At the End of the Trail The launching and recovery of the heavier dinghy single-handed. 250 lbs. - 850 lbs.

Trailing is of course an essential part of dinghy sailing for many owners. It enables one to sample different estuaries, lakes and parts of the coast without tedious or dangerous passage making. If you can drive there you can sail there. The only difficult part can be the launching and recovery of the dinghy. With a light dinghy and particularly with two or more crew members to manhandle it there are normally no problems. From my postbag however, I find that the single-hander with a heavy dinghy often finds difficulties and his thoughts turn to lightweight craft. This can transfer the physical problem from the trailing to the sailing. Nevertheless I am convinced through personal experience, and I am neither young nor brawny, that with proper equipment properly used, the heaviest work that one has to undertake is lifting the trailer hitch onto the ball. This comes about by using the power of the car and the mechanical advantage of the winch on the trailer. Probably most people will not find anything new in the following. I hope however that it will prove useful, especially to beginners and to those who find their dinghies get heavier as they get older. It should also prove amusing to those who have worked out better ideas for themselves.

The Trailer.

This should only be of straightforward design, but must have a hot dipped galvanized frame, now almost universal. It should have the usual three rollers along the backbone to support the keel, but the rear roller should have larger diameter wheels on either side of it as per my diagram, standard on most models of Snipe trailers. The pattern of the bilge supports is not so important but I prefer rollers or twin wheel assemblies as there is less friction. As one must be able to submerge the trailer without concern the hubs should be filled with Aqualube grease, which is capable of absorbing a high percentage of water, even sea water, without ill effect on its lubricating and protective properties. This must not be mixed with ordinary grease.

A jockey wheel is essential as not only is it a great energy and slipped disc saver but certain techniques need its support. It is not desirable that it should be of the expensive screw-jack sort; it is better having only sliding adjustment with the usual clamp on the frame. A winch on a proper winch post should be fitted. This need only be of 3/1 ratio if your dinghy weighs less than 350 lbs. but is better at 4/1 or 4½ /1 for heavier craft. If you have a winch post you will probably have to do without a mast support although it is possible to have both with a little ingenuity. The winch rope should be of 6mm pre-stretched plaited polyester. This allows for the two requirements of adequate length and strength. Neither wire nor the latest idea of flat belting is as good from considerations of reliability and versatility.

What about a combi trailer/launching trolley you might say. Whilst these are ideal for light racing dinghies, make one more socially acceptable on the launching ramp and save one having to worry about one’s trailer bearings, they are not otherwise suitable. A heavy dinghy overloads most trolleys and because they are designed for light craft they seldom have provision for fitting a winch. Most important of all you lose the advantage of the jockey wheel when separated from the car.

Then there is the break-back trailer. On an ideal ramp it enables one to launch without immersing the wheels, and to pick the bows of the boat up from ground level without disconnecting the trailer from the car. Sooner or later however you will meet a shallow ramp on which you will have to disconnect the trailer anyway if you are to get the boat into water deep enough to float her. Once the conventional trailer is off the ball hitch of the car you have in fact a break-back trailer as the frame is then free to pivot about the hubs of the wheels.

Sundry Equipment.

The dinghy should of course have a screw eye fastened through the stem. It should be so positioned that it is just above the level of the winch drum when the craft is loaded on its trailer.

A strong snapshackle or carbine hook which can pass through the stem-eye. It should be attached to the end of the winch rope with a bowline, a knot which will not jamb after a heavy strain.

10 metres plus of floating hairy rope - size 12 or 14mm. Marlow's Nelson I recommend. Hereinafter referred to as the “hairy friend”.

A large snatch block. (Barton's is a reasonable price)

A metre or two of 5 or 6mm polyester rope.

A high capacity grease gun containing Aqualube grease to refill your trailer hubs to overflowing just before you launch.

A pair of thigh waders if you like to keep your trousers dry. A pair of house bricks, to use as chocks for trailer or car.

Before discussing the various problems that can arise in launching and recovery I would mention a few general points.

In order to ensure the stability of the dinghy/trailer on the road the trailer should be forward loaded so that a weight of approximately 10% of the total combined weight is carried on the ball hitch. Some trailers may require more, but in no circumstances should the trailer be tail heavy.

Reconnaissance - if you have not launched from the ramp before you should check where you are going to park the car and where you are going to rig the dinghy. It is also a good idea to don your thigh waders-and have a poke about in the water where the trailer is going to submerge to see if there are any obstructions or if the ramp ends unexpectedly. You should keep an old stick in the boot of the car for this as invariably the water at launching ramps is murky. It is certainly always sited in the filthiest corner of any marina!

