Trailers, what's it all about ??

[Pugwash]

Dear All
I see several references to the legality or lack of it with regard to the S/A trailers.
What is the form? I am shopping for a CC19 and several I have come across are of S/A vintage.

It appears to make more difference to some people than others.

What is the difference?
How can I tell the difference?
What is the problem?
Is it a mere technicality and unlikely to be a real problem or is it a serious shortcoming.

I must admit I have towed some pretty dodgy trailers in my time and always reached my destination with some sensible driving and respect for tyres and wheel bearings.

Any clarification would help me in my search.

Regards Simon
AKA Pugwash in search of a Black Pig

[Ru88ell]

I would say that boats up to sail numbers in the mid 50's have SA trailers. They don't have auto-reverse. I have to say that the one I have towed OK from Birkenhead to Rochdale, but I'll probably look to replace it some time next year.

[David Hill]

Hi,

From my experience it is worth switching trailers. I had the original SA one, and now have the Honnor Marine one. I have found that the trailer is more stable behind the car (an X-Trail), less prone to swinging.

The brakes are better - on the SA one they seemed to pack up after every trip. They auto reverse. And finally, the rinse system built in to the HM trailer is excellent.

Regards,

David

[Simon Head]

The SA trailer has disk brakes- bits for them especially for the braking element are hard to get hold of. It does not have waterproof bearings- I put on "Bearing buddies" which resolved this problem.

It sounds ideal to have disk brakes when dunking the trailer- but my experience was that they worked after adjustment for one journey and then stopped working. With the fact that you need to manually clip the hitch to reverse actually makes it illegal in this country.

They had supposedly waterproof lights built into the trailer which were not- it is a right pain to change the light bulbs.

It also had a big steel plate with a chevron pattern at the back that I ditched after first use as it put too much weight at the back of the boat.

After carrying out my "Engineering" assesment at the Soton Boat show I tried to buy the boat without the SA trailer- but Nick would not sell it without it- it was used basically as a shipping trolley in the container. This actually delayed my ordering a boat for a year (there were other reasons too- like a redundancy and another boat to sell!) as I contemplated the options for upgrading the trailer

As all my sailing is trailer sailing at the moment I ditched it for a HM one which is a dream to tow with. I am now on my second HM trailer (only because the axle was out of its 5 year warranty period)- I have upgraded to one that has flushing hubs. I have not had one problem with the HM trailer.

I would say the SA one is OK for occasional use but not if you wish to do a lot of trailing.

Have a big car to tow it with as well so you can brake. At the time I had a 4L jeep- in the Lake dstrict one time I was glad of it- I had a scary moment with no brakes on the trailer- this was what made me ditch it (rapidly!).

Without the Jeep (a fantastic car I might add) I might well have lost the boat- as it was it just made me appreciate that I needed a trailer with brakes- as the CC with its trailer is over 1.5 tonnes!


Regards

Simon

[David Hudson]

So you've been down the Kirkstone Pass Simon?



David

[Simon Head]

So you've been down the Kirkstone Pass Simon?



David

I do not know exactly where that is but I was coming down a relatively steep hill (nothing too steep though!) with the boat behind being confronted with a clown trying to overtake a tractor coming up which required some drastic action on my behalf!

Its then I decided I needed some brakes on the trailer.

Having towed along single passes in Scotland was another contributing factor to my requirement to have brakes (especially one time down the bleak side of Loch Awe which is single track for 30 miles!).

Regards

Simon

[Ru88ell]

I guess I'm not going to be popular; I'm buying a new Big Dipper trailer from Indespension.

They've offered me a fabulous deal, taken my West Mersea double stacker in part-ex and would have taken the S/A one at £200 too. I reckon I'll get more on Ebay though.

I'm getting twin axles, extra rollers, docking arms, flushing kit, lightboard and a triple locking hitch. They're even going to crane Zephyr over and set it up for me. I was planning to get something next year, but they offered such a great deal I couldn't refuse it. I guess they must be quiet at this time of year.

[David Hudson]

Check it's all torqued up correctly. The Windsurfer Class bought an Indespension
back in 1984 and we came close to writing off eight brand new Windsurfers.

David

[Simon Head]

Also check the height of the spine. The capecutter 19 trailer is low- any higher than this http://www.honnormarine.co.uk/trailers/drifter/index.html the boat will be a bitch to recover/launch as it has to be floated on/off. You will end up putting it further in the water at the end of a rope. Look through the pictures- it clearly shows this (I assume you have done all of this anyway as you have a SA trailer).

Having a twin axle makes the trailer less manoevourable on the slipway and there are more bearings etc to look after and more maintenance as you will have to clean out 4 hubs every season as the trailer has to be totally immersed.

This boat shown is actually a Drascombe Drifter but it is a modified Cape Cutter 19 trailer using the same frame.

See this thread as it provides some independent view of the trailer. The hull form of the old Drascombe Drifter has many attributes similar to the Cape Cutter 19:

http://www.drascombe-association.org.uk/vbforum/showthread.php?t=2721

Note that the HM trailer now has flushing and waterproof bearings as standard. The axle has a 5 year warranty.

Personally having trailed over 5000 miles with a HM trailer I would not have anything else as it works well in all departments.

Good luck!

Regards

Simon

[Ru88ell]

I know the story of the HM trailer, but this one is around £500 less and they've done me a big favour by taking my old one off me part ex. The round trip to collect is 210 miles shorter too.

Beggars can't be choosers.