trailers Ariel/Cmdr
I have just purchased a Cmdr with no trailer. The boat is in the water at a mooring. I will be using a Catalina-27 trailer to pull the boat but have no idea on how to adjust the supports. How should the bolster pads be positioned for a Cmdr? Does anyoue have a picture of a trailer or some cursory diminsions I could use? Any info would be appreciated.
Wait to posistion the pads when the crane lifts the boat onto the trailer . The Catalina is a fin keel and the Commander is a full keel .
While the crane hold the boat upright , just slide the pads up to meet the bottom .
I hope you have a 4 wheel trailer with brakes , you need it .
When I got my Ariel it was on a wooden cradle sitting atop a makeshift trailer. The trailer appears to have been a mobile home frame or trailer for moving modular homes. It's double axel and has been modified a bit. I'll try for some pictures this weekend.
I want to get rid of the cradle and weld supports directly onto the trailer frame. This will lower the boat almost 12" . I don't have trailer brakes......but then I can launch it at the end of my driveway (almost). With a tidal range of 18 to 26 feet I can get away without a lift. I think Mike's advice is right on to fit things using the lift and go from there.
You will note that he is in Oklahoma , not much tide range there .
I have seen a new , 1998 , Ford F-250 4wd , pulled backward when trying to ramp launch a 6000lb ( combined trailer and boat ) load on a steep, wet ramp . It stopped when there was about 2.5 feet of water in the cab .
The draft of the Pearson will require the trailer to be near 6 feet under water before she floats .
Draw that out to keep the truck wheels out of the water and you have a tongue length on the trailer of near 25' ( unless of course you can roll it down at low tide , un-hitch , move vehicle beyond tide line and wait for boat to float off )
Not many places in the US where that can happen .
You are lucky in Maine to do this , but luck has it's downside , your summer is only a week long .;>)
Yup, Mike is right.
A friend drove down from NC this week, towing the trailer for his Flicka. We spent the better part of the day yesterday trying many various methods not involving a helicopter to get 'Faith' out of the water and onto his trailer.
There is a really nice ramp where I keep my boat, used to be a seaplane ramp... goes WAY out into the water so there was no fear of driving off the end.
The Flicka draws 3'3" so the trailer was pretty close to set up (just extended the pads up a bit).
The trailer has an extend able tongue (8' or so), and the keel bed it pretty low. Even so, if I had backed the truck (84 F-250HD Diesel 4x4) any farther I would have had to replace the cd player in the dash!
I mounted a bow eye on Faith to be able to attach an anchor snubber to. This allows us to anchor with a very small swing circle (I think I posted it in another thread). It was a good place to attach the wench to. We pulled, and pulled, and wenched and backed in farther...
After 2 hours we had the first 3" of the keel (below the cut away) on the trailer. I think that both of us pretty much knew that things were not going to work out but since he had driven hundreds of miles to do this we kept trying things....
About the only thing that we did not try was to release the trailer and let it down the ramp on a chain. If we had it either would have worked or gotten hopelessly stuck part way up.
Maybe it would have worked with a steeper ramp, or a silly toungue extension (like 12-14')
Just a bit of added intel (or lack of) for the knowledge base.
Originally Posted by Mike Goodwin
Mike,
Ah yes the summer is brief....but we do have three seasons.
JULY, AUGUST and WINTA !
With any luck I'll get to sail in part of all three. I'm already behind in getting launched and then I have to learn to sail and then...
It could be worse, A friend of mine lives in Nova Scotia , went to Toronto for 2 weeks in July and missed summer all together .
I'm way behind on getting #45 commissioned , bad weather and making a living get in the way .
Picking up my new Nissan 4 stroke 6hp today ,actually picking up 2 , one is for Commander 105 who lives down the street .
We are going to do some prop testing , 8" vs 7" , 8" vs 6" and 7" vs 6" . My mechanic says the 6" will be the winner . I think he is right .
Mike G
I have a trailer for the Ariel. I tried to get a picture out but it did not take. I can send you a picture by email if you would like.
The trailer is 20 feet long, and the bed is 4 1/2 feet wide . Overall, the outside of the wheels make it 7 feet wide. The Ariel extends 7 feet aft of the end of the trailer
The trailer has two sets of wheels, the forward set being almost directly under the center of gravity of the boat (where the keel starts heading up.
There are six posts, three on each side.
The first is 9" from the back and the post extends about about 43" above the keel bottom.
