"Don White" wrote in message
...

"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:24:49 -0400, "Don White"
wrote:

I back down until the truck rear tires touch water. I'm especially
careful
when in salt water due to potential corrosion.
My open aluminum boat will be partially floating at this point so it's
easy
to push off & control. I pull the boat next to the trailer and lift the
bow up enough to slip a couple of fenders under it. I then lay the anchor
forward on the ramp to avoid the boat floating away while I park the
truck/trailer.
With my bigger and much heavier sailboat... solo launch/retrieval was
more
troublesome because the boat sat too high to float off/on.

In many of the boat ramp stories I see there's so much traffic the
solo stuff slows things down. But hey, if you're solo, you're solo.
What you said about not wetting the rear truck hubs gave me an idea
for a trailer though.
I don't know the exact part names so bear with me. It should be clear
enough.
The hitch is on an arm connected to the yoke/frame.
So the "hitch arm" is straight. I've seen them of different lengths
depending on trailer design and size.
What if the hitch was a telescoping tube, and once you got your back
truck tires wet you could release the telescoping lock (maybe a pin
though the tube.) and the trailer would then back down another few
feet into the water?
You could drive away from the water with it extended but collapse it
and lock it before you hit the road.
That could be real useful on steep ramps.
Might have a similar design that would be let loose on a cable(s) to
back down the ramp, then be cranked back up with a self-contained
winch. The two end parts would be designed to auto-align and snug up
stiff to be relocked. Don't know the parts names, but they use
something like that for space station docking and mid-air refueling.
This all might be overkill for a boat trailer, but might sell some.
I'm not going into business and won't put a patent on the internets,
so consider these ideas yours now.
Just invite me for a week at the tropical island you buy with the
proceeds.

--Vic


I had this ideas when I ordered my custom built trailer. Originally I
wanted a hinge type tongue similar to what some major trailer
manufacturers use.
(re 20 x 12 foot garage)
The builder couldn't do that so we compromised on a larger frame square
tube with a smaller diameter tongue slipped inside with two bolts to hold
the tongue solid during use.
The idiot made it so it only added 18" to the length and I could only
enlongate or shorten it while the boat was on level ....or when the
coupler was disengaged and the tongue supported by a tongue jack.
Here you should be able to see one of the through bolts directly behind
the winch mast.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../winchmast.jpg


Oh yeah.. I also had to loosen that back u-bolt (seen removed in picture) in
order to slide the tongue forward (for launch/retrival) or back (for
trailering).