Maintenance & Restoration

Steve Hammel · 03-10-2013, 07:12 AM

I recently purchased some rear stabilizer jacks for my Scamp 19'. While doing some work inside at the rear I suddenly had a scary/funny memory flash before my eyes. Previously, when I was working on my Trillium 4500 I forgot to engage the rear jacks. I was working along happily when my gal friend at the time decided to join/help me. All was fine until we both ended up behind the rear axle. Fortunately the "tilting wheelie effect" was reasonably gradual enough that I was able to jump forward enough to "reverse" disaster. I could just imagine the both of use squished into the back of the trillium with the tongue straight up in the air. Funny now but definitely got the pulse rate up at the time.

Donna D. · 03-10-2013, 07:15 AM

Better than a carnival ride Steve! We've read about this before, typically on the smaller trailers. One case, the tongue came crashing down... coulda bent the tongue jack. Five minutes of prevention saves hours of time and money

Steve Hammel · 03-10-2013, 07:59 AM

I'm just glad I had the wheels blocked. My driveway has a gradual incline leading to a much greater one on the street. I cringe at the thought of cruising down the hill at 30 mph squished in the back with the tongue straight up in the air. What a sight that would be! LOL!

Eddie Longest · 03-10-2013, 08:00 AM

When a Flex ride single axle trailer is placed on jack stands under the axle itself it makes it more prone to tipping. Just moving the pivot point fwd. about 8" makes quite a bit of difference. You don't ever have to worry about a 5er tipping the nose up.
Eddie

Steve Hammel · 03-10-2013, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddie Longest

You don't ever have to worry about a 5er tipping the nose up.
Eddie

I'm certainly not going to take any chances LOL!

floyd · 03-10-2013, 09:15 AM

Don't ever try to enter a Compact Jr.unless it is supported at the back or attached to a TV.
IT'S LIKE A SKATEBOARD!

Andrew Gibbens · 03-10-2013, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Hammel

I could just imagine the both of use squished into the back of the trillium with the tongue straight up in the air. Funny now but definitely got the pulse rate up at the time.

I used to work in a boat factory building racing yachts with very deep keels and they would do this see-saw (US: teeter-totter?) action on a trailer if we forgot to put a jack under the back of the trailer.

So in addition to the tilt, there was also the sudden backward movement caused by the deck being about 10 feet off the ground - plus the fact that it would happen as you stepped off a ladder leant against the boat's transom. More than the pulse rate used to be affected, sometimes requiring laundry work..... But no-one ever forgot to tie the ladder on to the back of the boat more than once.

Evan Friesen · 03-10-2013, 09:46 AM

One of my earliest memories of being in a Boler are when I was about 8 years old. I was playing with my 3 cousins jumping around on the rear bed in their parents (unused and neglected

) Boler. All of a sudden the front popped up and we all slid back in a tangled heap. We thought we had broken something and guiltily confessed to my uncle who just laughed and said he had borrowed the jacks to work on a different project.

That Boler lives in my memory as our little play house, neighborhood corner store, baseball card 'pawn shop' and hide out. It was the main reason we found this forum and got a Boler ourselves! It is still sitting neglected there unfortunately...we hope it'll find new life sometime!

I hadn't thought of that time until reading this post...maybe that is why I've always been so vigilant about putting the jacks under the back!

David Tilston · 03-10-2013, 09:55 AM

My neighbors, across the street, tell a story of playing cards in the back of a small fibreglass trailer, a Boler I think, when the weight of the four of them caused the trailer to sit on it's end. I guess they had a difficult time getting out of that predicament.

Carol H · 03-10-2013, 09:58 AM

A friend was busy loading up the inside of their Scamp 16' while her husband looked after packing up the truck etc. She didnt realize he had already but the rear jacks up and yup the the trailer took off with her in it -she thought at first that her husband had hooked up and was moving it without knowing she was inside. Good news is they have a large open field behind the spot where the trailer is normally parked where it came to a rest. The way she tells the store it was the ride of her life!

Andrew I can fully appreciate the heart stopping moments that come with yachts on trailers and cradles and wanting to be sure that it is well supported before anyone touches it or moves on it! LOL I have supervised the loading and unloading of a number of America's Cup contenders from various counties (back when they were still mostly single hull) onto ships for moving around the world. The loading and unloading of each one always resulted in additional grey hair and would age me a year or two. Didn't dare breath until it was well secured fore and aft!

rabbit · 03-10-2013, 10:16 AM

My memories of securing deep keel ocean cruisers on lowboy trailers are very dim now and mostly involve the minimum clearance railroad trestle near our shop. I think we removed masts from cradles on deck at least twice and reshipped and letting air out of tires got to be the standard solution. The fact that we never got things right after the first time always amazed me. However our experience with shipment overland was a lot smoother than our single attempt to get a cradle to move an a slipway. Never enuf "bananas."

jack

Steve Hammel · 03-10-2013, 11:07 AM

Some of those sailing yachts with fixed keels can get pretty tall. Wouldn't want to fall off one onto hard ground.

Carol H · 03-10-2013, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Hammel

Some of those sailing yachts with fixed keels can get pretty tall. Wouldn't want to fall off one onto hard ground.

Yes they can be and often a price to match and the owners would sometimes refuse to give detailed drawings ahead of time due to the new top secret keel. Had a surprise a few times as to what we where really dealing with once the boat was in the air or the wrapping taken off it.

I was often left wondering what our sales staff where thinking in regards how I was actually going to load some of the items they wrote the contracts for. Always envisioned them sitting in a nice restaurants in London or Antwerp enjoying a nice meal & drink while having a good chuckle over how I was going to actually pull it off. Aged me more than a few years and one of the reasons behind deciding to retire earlier rather than later.