Retrieving my island onto a homie trailer in strong winds

I recently purchased a Hobie Trailer from our local dealer and it certainly makes life easier and gets me on the water in little time. However today, with a strong 20 knot NE wind, I struggled to get my AI back onto the trailer. I allways sail alone and would be interested in any advice as to how I can make the retrieval a little less cumbersome on this 70 year old 7 stone weakling.
Cheers

Firstly, if on my own, I back the trailer in until the front cradle is level with the water (I know, this means the wheel bearings are under water... mine have so far survived >literally< hundreds of dunkings without issue)

Obviously the relative wind direction makes a huge difference, with the easiest being away from the vehicle towards the trailer. In that case I let the wind blow the Island out to the length of the bow line, and simply pull it towards the trailer.

If the wind is blowing towards your tow vehicle, you might get away with bringing your Island alongside the trailer, and giving it a huge push backwards, and quickly pulling it back onto the trailer. I find it I get the bow onto the front cradle., I can manouvre the rest into place.

If the wind is on either side, I try and get the bow to come in from the downwind side just behind the mudguard (mine stick up a bit), and use the mudguard as a pivot to swing the hull round so I can get that bow onto the front cradle.

If I am really making a meal of it, I have been known to simply wait until I can get help from a passerby!

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

Unlike Tony's trailer mine has never been in the water. I am 76, and have two artificial shoulders. My trailer is the standard TI Ausmarine trailer supplied by Binks Marine in South Australia, but I have modified it. I initially had a post welded on it to take a hand winch with a 50 mm wide strap instead of a wire rope. I had two straps of the same material made up by an upholsterer to fit either side of the front cross bar which reach to about 10 cm past the bow, both straps have loops which fit over the winch hook. The pulling point is on the cross bar which is a hell of a lot stronger than using the ss fitting on the bow. I drag the boat to where it is safe from being swept away by waves, back the trailer down to say a foot from the bow, and lift the boat onto the back bar of the trailer (about a 60 - 80 cm lift), then winch it on.
Due now (unfortunately) to a slowly deteriorating muscle condition I need every advantage I can give myself for retrieving my AI, and of late have now made the whole process ridiculously easy. I had a friend handy with a welder make a tilt system for the trailer, and swapped the hand winch for a small 900 kg pulling power electric winch that I connect directly onto my car battery. (Total cost for trailer parts, roller and winch...$200 au. The hardest work involved is lifting the bow of the boat a mere 10 cm onto the roller I fitted to the back bar of the trailer, press the remote button and just let the winch do the work. By the way, thanks to the tilt mechanism and electric winch I leave the ama's still fitted to the boat when hauling it onto the trailer. . I might try to do a video of the process if I can figure out how to post it.
Cheers Ian

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I don't have any super tricks. I like what Tony says about being more concious of the wind direction; I will have to keep that in mind. But what I did want to mention is that ever since I installed my PVC bunks, it is a lot easier to load my TI. If I can just get the nose between the bunks, the rest of the hull lines up very naturally as I pull it up. BTW, I always load the boat fully rigged, pull it out to a separate parking area, then stow the mast, fold up the amas, etc.

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-MM
2016 Hobie TI Golden Papaya "Wave Dancer"
Trailex Trailer

If I had my time over, I would have fitted pvc bunks instead of the Hobie cradles too.

As regards not getting the axles wet, there are products called Bearing Buddies, which contain a reservoir of bearing grease (and a grease nipple). The idea is that when a hot bearing contracts, instead of sucking in water (and damaging the bearings) it sucks in more grease. I make a habit (mostly necessary due to my limited mobility- artificial hip plus imminent fusions for neck and lower spine) of taking almost an hour to fully rig my TI (cameras, aka, outboard, spinnaker etc), by which time the wheel hubs are cool to the touch, and I get the bearings regreased annually. Working fine so far since mid 2012. Launching and retrieving is so so much easier when you can immerse the trailer!