Preparation - launching ramps can get very crowded at times and it the responsibility of everyone to have their car and trailer on the ramp for the shortest possible time. This means that the preparation of the dinghy and its rigging should all take place a little away from the head of the ramp. I make sure that all the gear is aboard and the dinghy is tied down only by a bow line to the frame and the winch line. Either will prevent the craft running backwards on its trailer before intended. The painter should be attached at the bow and coiled on the foredeck. The anchor should be ready on the foredeck if you can leave the dinghy in the shallows close to the ramp, and the oars or outboard ready if you are going to have to move the boat to a pontoon or quay before parking the car and trailer. The last job before you reverse down the ramp is to pump grease into the trailer bearings until it emerges from the bearing cap. Since I started to use Aqualube grease in this way I have not had a bearing failure. I do however take the precaution of dismantling the hubs every six or eight launching and scrape out the old grease and refill with fresh. I do not bother to wash out the bearings with solvent however.

Security - as one is going to leave one’s car and trailer alone for several hours or even days, one should take precautions in this regard. This is however outside the scope of this article.

Brakes - you should always keep the engine running when reversing down the ramp as the efficiency of most modern cars' brakes depends on the engine driven servo. If you have any doubts about the efficiency of the handbrake you should of course chock the back wheels as soon as you get out of the car.

Car safety - the safety of the car is paramount. Risks should never be taken regarding steep slippery ramps or soft ground. One can extricate the boat and trailer from the most awful places but this depends on having a solid anchor in the shape of a securely braked/chocked car.

Launching.

The Ideal Ramp - this consists of a firm clean surface, preferably concrete, sloping down into the water at such an angle that when the car's wheels are within a foot or two of the water the rear roller of the trailer is beneath the surface. The slope should not be so steep that the car would have insufficient power or grip to haul its load back up it. There should be a space to one side of the head of the ramp where one can erect the mast and load the gear. A place to park the car and trailer should lie within a couple of minutes walk, and there should be a tap with hose handy to wash down the boat and trailer after the trip. Amazingly there are many such sites to be found although hoses were in short supply last summer!

On this ramp on a falling tide you reverse into position with the rear wheels close to the water. On a rising tide you should allow a foot or two, and on an exposed site you might have to allow for a bit of wave action. Make sure that the handbrake is on. Then you take a turn of the painter around the winch post, release the two lines holding the bow and launch the dinghy, assisted perhaps by a shove. You control the descent of the dinghy with the painter.

The only problem can be that the boat won't move in spite of your hearty push. This may be because of damaged rollers or because of the shape of the skeg. This is where the snatch-block comes in. It has a gate in the side to save you having to thread the whole length of a rope through it. You tie the block on the centre line of the trailer as far back as is convenient, about level with the wheels is fine. Then you unwind the winch rope a fair distance, leading it to the block and back to the stem eyebolt. When you start winding the dinghy is winched backwards. A couple of feet of movement usually makes the boat more amenable to launching.

The Shallow Ramp - on this ramp you reverse into position at the water's edge only to find that the dinghy is still high and dry above the wavelets! It is necessary then to disconnect the car from the trailer. Lower the jockey wheel on the trailer, tie the hairy friend to the winch post with a bowline preferably, allowing a foot or two of slack before taking a turn or two around the stem of the ball hitch and make fast with a slippery half hitch as per the diagram. This will stop the trailer rolling back too far when you unhitch it. You can slip the half hitch with a tug and you will already have the rope in your hands to control the descent of the trailer using the friction of the turns of rope around the stem of the ball. Marlow's Nelson is good for this as it retains its 'grippyness' even when wet or greasy. Normally before you get to the end of the rope the dinghy is ready to float off its trailer. On some gently sloping shingle hands, however, Dell Quay at high tide comes to mind, you may wish to extend the rope by borrowing the anchor warp. Usually it is safe enough to trundle the equipage onwards until the dinghy floats. You have the hairy friend to rescue the trailer with if it goes too deep. I prefer myself, if the water is a foot or so deep to winch the dinghy off backwards as previously described. As the boat goes back the front of the trailer rises up into the air. Although alarming to see, the transom is supported by the water and you can finish the launch by pulling the trailer out from under the bows. Remember always to keep hold of the painter!

