I'm in San Antonio TX, and in need of a ride for La Saladita, Commander #92.
Trailers, suggestions, quotes, etc. are welcome. Want to bring her home to work on her for a while.
Thanks, David
Depending on how far you have to tow her I think the cheapest and most accessable alternative is to build a cradle and put it on a 16' car hauler or suitable heavy flatbed trailer. That gives you the opportunity to move it around once home. I've wiggled 113 around on her trailer using a come along and 2" tie down straps.
Of course this will require you to lift the boat to the trailer. I don't think I've heard anyone backing cradle/flatbed combo into the water, but I'm young and there is u-tube after all.
I gotta think there are plenty of boat haulers down there, but, then she sits where they drop her until they come back to get her...that's ouch, ouch and ouch!
Modifying a powerboat trailer can be done reasonably and then you at least have a trailer but how often do you really need one? Of course you could just build a trailer and them you'd have a custom job just for these hulls.
Speaking from personal experience, I think things progress faster if you just move to the boat and work on her there:o
Thanks, Tony, for the encouragement. I have thought about a cradle, which I could build with my rough carpentry skills. If I put it on a flatbed/car hauler trailer, would it be a legal ride? Those trailers, however, with a capacity of, say 6000 lbs, are not cheap either.
I have not referred to the cradle diagram in the Manual lately, but I will check it out for fitment on a 18' standard car hauler. It would be a logical solution to a 40 mile trip. Yes, it would be essentially two, on-way trips months or years apart. I don't need a trailer for trailer-sailing. There is a crane at the lake that I would could hire to lift from their launching trailer onto my rig.
On the return trip, if I am not persuaded otherwise by the racers and others with extended tongue trailers, I might back the wood cradle and flatbed down in to the water with a rope/strap (as do the professionals with their launching trailer.)
Here's a pic of a modded trailer.