Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
I have a slight dilemma and would like your input on it if you would. I’m getting ready to take my boat (c25 fixed keel 4' draft) to lake mead in march and launch it. some of you may be familiar with lake mead and its continuing drop in levels over the past 10 years. At any rate as i am an elderly gentleman and will be alone on the launch i thought it might be wise to enlist the help of the locale marina for a launch service. After contacting them though i discovered that the fee for this service would be $125.00 each way in and out! so i am looking into possibly launching on my own with a cable extension of my trailer. I would appreciate any information from anyone that can shed light on this subject (launching with cable extension) and general advice on my situation. Please do not be too harsh on me, you will all be here someday if you are lucky.
It can be done with a proper load rated strap or cable. My friend has a fixed keel C25 and he made a removable steel channel bar that is very very long. You will need to add a large wheel to front of trailer that drops down when ready to launch, as the tongue jack and wheel would collapse if used for launching with a cable or strap. We have a C25 wing keel and launch with a removable 8 Ft channel bar extension. Also it is very important to have the correct weighted launch vehicle.
Lynn Buchanan 1988 C25 SR/WK #5777 Sailynn Nevada City, CA
Slim if you want to visit Lake Pleasant, AZ we have a $25 in and $25 out tractor launch service at Scorpion Bay on the west side of the lake. We Snowbird here for the past 8 years and love the lake which has plenty of water and two marinas with restaurants, stores, camping and a RV resort.
Lynn Buchanan 1988 C25 SR/WK #5777 Sailynn Nevada City, CA
Thanks for the input on my subject i will probably go with the marina help for the first launch at lake mead as it has been many years since i launched my last boat. I have my goals and thoughts set on going to lake mead and finances dictate that i don't wander to far from my objectives. By the way if you are still looking for a pop top enclosure i have one that is in good condition does not look like it was ever used or rarely at most. If you are interested just pm me.
Here is a solution that i found on the comp. and it has some obvious advantages over other tongue extension i have seen, mainly that the weight of the trailer goes on the wheels rather than on the tubular or pipe tongue extension itself and that means no more bending from the weight. This in itself justifies this design and i am thinking of using it for my own. Slim
I have seen the same thing with bigger wheels and shorter extension. Man those little wheels sure don't look like they would handle the tongue weight of a C25
Lynn Buchanan 1988 C25 SR/WK #5777 Sailynn Nevada City, CA
Ya that extension in the photos is 38 ft long WOW!! I don't know what the load rating is on the wheels but i would think that the tongue weight would be dictated by the placement of the boat on the trailer. Other wheels i have seen on the comp. are rated at 600lb each so that would be adequate if these are the same. The boat in the photo is right at 12000 lb plus the trailer. I am no engineer but it appears to be working for him.
Slim, we launched our 1987 C25 wing keel with the added wheel on the trailer and the 10ft. bar extension from the truck to the trailer. Worked fine and was able to get boat off trailer. Our trailer has rollers and the last time the boat was put on it was lifted on instead of pulled on and the wing keel did not center properly on trailer. This time we winched it on and it centered perfectly. The new two speed oversized winch location prevented the boat from coming all the way to the bow stop (8 in.), which caused no tongue weight when the extension was removed and trailer hooked to truck. So now we will move the bow stop and trailer winch and the refloat it to get weight forward. Next time we launch we plan to use a heavy rated strap instead of the bar. The bar seemed heavy, requires an extra line up to trailer and awkward to move around and store. A strap may work better.
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.