I trailered my Getaway down to a friend’s beach house on Chesapeake Bay a few years back. I was about 58 at the time, 220 lb and reasonably good shape (bicycle commuter and I pedal 3,000 to 5,000 miles a year). I was able to get the Getaway down from the road to the beach - about 15 feet vertical - on the Trailex trailer with road wheels. The secret? I had 4 1X4 wood boards. I staggered them under the wheels and moved the boat up a 3 foot ridge and down to the water just fine, thought it took a while. Using the same method, I launched and retrieved the boat daily every evening - I didn’t trust the tides - but during the day between sails on the firm sand I could easily drag it up to the high tide line, and then dragged it up onto a 2 foot ridge (1 hull at a time) to keep errant waves from sliding her off the beach. On the last day, I had help from my friend, so I took the trailer up to a nearby boat ramp and had the friend drive me back to his house, and then sailed back to the ramp (thank goodness I had my Garmin handheld chart plotter, since the ramp looked way different from the water than I anticipated). Had the sailing not been so good, I believe I could have rolled the Getaway back up the hill to the road by myself using the boards, with perhaps some help from my friend if he had more time. If I were to do it over again I’d buy 1X6 or 1X8 boards - it was a little tricky getting the tires back on the boards when they squeezed out in the sand.
_________________ Don Strongsville (near Cleveland) OH Lake Erie sailor, mostly 2011 Getaway "Happy Couple"
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