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TRAILING A DRASCOMBE
EU BUREAUCRACY STRIKES AGAIN!
Before we get to the interesting stuff, we would like to give you a glimpse
of the future. Back in 2009, some additional EU
laws were quietly slipped in, virtually un-noticed. They come into force in
October 2012 & will affect all boat trailers. The
laws affect all trailers including Mr Tesco's 44 Tonne jobbies but, at the
bottom end are the little O1 & O2 trailers that we all use under our
Drascombes. An O1 is up to 750Kg gross weight (un-braked). An O2 is up to
3,500Kg gross weight (braked). The un-braked to braked threshold remains at
750 Kg as it is now. Our modest little trailers
are going to become subject to the European Whole Vehicle Type Approval
Regulations, which introduces tears of bureaucracy (pun intended) & layers
of additional cost. The lighting regulations are
being added to, so your trailer will have end outline & position (side
lights) & reverse lights There is a potential road safety benefit to this
but it means the end of our 7 pin lighting cable plug. The German 13 pin
will become mandatory. If you are getting trailer electrics fitted to your
car from now on, go for the 13 pin plug plus adaptor set.
As to the rest of the regulations, what will you get from it? A lighter
wallet! The greatest impact is going to be to your pocket, probably adding
about £400 to a Coaster trailer. You will also get a fat file of paperwork!
I am sure you will derive great comfort from having a type approval number
for the little warning triangles on each end of your lighting board.
There are schedules & schedules of mind-numbing little regulations to be
complied with & proof of that compliance also recorded & logged.
Will your trailer be better? No. Will your
trailer be safer? Fundamentally, no. You will
have a trailer with a full Vehicle Identification Number, logged with the
Authorities. That provides an easy pathway to introducing Registration,
followed by regular inspection (an MOT Test). An MOT may see the end of
loose wheels rampaging down the road, which wouldn't be a bad thing.
Changes to MoT tests in April 2012 Another
little sneaky bit is that, as of April 2012, your car MOT will include more
attention to the safety and security of towbars and towing electrics. These
checks will be for any signs of physical damage, loose bolts & worn parts on
the towbar. Checks on the electrics will also include an operation check
using a test pack connected to the 13 pin socket. The last bit will be
interesting because most tow electrics will still (quite legally) be 7 pin.
Anyway, onto the interesting stuff:
Swinging cradle trailer for a Drascombe Coaster (with optional hitch lock)
One of the great benefits of a Drascombe can also be the source of the greatest traumas. That is the trailing, launching & recovery of your valuable and beloved boat.You can play ‘Spot the Dog’ at any launching site or trailer park! Trailers with rotting frame members, seized & broken rollers, boats balanced on only a proportion of the keel rollers provided, bilge rollers so tight they threaten to join the skipper in the cockpit. We have all seen them. At the risk of deep blushing, we may even own a Dog. A well maintained & set up trailer can be a joy to use and stop the gilt being well & truly knocked off the ginger-bread when a great day’s sailing is spoilt by a pig of a recovery & damage to expensive gel-coat or trailer failure on the way home. The ultimate heart-sinking moment is when you get overtaken by your own trailer wheel!In this section, we will:
UNBRAKED TRAILERS 
The current law is that an unbraked trailer may be used if the towed weight is less than:
In most circumstances, this means that a Lugger is OK but a Longboat is marginal. Anything larger - you have to have brakes. It is up to you to check your own particular circumstances with your local Police Station.