The second is about 73" from the aft end of the trailer and about 31" off the keel bottom.
The forward most set are 117" from the aft end and about 34" high.
Down the center of the trailor is a "U" beam, with a 2" X 6" wolmanized plank placed in the trough upon which the keel of the Ariel sits.
The posts are capped with a flat swivel plate with a wood pad that adjust to the countour of the hull. The post height is based on where the bolt holding those plates passes through the post.
If you don't already know about it, a company (Barnett is the name as I recall) makes screw type jacks that fit inside the post so that the height of the post can be screw adjusted. I do not have those yet but will be buying a set this summer.
Let me know if there are any other dimensions you need or clarification.
Peter Theis
Last edited by Theis; 05-12-2002 at 08:33 PM.
Rudy:
The company that makes the screwjacks is Brownell
Boat Stands, 800 533-8433. I suspect they also have a web site.
I understand they "invernted"/brought the things to market.
The screws are 1 7/16" diameter, and come in three lengths, 16" ($11.50), 22 1/2" ($20.50) AND 27 1/2" ($20.50)
My recollection is that they are solid. I will be buying a set this summer.
Hope this does it for you.
Peter
Do those prices include the flange for the pad and the screw handle ?
Mike G
My understanding is that they include the screw handle, but not the pad. There is a real problem with the Ariel and commercial pads. The swivel on the pads, from ones I was shown a year ago, do not swivel enough to accomodate the deep hull design of the Ariel. Most boats today do not have bottoms that are angled 30 degrees and more.
My pads, as a result, I had to have made to order.
TRAILERING ARIELS & COMMANDERS
This exchange took place on the Yahoo site and it appeares interesting enough to repost here.
>>>>>>
Hi, I'm a new member interested in Carl Alberg designs and would like as large a boat as I can safely trailer with a Tahoe or similar SUV. I noticed several pictures of Ariels on trailers on the web and the photo page of the group. Any advice on practicality of pulling an Ariel?
Thanks, Clay
>>>>>>
Mike Goodwin writes:
Pulling isn't the problem if your truck can tow #6000 (boat and trailer + extra gear), launching is the problem. You need a crane in most cases to get the boat off the trailer. Most ramps aren't steep enough to float the boat from the trailer, the wheels would be aprox. 5' underwater and even with a lowboy trailer they would be 4' under. To do it safely you would need a winch on the front bumper to keep the boat from pulling the vehicle into the water too . Around here they charge $100 to crane launch or retrieve a boat .
>>>>>>
Scott Wallace writes:
Check with high quality trailer designer and builder, Mike Otto, at TRIAD Trailers...He owns the company, founded by his father, who got blueprints of most of our old "Classic Plastics" from the manufacturers back in the 1960's and 1970's...they make tremendous trailers, well designed and well built. They also offer a launch package, that includes a metal ladder to reach the winch, an extension for the tongue, so that most launch ramps can launch boats like our old Pearson (Alberg designed) Electra, Vanguards, Tritons and Rhodes Rangers.
His shop is located in New Milford, Ct. and I drove there from Cincinnati, Ohio, a few years ago, picked up my new trailer, drove to Cleveland, Ohio, where the travel hoist loaded my boat, then to a smaller lake in South Central Ohio, where launching and retrieval were amazingly easy!
>>>>>>
Here is their contact info:
Triad Trailers Ltd
90 Danbury Rd # A
New Milford, CT 06776-3412
Phone: (860) 354-1146
http://www.triadtrailers.com/
Business Types: Trailers Boat, Trailers Equipment & Parts, Boat Dealers, etc.
Last edited by Bill; 07-25-2004 at 03:32 PM.
Well, we know trailering Ariels and Commanders is relatively easy. Unfortunately, I don't have any personal experience 'launching' from a trailer
A few years back Yves Gelina (developer, builder, seller of the Cape Horn self-steering gear)was going to pull Jean Du Sud, his A30, around the Great Lakes area with a diesel powered Suburban. Our boats must weight in a little less than an A30.
Tony G
I build my self one and I actualy can launch from it but I do need a crane at the end of the season. If anyone want picture. It cost me about 2000 $ CDN to build it.
Andre Roberge
Andre,
A month off cruising?! Wouldn' that be nice... Of course we all want pictures of trailers, boats, equipment, whatever. I am curious though, why do you need a crane for the end of the season and not the begining?
Tony G
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