Recommended Boat Trailer Parts to Ease Loading in Rough Water and Sand

Question:

Dear Sirs Need to improve launch and retrieval of boat. Let me explain. Boat is a 2022 Robalo R222 Trailer is made by coyote House is beach-front. Boat is stored in the house. Tractor is used to pull the trailer and Launch/Retreive. (Small distance from house to launch/retrieve some 500meters) It is done in the beach, on the pacific side. Sand is hard. Tractor has enough power, but lots of “brute” force required when going deep in water for retrieval specially. We have done some 10 launch/retreivals. All successful, some very difficult, some not so difficult… maybe 1 or 2 smooth…. Note: I installed some Caliber Marine Teflon Slides on top of the bunk. It improved the sliding but not as much as needed. Launch The boat is barely floating.. so launch is done mainly by a last acceleration and abrupt braking. It improved when the Teflon-slides where installed but from your videos, seems that rollers would help tremendously. it also helps with the hydraulic I raise the hitch on the tractor and raise the bow so gravity helps slidding out. Retrieval This is the tough one. Sometimes there is some current so the approach fails once or twice. We try to “reel” it in once it falls a bit on the bunks with the winch but it is almost impossible…. If approach is align and boat comes with power we can get lucky, but a bit too much speed and we can hit the bow hard with trailer… and if too little force used and boat ends up half way on the trailer. Most of the time, we have to start the boat’s-engine at very low depth to help finish mount the boat further into the trailer. In the mean time , tractor is getting wet, trailer tires are getting sunked; and things can get serious. If we could have rollers that can handle the weight correctly and that are flexible enough to handle a not so straight entry and we could just reel it in with the winch it will help tremendously. Sorry for extended explanation. Hope you can give us a suggestion regarding this launch+retrieval and keep using the bunks, install bunk-rollers, or the big rollers by itself. With the specs attach, I will appreciate your recommendation on what product to use. Will appreciate your comments and await your prompt response, regards

asked by: Walter A

Expert Reply:

For your application I recommend installing roller bunks as well as some guide-ons to help make loading your boat MUCH easier with your conditions. The Caliber Marine Teflon Slides look like they would help to make loading/unloading the boat easier, but not near as easy as it is with the rollers.

For the roller bunks we have a selection to choose from and it really just depends on where you plan on installing the rollers. You can piece 2 together for longer boards. From Dutton Lainson we have the following:

5' Long Sections - Black # DL21755 or Silver # DL21741
4' Long Sections - Black # DL21754 or Silver # DL21740

Then for the guide-ons we have some from Ark that are called Ezi-Guides which help align your boat during the loading process. They basically keep the boat from wandering and they come in a few different options depending on the length of your boat:

14' - 16' Boat - # AR64FR
16' - 20' Boat - # AR74FR
20' - 28' Boat - # AR84FR (I believe this is what you'll need for your 2022 Robalo R222)

Attached are some review videos for you to check out.