I also have a winch with 2" strap on my trailer, but never need it unless retrieving from a beach, as I float the bow up as far as the forward cradle, only then needing about a 2-4 inch lift onto the cradle. I find it then pretty easy to grab the winch and the bow in each hand and pull them together (remembering that the rear of the hull is actually still floating).

I also leave the ramp with the TI totally intact, and tidy things up at the boat wash area.

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

I'm with MedicineMan in that since I've installed the PVC bunks the boat naturally centers itself as I winch it on. Yes, I cheat and use a winch. I rigged up a 4x4 tree strap as a bridle that I wrap around the aka crossbar. This puts the hook for the winch dead center right above the hatch. With this configuration I also only have to get my trailer to where the wheels are just touching the water. My trailer also has an overhanging rear roller that I just set the bow on and that helps center it as well.

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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

We also have pvc bunks mounted on 11" centers vs hobie cradles. The bunks stick out behind the trailer at least a foot with a roller on the back of the trailer. When I come in I typically keep my tires right at waters edge, then lift the bow onto the roller and pull forward a couple feet (really easy with the roller). The bunks self align the boat even in 25mph side winds and helps the boat self center. I then just hook up my winch and pull the fully rigged boat (with the ama's out), and winch the boat the rest of the way up. I then pull away from the launch into the parking lot on level ground to put the boat away. Most of our launches have fresh water rinse off stations where I can rinse off my engines and the boat. Takes about five minutes to pull on the trailer, then pull away from the busy launch.
Once on level ground I drop my 2-3 masts (all my sails are rotofurling), leaving all the rigging lines hook up (the excess line is stuffed into the mesh pockets or under the seats). I then pull the hobie mast (laying it on the hull) and fold the AMA's in and strap the whole works down. My heavy duty spray skirts that simply fold over the bow trapping all my sails and rigging and protecting the from highway wind. When I get home I pull the car in the garage, disconnect the trailer and roll it into the garage, (I have a castor wheel under the tongue of the trailer making it easy to roll the trailer around the garage, takes about 2 minutes. The boat just lives on the trailer, I do nothing else typically besides releasing all the bungys and opening the hatches. I have an old wet/dry vac (25 yrs old lol) that I keep next to the boat and suck out any excess water. I have fans in the garage that dry everything out over the next day or so. If I was unsble to rinse the boat and motors off at the launch, I rinse off on the drive before pulling the trailer into the garage.
When I go out I just hook the trailer up and go (takes two minutes). Rinse and repeat (lol).
If the boat is going to sit more than a week, I will remove the AMA's and throw them on top of the boat so it takes up less space in the garage.
I really like that castor wheel under the tongue as it makes it really easy to move the trailer around the garage.
Once a year or so I'll break the boat down, flip it over and clean and scrape all the scratches with a single edge razor, any deep scratches are filled with my handy hobie welder. I then repaint the bottom with water repellent paint (zero contact angle paint (rustolium)), then I'm golden for yet another year. To be honest I don't even look at the bottom in between annuals.
I swear by the pvc bunk setup, makes life very easy.
FE
Edit: all the mirage drives, PFD's, wet suits, seats, etc are just left in the boat and never removed. My emergency flares, nav lights, first aid, and emergency repair kits are all stored in a big dry box under the front hatch (that dry box was a good investment).
The boat winches are realy cheap at harbor freight, I operate mine with a cordless electric drill with a socket in the chuck (same as we do with the levelers on our camper, (everyone else (all campers) use the same setup), makes life easy (lol).

I use the retrieve system that I used with my tinny. Just connect a rope ( longer than your kayak) on to the rear of the craft and if there is strong wind from either direction you can control the rear of the kayak with one hand whilst being at the front of your kayak. And I never go deeper that my tyres for loading.

