Shallow Ramp Launching (updated with picture)

[HeavyHook]

Sorry as I imagine this has been discussed on here to great length but I am having trouble at a couple boat ramps with launching my boat into a shallow ramp.

The boat is a 14ft MV and can float in shallow water fairly easily but when backing up I have to get my trucks tires far out to the point where I am almost covering my exhaust and even at that point the boat is unable to move off the bunks.

The bunks I have are the standard style with a little bit of a plastic coating on them but it doesn't want to budge - I am new at this I'll admit so any tips would be appreciated. Yesterday with a buddies boat we were able to launch and retrieve fairly well but he has a bigger truck than mine so it worked out but its just too close to do with mine.

I have read about:
- board slicks
- attaching rollers
- adding some time of grease / silicone to the bunks

What would work best? When retrieving I fear it will be even hard to do without having to walk into the water a good distance which I honestly do not mind but would like to make this as easy/safe as possible.

 

[Skiffing]

Don't understand what you mean by a "little" plastic.

Can you post a picture?

 

[HeavyHook]

Sorry - Its basically a cheap plastic coating wrap screwed into the bunks. It has ridges on it but doesn't seem to get slick at all when in the water like you would assume with other plastic sheets. I was not the original owner of the trailer so I have had to fix a bunch with it including the axle being completely rusted out causing it to snap in half...

I saw people said to order custom cutting boards - Does this work well?

 

[Ictalurus]

What about extending the trailer tongue?

 

[vahunter]

Lower the bunks so the boat sits lower on the trailer. Smaller tires on the trailer. Extend trailer tongue. Bigger tires on your truck.

Haha lots of things may help. Without pics of your setup some options may be better than others but as mentioned, extending the trailer tongue may be best.

 

[HeavyHook]

Extending the tongue isnt a bad idea - I was trying to avoid that but might have to. I did not realize you could lower the bunks... hmm

 

[BigTerp]

Lowering your boat on the trailer as much as possible will help. I lowered mine until there was only about 1/8" clearance between the boat and trailer wheel wells. Helped a lot.

 

[Skiffing]

hard to tell but looks like you can drop the bunks quite a bit.

Do the bunks extend past the transom? They should and will also help loading & unloading.

I just replaced mine and used a vinyl fence post cut in half to cover the 2X4 bunks. Boat slides off real easy now where before I was burying the exhaust.

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

It looks like you have 12" wheels and tires? If your not towing long distances you could get 8" wheels and tires.

 

[Insanity]

My trailer tilts rite where the tongue goes into the Y section under the nose of the boat. Where the spray paint can is sitting. It has a catch on top to lock it shut. But you can see the bolt hole someone drilled threw it cause they didn't trust the latch.
It shouldnt cost much for a welding shop to modify yours to tilt.

 

[Insanity]

Sorry double pic and both are upside down. :mrgreen:

 

[Insanity]

Hum by the looks of your boat / trailer you'd have to do some figureing/ moving the boat around to get it to tilt correctly. Or maybe just another roller under the boat behind the tilt to support the nose of the boat during tilt.
I've never used mine no idea how well mine works.

 

[JMichael]

Wow, that boat is in the nose bleed section. LoL I know most of this has already been said, but it's worth saying again. It looks like the bunks are at their highest setting/adjustment. I'd start by lowering them as much as possible. If the boat will fit between the fenders without hitting them then lower it all the way. You might even be able to mount the bunks flat if they are currently mounted on their sides. As already mentioned, a set of 8" tires will help. If your bunks are mounted flat or you can mount them that way, the idea mentioned above about the vinyl post split in half will work well. There are other options for other types of plastic but try to get something that's known to work well.

 

[huntinfool]

I can't tell from your pic, but is your axle under your springs? You don't have much room between the fender and the tire, but putting the axle on top of the spring will lower the entire trailer. You'd have to change out the fenders. I don't know what your clearance would be, but it would be close I'd bet.
I agree with lowering the bunks. Start there and see what you have when done. You may have to move them out some to allow the boat to sit lower too.
Just depends on the whole set up.

