Just replaced my tramp on Prindle 18 to a "one piece". When trailoring I can no longer use rear mast support as support used to slide between tramp lacing and mount to trailor. Any recommedations to supporting base of mast while trailoring short of cushioning rear cross bar and tying mast to cross bar or welding on to back of trailor to mount support aft of cross bar?



You guys have always had the rigght answers, how about this time?

Shift the boat forward on the trailer.

Re-balance the trailer by shifting the axle forward.

You might need to shift the trailer crossbars forward also.

Danno-

How did your "old" rear mast support attach to the trailer? You could rig up something like in the thread on the Inter 17 mast support/raising- an "L" bolted to the trailer rear crossbar that the rear mast support slips over. I used a 2" receiver "box" U-bolted to the back of my trailer and my mast support (2" sq. tubing) slips into the receiver and is pinned there. How far from the rear beam is the rear of your trailer?



Kirt

Taipan 4.9, Prindle 18 and others...

Hey Kirt thanks for the reply - rear mast support has 3/4 bolt in end which fits through hole in rear crossbar of trailer. About your other question, rear crossbar on boat sits about 10 in. behind rear crossbar of trailer. Can't push boat forward on trailer for fear of damage of trailer rollers on hulls. Was also thinking of bolting "L" bracket on rear of trailer to go past rear of boat, then rear mast support would be aft of rear crossbar on boat.



Was this strong enough to support weight of mast while trailering? What gauge metal or steel did you use? Did you make your own bracket, just heat and bend?

Danno-

Hmm- Can you explain "fear of damage of trailer rollers on hulls"?? About 70-80% of the weight of the (typical) cat is at the front beam- IDEAL place to support the boat (you can see the aluminum "strut" that runs from the deck below the front beam to the bottom of the hull if you look in your ports) is in this area fi supporting the hulls OR you can build a "support" that actually fits under the front crossbar so the hulls take NO load while trailering (they just "hang in there"!)- This is what I have on my Taipan. If you don't want to do that you have 2 options- a "double roller" system (like many of the powerboats use- 2 rollers about 4-6" apart w/ plates at each end and then the plates rotate on a bracket that's fitted to your trailer crossbeams. Other option is to use "bunks" (at least in the front) rather than rollers to spread the load (I would use heavy closed cell foam between hulls and cradles if you buy them if you custom make some to fit your hulls this isn't necessary).

With your rear beam 10" behind the rear of your trailer it will be hard to get a stable rear mast support that far back (that P 18 mast is HEFTY!!- I know! It's longer and much heavier than my Taipan mast). Wait, I just got an idea- Just go to Tractor Supply, Northern Machine (?), JC Whitney and get a 2" reciever for a pickup bumper (meant to be welded/bolted to bottom of bumper- basically just a tube w/ flange on top)- weld this securely to the rear of the trailer (may want to have them add "fillets" so it won't "twist" or another bit of tube to prevent the twisting) and then get a "pickup bed extender"- they sell them so you can carry long things in the back of your pickup and they will be supported- like a Jon boat, ladder, etc.- Plug it into the reciever, adjust height, rig a cradle on top and there you go! Might even have to shorten or drill another hole in even!

Other option that would probably be stable enough would be to take 2 pieces of angle iron (about 1.5" on the flat and 3/16" thickness) or tube(1.5 " sq., 1/16-1/8" wall), weld/bolt in a "V" running from sides of trailer, over/under rear of trailer with tip of "V" at 11" behind rear beam. Weld (stiffer) or bolt plate on to bolt your current mast stand into.



I can send you some pics of my Taipan trailer if you send me your E-mail and tell me your server "limits"-



Kirt

Murrays has a rear mast support that bolts onto your trailer. It stick up behind the rear x-bar and folds all the way down for launching. I have not used it but looks like it may work for you. You might want to check them out they have a few different options. www.murrays.com

Kirt, regarding "fear of rollers on hulls", I mean the rollers that roll along the inside of hulls, not under hulls. As I push my boat further forward on trailer, inside rollers begin to rub hard on hulls - not woried about damage as much as nasty black streaks on inside of hulls caused by rollers if I push boat to far forward on trailer.



Thanks for your ideas. Your right, that mast is heavy!