An un-braked swinging cradle trailer for the Drascombe Lugger NEW TRAILERS We can supply a range of excellent quality swinging cradle trailers, all galvanised & fitted with winch/webbing strap & jockey wheel, using high spec components from European sources, jointly specified & detailed by us to be the finest trailer available from any source. These represent superb value for money and will provide years of trouble free service with only routine maintenance. Call or e.mail us for prices. You may think that the swinging cradle trailer is a pricey bit of kit. It is! However, this is the new generation of trailer based upon a swinging cradle at the aft end of the trailer. This receives the bow of your boat into 4 sets of rollers which centre & guide it. As you winch in, the cradle rotates to become bilge rollers and the boat is brought onto a line of traditional keel rollers. This arrangement makes single handed recovery a normal routine. There is no risk of the boat moving off line and graunching off the rollers. The wheel bearings can always be kept dry. The trauma of recovery becomes a thing of the past & the rate of bearing failure hugely reduced. All our trailers are fitted with top quality suspension units and tow like a dream. They come complete with winch, jockey wheel, lighting board on extender brackets & even have steps alongside each of the mudguards so you are not tempted to stand on them & break or bend them.
The Coaster version also has a 2 speed winch as standard (available as an option on the others). Naturally, they comply with all EC regulations and come with a manufacturer’s guarantee of one year. On all except the Dabber trailer, the bearings are waterproof, sealed for life & guaranteed for five years.
These trailers are such a quantum leap forward from the traditional spine trailers of old that I no longer offer the older style. If you purchase one of our swinging cradle trailers, you will derive pleasure from having made the right decision every time you recover your boat. These trailers cannot be too highly praised & we have testimonials about them. A sequence showing a Dabber being loaded onto a swinging cradle trailer SPANSETS With any trailer purchase, the one other accessory you should consider purchasing at the same time is a pair of Spansets. They are more secure than rope tie-downs and a lot kinder to your boat. They take very little time to set up and are a joy to use. The primary Spanset goes across the boat at about the axle line. We have specified ours to keep the buckle clear of the gunwhales but within easy reach & to have anti friction sleeves at the gunwhale points. It also has proper carbine hooks on the ends so they don’t drop off the hook while you are round the other side. We think, you benefit! None of your cheap market-stall ones will have these facilities. The secondary Spanset ties down the bow. It has a soft eye at the top to fit onto the bow mooring cleat, another at the bottom to either fit over one of the stempost handles or to loop it through an eye on the stempost. The buckle will remain within the boat. Both well worth the money!
BRAKE FLUSHING Under normal circumstances, it is not necessary to immerse the brakes on your swinging cradle trailer With any trailer but there will be times when it happens either by necessity or unintentionally. For those occasions, we can fit your new braked trailer with a brake flushing facility.
The following Notes on Trailing & Launching may be helpful to you: TOWING You will know that you are not allowed in the third lane of a motorway whilst towing. Ten to one the bozo hogging the middle lane in front of you will not! Stay cool. Don't be tempted to take to the third lane. Blue, flashing, quick will result!Do keep your trailer board lights working & in good order - they have a hard life. Carry some spare bulbs. You will rely on your lights & indicators even more when you are trailing. Use a short line to tie the jockey wheel to the trailer chassis. The jockey wheel clamps have been known to vibrate loose, dropping the jockey onto the road! When hitching the trailer onto the tow vehicle, look carefully at the small button on the ball hitch. It has a red top. When the hitch is successfully on the tow ball, that button will lift to show a green band. Green is go. Red is don’t go! When loaded, the essential nose weight has been known to avoid the true penalty of outrageous sin! There is also a wire strop to put over the tow ball as a back up in case the ball hitch ever fails (extremely unlikely other than a result of operator error!). On a braked trailer, this cable will pull the brakes on if the trailer becomes unhitched. When leaving parked for any length of time, chock the wheels & release the brakes. There is always a chance of the shoe sticking to the drum. This can be resolved by using the tow vehicle to jerk the trailer backwards & forwards. This may seem quite brutal but it does the trick! Best to avoid the situation arising. PREPARING FOR TOWING The objective is to organise all the various bits so that they are still with you at the end of your journey, don’t damage each other on route & do not require you to stop every so