 

[richg99]

All of the above advice is good.....

it wouldn't hurt to stop by Wally world and buy a can of silicone spray. Launch the boat, go fishing. When you come back the bunk-boards may be dry enough to apply a coating of spray.

recover your boat with the new slippery bunks.

relaunch the boat and see if it helps.

A couple of dollars might alleviate the sticking that you mentioned.

Lowering the bunks; flipping the axle; extending the tongue are all great and very well regarded fixes.

I am not in favor of the smaller wheels unless you don't expect to EVER tow very fast or very far.

richg99

 

[HeavyHook]

Yes axle is under the springs which gives just barely enough clearance for tired under fender. I could modify the fenders so that I can move the axle on top of springs.

I will try dropping the bunks down and getting an extension for the trailer - along with slicking up the bunks that should help I'd imagine.

As a poster above has said the boat is in the nose bleed section right now which makes it difficult in any shallow ramp. The boat is light enough that if I dropped it 3-4 inches along with making it easier to slide off the bunks then I should be in much better shape.

Now do I have to extend the trailer tongue or is there an extension I can use to extend the hitch so I can use it as spots needed instead of always having an extended trailer?

 

[richg99]

Some sail boat trailers ( due to the keel on the sailboat) must have extendable tongues.

The ones that I have seen have an inside sleeve and it pulls out when needed for launching.

A couple of very large metal pins slip in adjustment holes.

The one I found listed below seems to extend below the original hitch. Not a bad idea.
richg99

https://www.xtend-a-hitchnorthwest.com/

 

[Insanity]

Look inside your sqaure tubing if it doesn't have to much of a weld bead protruding inside ( some do.) this will work.
Measure the size or your square tubing and go by your local steel or welding shop and see what they have. Your looking for one with the outside diameter just small enough to slide into your tongues tubing.
Warning they think a lot of square tubing it will be high price.
Remove you hitch from the togue and slide that piece into it. Drill two sets of holes one where you want it to extend to and one where it will slide up to about where it is now. You could use receiver hitch pins for easy tool free removal.
Now buy a hitch to fit your new piece of sqaure tubing that is protruding out from the inside of yours. You might want to check to make sure they have one that size first. If you want to bolt it back on.
But I no when I bought a new one for mine it happened to be just an 1/8 th inch or so to small. So I'm betting they make a few. I cut a slit into the back of mine and drove it over the tubing and welded it on. You can fill the crack with weld or just bondo it full.
Now the problem with this method is you'll have to unhitch from the trailer to extend it out. And the bolt holes will be a pain to line up. You can sharpen the end of the pin a little to make it easier when the holes are close to lining up. Prime the hole new piece. But only paint the part sticking out when it is extended and the pins are in the holes. Then when you slide it out you can see the end of the paint line and no the holes are lined up.
The paint will scratch like heck when you slide it in and out . So it will not stay pretty for long. But the part sticking out when shortened wouldn't be scratched.
It would be easy to line the holes up when sliding in. If you weld something like a simple nut to the bottom of the tube to stop it when sliding it in.
Did all that make sense? I'm a little tired.

 

[frydaddy]

another option may be to coat the bottom of your boat with something. academy sells a product called coat it for 20 bucks. I used gator glide and can slide my boat around on the trailer easy.

most likely a combination of several of these suggestions will have you fixed right up.

 

[HeavyHook]

Thanks everyone for the ideas and suggestions.

I am going to launch the boat this week and then work on the trailer for a little to drop & grease the bunks.

My buddy has a 24in hitch extension that I can connect to give me a little more room for launching - it's a light boat and I'll only use the extension when launching and not trailering for long distances.

I imagine with dropping & greasing the bunks along with the extension I should be able to get 5-7 inches in total lower based off of height and distance compared to before.

I will post pictures and height difference after so others can see just how much it works etc so they can do the same.