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| dolly / trailer with mast up http://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=35303 |
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| Author: | thetoddjohnson [ Mon May 02, 2011 11:58 am ] |
| Post subject: | dolly / trailer with mast up |
Hi Everyone, I suppose I should say I'm a noobie. It's been 25 years since I sold my Boston Whaler SuperCat 17. I'm out of touch with the changes that have occurred to catamarans since then. I'd really like to buy a Getaway, but I have some unique challenges regarding storing/launching so I'd like some opinions as to whether or not is it realistic for me to get one. I would be using the boat on the beaches of Bald Head Island off the coast of Southport, NC. The island does not allow anything to remain on the beach past 9PM. Therefore, I need to store the boat at the house. Also, there are no cars allowed on the island and the only mode of transportation is golf cart. I plan on building a trailer that I can pull behind a golf cart, and also manually push across the beach (about 200' of soft sand). I built a similar trailer that I use to move my Laser back and forth from the house to the water. Question #1 - Is it reasonable to expect that my 12 yr old son and I could manage getting the boat out of the water and across the beach without any additional people helping? The house is only about 1/2 mile of paved, flat road from the beach, and there are no overhead utilities or large trees that would cause interference if we wanted to move the boat with the mast up. Question #2 - Has anyone ever towed a boat with the mast up? As I mentioned, I'll be towing with a golf cart, and the wheels will be the big balloon Wheeleez tires, so I'd only be going about 10 mph. Is this an absurd idea? I'm assuming that we'd use the boat more often if we didn't need to step the mast each day we wanted to sail. I'd love to hear some thoughts, TJ |
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| Author: | jamoulto [ Mon May 02, 2011 6:01 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: dolly / trailer with mast up |
I have stored my getaway on a trailer with the mast up at a boat club the last 3 years and trailered it several hundred yards to a launch many of times. In my opinion it is not a big deal as long as there are no overhead wires or branches. The mast will rotate back and forth a bit, but you could always quickly tie a line from the downhaul cleat to the base of the shroud to limit this if you don't like it. I also built a dolly (so I could go sailing on days when my wife had the car with the trailer hitch) and can move my getaway around by myself when I use it. It is a bit of work to drag it up hill from the water where it is stored (I'm only 170 lbs) but the opportunity to sail always made it worth while. Just make sure the boat balances nicely on your trailer dolly. I find if I have to lift part of the boat because the dolly isn't under the balance point then the effort to move it increases significantly. Cheers, jeff |
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| Author: | thetoddjohnson [ Tue May 03, 2011 9:44 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: dolly / trailer with mast up |
jamoulto wrote: I also built a dolly (so I could go sailing on days when my wife had the car with the trailer hitch) and can move my getaway around by myself when I use it. I'd love to see some pics of the trailer/dolly if you have some. Thanks, TJ |
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| Author: | jamoulto [ Thu May 12, 2011 3:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: dolly / trailer with mast up |
The dolly I built is similar in design to the sietech one but ended up being about 1/3 of the cost. I bought some wide turf tires that were on sale at Princess Auto and some aluminum square tube from a local supplier. My boat club has a similar steel version that works good too but is more solid. I went with aluminum so it would be lighter to load on and off the trailer on a regular basis. One member at the club built a similar design using a wood frame and a pair of wheel barrow tires. We launch of grass and have rubber mats in the water to launch on so it works well for his purposes and was cheap to make. My trailer is a galvanized steel one similar in design to most cat trailers but made by a local boat trailer shop. I pulled it out of storage tonight and took pictures but I'm not sure how to post them. If you are still interested email me at moulton(dot)jeff(at)gmail(dot)com |
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