I always sail in saltwater. Having rusted out 2 vehicles by car-topping (1 Toyota 4-Runner & 1 Ford Bronco) and 1 galvanized steel trailer by dipping it in saltwater, I am now very careful to avoid getting any saltwater on my 12-year-old 4-Runner (no rust) and my Trailex trailer. I do not dip my trailer in the saltwater. The frame of the Trailex trailers is aluminum and could handle the dunking, but not the steel axial and tire rims. Also, your lights last longer without a regular saltwater rinse.

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

There is no law stating you have to back straight up square to the water. On windy days I always angle the trailer so when the wind blows the boat to one side, it's lined up with the trailer. All these trailers are very llight, and easy to lift to angle them too. Actually when backing up i usually backup in a curve so I can see the trailer in my side mirror.
FE

The blue or green "waterproof" grease is supposed to be better iif you do back your trailer into the water.

My TI trailer has never seen saltwater and I always get the axles wet launching but I have another trailer that Ive launched a sailboat with in freshwater probably way over 100 times. I think the one time I used it in salt water (long Beach CA), the trailer aged about a lifetime compared to all the fresh water dunkings.

Would the surrounding area support use of a scupper dolly?

I have never launched/retrieved my AI from the trailer because launch ramps make me a little crazy as people sit on them and fiddle around with their boats instead of just launching or yanking and getting off the ramp. .... Also, at my preferred venue, there is no launch ramp: just a parking lot and a beach.

I put my AI on a scupper dolly (the kind with the biggest balloon tires) in the parking lot, walk it down to water's edge, insert the mast, use the mast's leverage to flip the boat on it's side, remove the dolly, and then flip it back up.

There's more to it - around lines to make lifting/pulling easier... but, for me at least, the scupper dolly is the best solution.

If you only weigh 100 pounds, then the route from the parking lot to water's edge had better be fairly flat or you would need help.

Also, with a scupper dolly the AI is out of balance and there's about a 40# lift to carry the bow. ... The TI on a scupper dolly, OTOH, seems to be perfectly balanced

A non-scupper dolly that could be applied at the boat's balance point would solve that - and I am about *that* far from getting one myself.

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2015 AI in "Dune" - "The Grey Pig"
2017 Trailex 450 Trailer
Pre-September 2015 cradles
(anybody want to buy a slightly-used AI SpinKit?)
eMail: [email protected]

If launching and retrieving from a trailer sometimes it takes a little planning wrt the prevailing winds Most ramps have a dock that separates them in two. Pick the side that has the dock on the leeward side so that the boat's drifting can be limited by the dock. Get a winch for your trailer if you don't already have one. Mount a roller in the very rear of the trailer as a guide. You should then be able to winch the boat onto the trailer and let the cradles or pvc bunks self center the boat. FWIW pvc bunks are awesome at self centering and the boat tends to slide easier on the pvc.

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

Just had my 2016 TI out and must say it is a huge improvement. Though in 30 MPH gusts it still buries the bows. Yes I know, reef, but the wind changes were so huge I was then underpowered the rest of the time. But what a blast!
Back to the subject the trailer now has 2" PVC, and I do not like putting lights or bearings in the water, fresh or salt. Had a tough time getting the bow onto the PVC and once on the little bailer fittings under the hull proved to be a pain when they hit the end of the PVC pipe. I did chamfer the pipe, but they still hung up and required lifting the boat to get them over the edge. Then again to get the front one over the hole cut in the PVC pipe for the rear fitting. I don't want to cut a notch the whole length of the pipe for these fittings, but see a high possibility of damaging them while loading/unloading the boat.
How are others handling this?
TIA

Do you have a roller at the back of the trailer? I normally just set my bow on the roller, then as I winch the boat up it rides the roller until gravity takes hold and pulls the bow down onto the pvc bunks. by then the first drain is past the end of the pvc. I've never had issues with the second drain getting caught on the pvc. I didn't cut a hole out for the drains though. I just cut a slit and then used a heat gun to melt the pvc enough to shape a trough for the drain to sit in.

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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas