat ready.

I have a few "first time" rigging stories about our Mac, perhaps in a number of weeks I'll have a few "first time" rigging stories about a new-to-us 250 - hopefully all with happy endings.

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 04/23/2007 : 11:54:47

We used two ratcheting straps, one forward of the cabin and one aft. Have the trailer hubs and brakes checked out by a shop. Stop periodically and touch the wheels to make sure they are not getting hot due to bearing or brake problems. This boat is much heavier than your Mac.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.