often & tighten things up. With the Lugger & Longboat, mainmast, mizzenmast & gaff lie along the centreline of the boat with gaff jaws & mast band (top of mast) astern over the outboard well. Your primary Spanset can be used to support the gaff & mizzen mast which do not reach far enough forward to reach the mast thwart. Store your oars & bumkin on the floorboards one side & your rudder on the other. Lash the mainmast, mizzenmast & gaff to the sheethorse. Incorporate the traveller ring into your lashing & keep it quiet on the journey. At the other end, lash the spars to the mast thwart using the downhaul & belaying pins. Secure the aft locker lid(s) with a tie through the staple. Finally, tension the mainmast by sitting on it amidships &, using the centreplate uphaul, lash the mast & the centreplate arm together. You will be amazed how secure this makes the whole rig but do not leave this lashing in place after journeys end - you do not want a permanent banana mast! PACKING SAILS Taking the mainsail off the gaff & the mizzen off it’s mast each time is a bit of a time consuming nuisance. There is no elegant & simple solution to this but rolling them around their spars & having some sleeves made up to protect them is about the best you can do. Alternatively, tow with your cockpit cover on fitted over the spars & under the Spanset. If you tow with an overall cover on, put the primary Spanset under it to prevent chafe between webbing & spars which will considerably shorten the life of tour cover. THE COASTER ALTERNATIVE Tying down a Coaster can be a bit simpler. The mainmast lowers down into it’s crutch with the luffspar alongside it. Tie the mast down at the crutch with a rope from one aft mooring cleat, up & round the mast a turn & back down to the other mooring cleat. use the free end to capture the traveller ring. The other spars & sails can be put into the cabin, leaving out the lower washboard, & tying them down using the centreplate uphaul rope & some padding to stop the companionway threshold biting into anything. The drawback of this system is possible water ingress into the cabin & general loss of security for which we offer an elegant solution. We can supply spar stocks to replace the lower washboard which will cosset your spars & oars each in their individual, leather lined cradle. We also have sail socks - a pair of short sleeves (in white washable fabric with Drascombe logo) to fit over spar & sail to protect the length exposed beyond the cabin. This keeps the spars & sails safe, keeps water out of the cabin & allows the hatch to be locked for security. If you are the proud owner/user of a Churchouse Boats rudder stowage gizmo, you may also tow with the rudder in place, supported on it's gizmo, provided that you securely tie the tiller to the mast. Not having to wrestle with the malevolent monster is a big plus! ENGINES Some people insist on taking the engine off each time & stowing it on the floorboards at the front end or even in the tow vehicle. I am far too lazy for that! Lash the engine leg to the transom so you are not relying on the engine’s own mechanical tilt lock & don’t forget to cover the prop with a decent bag or sailing bucket. I have an eye bolted to the inside of my transom. The drawstring of the bag that covers the prop ties up to it to act as lashing. LAUNCH & RECOVERY On any half reasonable slip, you do not need to get your bearings wet. Reverse down the slip until the tyres are wet but the hubs are not. Control the rate of escape with the winch if required. If the opposite is required, use the back-winching technique. Pass the winch strop down one side of the bow, under the first keel roller & back up the other side to the towing eye. Pad the hook off your gel coat (your best linen handkerchief will do this nicely!) & winch in whilst keeping an eye on the route of the strop round the roller. If you wind it tight into the gap between roller & carrier, expletives may follow! Also be very careful using this back winching technique. If you go at it too hard, you may accelerate the boat so that the winch strop goes slack as the boat goes backwards. Then it snatches tight again & could cause the winch to spin dangerously. When launching my Drifter 22, which weighs some 1300 kg, I tend to use the back winching technique but add a check rope from the towing eye back to a dry turn round the stempost handle to allow a controlled rate of descent.To recover the boat, back the trailer until the wheels are in about 6" of water. My rule of thumb is to put the wheels into the water but not the hubs. Pull the boat into the cradle & clip on the strop. Provided the bow is within the cradle rollers & within about 40 degrees of inline with the trailer, go back to the winch & wind. The boat will self line & self level thanks to the cradle on your trailer. If there is too much wind or tide even to stay within the 40 degrees, run the boat hard onto the slip & recover it from there. With our trailers you can pick the boat up off the floor if needed. Happy trailing! For intelligent conversation & help, ring: 01256 896292 e.mail: stewart@drascombe.org.uk |
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