Re: Tilt trailers: Why?

Mike Calva (mcalva@ix.netcom.com)
Wed, 14 Apr 1999 19:12:13 -0500


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Yep I definitely have tilting trailer, can't recall if I have keel rollers
or just bunks all the way. I will check and possibly install rollers just
for the keel. Then it looks like proper adjustment of the roller height may
just do the trick. Thanks!

Mike Calva
"Panacea" P19 #719

-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon <hlg@pacbell.net>
To: wwpotter@tscnet.com <wwpotter@tscnet.com>
Date: Tuesday, April 13, 1999 1:47 AM
Subject: Re: Tilt trailers: Why?

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> West Wight Potter Website at URL
> http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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>Mike:
>
>All the tilt-up Potter 15 trailers I've noticed have three keel rollers
>plus two pivoting wooden bunks with carpeting. The secret is in the
>adjustment of the roller and bunk height. The weight of the boat should be
>primarily on the keel rollers. The bunks should be just touching the hull
>lightly to stabilize the boat from side to side. Before I had that figured
>out, I replaced my solid bunks with homemade roller bunks made from
>off-the-shelf hardware store parts. I needn't have bothered. As Dave Kautz
>has indicated, the carpeted bunks allow easy launching as long as the boat
>is not riding heavily on them.
>
>Even with my homemade rollers, there has been no indentation of the hull
>where the boat sits on the rollers, but my plywood backed hull is probably
>stiffer than the newer ones. The boat has been living on the trailer for 32
>years.
>
>Do you have a tilt-up trailer? If not, probably none of this makes makes
>sense. We are talking about tilt-ups, not float-off types. I don't think
>any Potters made in the past few years have come with tilt-up trailers.
>
>Harry Gordon
>P14 #234, Manatee
>Mountain View, CA
>
>>If I read between the lines correctly, you all have rollers and not bunks.
>>
>>Maybe I have been backing into the water too far, I'll try next time as
the
>>water won't be warm enough for comfortable wading in Minnesota. Its my
>>recollection that the bunks once dry stick to the hull and don't slide
>>anywhere. I have always had to float the boat off (submerged hubs and
all).
>>I have seen some kits that convert bunks to rollers, but have also heard
>>that bunks are best for boats that live on the trailer most of the time,
>>especially with lighter weight hulls.
>>
>>So do tell. Do you have rollers? If so, are you leery of "denting" your
hull
>>by leaving the boat on the trailer 99.9% of the time?
>>
>>Mike Calva
>>"Panacea" P19 #719
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