Danno-

Okay, now I know what you mean!- The P 18 hulls do "fatten up" on the inside- One thing you can do is reverse the rollers- That is, put the vertical rollers on the outside of the hulls (which on the P 18 are much "flatter" than the inside). Position them so that with the boat all the way against one roller at least some of the horizontal roller is still under the opposite hull (otherwise that hull can scrape on the beam or roller end rod). You can also bend the upright roller by putting large steel tube over roller and pushing (if galvanized though this may crack galvanizing). Only downside I know of this is the rollers tend to stick out and can "catch" clothes, legs, etc. so may want to pad end (if not already). This should allow you to get boat further up on trailer. For the "black streaks" you can either replace your rollers w/ the (expensive) clear (or slightly yellow) rollers, wrap in (good) white (or whatever) tape (will tend to come off and need to be replaced periodically), make/get some cloth "covers" that fit over the rollers, or cut some white PVC tubing to slip over your black rollers. The white PVC can be bonded to the rollers directly or you can drill holes and tie bottom so won't bounce off.

What number and sail pattern is your boat? Can't remember my sail number right off hand (7XX?) but mine is a "reverse" Tequila sunrise (green at the top, light blue on bottom)- I guess you'd call it a "Tequila sunset"?? One thing I like about the Prindles is the sail patterns are different (from the more common ones you see)-



Kirt

Kirt, I looked the boat over this weekend and think I've got it figured out. I don't want to push boat any further forward on tailer. Now, not alot of room between front of hulls and rear of my truck. This is what i'm gonna do. 1 straight 6 foot piece of angle iron - no bending required. 2 U-bolts - one on fore and aft crossbar of trailer. Slide angle iron under u-bolts. Drill 1/2 hole in the end of angle iron - my rear mast support will bolt into angle iron and be positioned behind tramp. When not in use, just loosen u-bolt and slide angle iron forward. Thanks for your advice.



Now, how do you wax your P-18. Was trying to wax this weekend and comes out beautiful on smooth surfaces - but top of hulls are textured and cannot cannot wax residue out of texture?

Kirt,



Very interested in eliminating hard points from rollers. Please send photos of your trailer to bcwill@att.com 5mb file limitation, zip files if you can. Thanks

Danno-

Okay- We're getting close! Rather than angle (which will not be held well by U-bolts) use 2" square tubing- Much stronger and the U-bolts will hold stable (the angle will also tend to "flex" sideways much more than the square tubing- Trust me!!). You could also do a variation on what I did for my old 18 sq meter trailer so the beams would "telescope" in and out (for trailering/ rigging)- Which is get a piece of 2" OD square tubing long enough to reach from front to rear crossbeams on trailer- Now get a piece of 1 1/4" OD (or maybe it's 1 1/8" OD- Can't remember right off top of my head- But idea is the smaller one just fits inside the larger tube) that's twice the length from the rear of the larger tube to where you will bolt your mast stand- Drill and bolt mast stand to one end, drill hole through BOTH tubes near end of larger tube when smaller tube is correctly positioned (for mast stand to support mast)- Drop a pin in hole when trailering, remove pin and slide mast stand and smaller tube out when loading/unloading boat-



How's that sound??

As for waxing- Too late to do the "ideal" (IMO) which is NOT to wax the "non-skid" (the wax will only make it slippery anyway!)- Now that's waxed though use a stiff bristle brush (NOT wire!!) to brush the wax out of the "grooves"- You will need to go w/ the grain (both directions) of the grooves OR use a wax remover (but will still need to brush!)-



Regards!



Kirt

Kirt, we're there - I like your idea better. With square tubing I can drop bolt from mast holder through tube thus strengthening. Telescope idea sounds great. Figured my U-bolts would freeze up within a year or so anyway. What kind of shop sells square tubing. Don't think they carry that at Home Depot, my home away from home.



Regarding waxing, sounds like you've done this before. I was lucky, I only tried a small area on the hulls. What can I use on the textured surface of the hulls to clean them up?

These two links need to be pasted into the addressline in one line. Just cut/paste



The first is a picture of a telescoping mast support. The two uprights nest and have a pin so that they are adjustable and can be lowered for loading/unloading the boat without having to deal with removing the whole bracket. I have a template for the bracket which mounts to the trailer frame that I could fax to you.



The second picture is of a mast support made from UHMW which sits on the traveler track. It's real simple and you could probably make it from old cutting boards, which I believe is what that sheet of plastic originally was.





http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beach...%20sailbox%20and%20support/masptSlbx.jpg



http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beach...plastic-sheet%20mast%20cady/Davmaspt.jpg