The Steep Ramp (and the Slippery Ramp) - The ramp which is very steep from top to bottom is both dangerous and fortunately rare. Sometimes built as part of a yacht slipping system it can be used for dinghies but is best avoided altogether. However many otherwise useful ramps have a steep section at the top or a slippery surface near the bottom. On neither part would you wish to stand the car and trailer together. The answer of course is to separate them by a suitable length of rope. You reverse into position above the hazardous section, on an easier slope, then chock the trailer wheels, lower the jockey wheel and unhitch. Then drive the car straight forward to a suitable distance, tie the rope to the two vehicles and drive a few inches forward to take the weight off the chocks. Remove the chocks and you can then control the descent of the car and trailer on the brakes until the trailer is in the water. Once again I say, keep the engine running to ensure full brake power.

Recovering

If the steepness of the ramp allows it, then the easiest way of launching is to float the boat off the trailer; when recovering however, one should never try to float the dinghy over the trailer. There are two difficulties; one is that if the trailer is immersed too far one cannot see the rollers and secondly, there is invariably a breeze or current which slews the dinghy sideways whilst you are trying to attach the winch rope.

When you bring the car and trailer down to the water you submerge the rear roller only to a depth of a few inches to enable you to pull the stem of the dinghy onto it. You then pull out the winch rope and leave it lying over the rear roller. When you fetch the dinghy from where you left it you manoeuvre it as directly in line with the trailer as you can, pull the stem onto the roller so that it rests there with some weight, and hook the winch rope onto the stem eye. Holding the winch rope taut you return to the winch and start winding. The wheels either side of the roller stop the stem from escaping and the horizontal distance between stem eye and roller forms a lever: as you winch in the dinghy is pulled straight. You have only to ensure that the stem runs over the middle roller, a judicious heave sideways at the transom whilst the dinghy is still half afloat will correct this and everything is plain sailing!

If you have had to disconnect the trailer from the car because of a shallow or slippery ramp then the winch end of the trailer will rise up into the air, as if a break back trailer; as the dinghy comes forward however it will fall back onto an even keel. Providing the trailer is on the ball hitch then you now only have to tie down the bows of the dinghy and you can drive up the ramp and start unrigging. If the trailer is on the end of the hairy friend you can tow the trailer/dinghy up the ramp as it is until you reach level or near level ground where you can chock the trailer and hitch up. If the ramp is narrow and you think that the three wheeled cart may fall off the edge then you must winch the trailer up to the car, merely run out the winch rope in the direction of the car. If you can tie on direct to the car ball then you can winch up to it until you can hitch up. If it is too far to reach then you winch your way up the hairy friend using a rolling hitch. Chock the trailer each time that you have to untie the rolling hitch to move it up the rope.

Recovery Problems

Problems of shallow ramps, steep and slippery ramps can be dealt with as in launching. Other problems may occur as a result of changing conditions of weather and tide since launching.

Soft Ground - in spite of your reconnaissance you may find your trailer loaded with its dinghy and up to its axles in soft mud. I should hope that your car is on hard standing however, otherwise a farmer with his tractor is called for! The normal solution is to winch your trailer out using the trailer winch and a strong rope to the car as above. It is astonishing how much pull the winch can produce and I have used this method when the mud was up to the hubs and a 600 lb. dinghy on the top, with success. I have seen a speedboat with a 60 hp motor recovered in the same way. If your winch is short of muscle, or ratio, then you can double the pull very easily by fastening the snatch block to car or rope and leading your winch rope through it and back to the trailer winch post. The winch is a much more powerful method than using the car as a tractor, however good a grip the tyres have.

Strong Wind Alongshore - although the leverage of winch and rear roller will bring the dinghy straight up onto its trailer in most cases, there are circumstances where the wind is too strong, and the dinghy insists on pulling sideways. Lay your anchor out along the shore as in the diagram and attach the warp to the dinghy in such a position that she will lie beam onto the wind. On my Roamer I find the genoa sheet lead perfect for this with the advantage of being able to use the cam cleat. You can then bring the dinghy to the trailer adjusting the warp as you go, until you winch the dinghy onto the trailer as before.

Strong Wind Onshore - The easiest way to avoid this situation to find another ramp on an accessible windward shore and take taxi or get a lift back to your car! However providing there are no breakers on the shore I would suggest the following:- Drop your anchor about three boat lengths offshore. You will have fastened a floating or buoyed tripping line to its crown which will blow ashore. A block will be fastened to your anchor and the warp will be passed through it and back on board. You leave the dinghy lying stern to the wind on its double warp whilst you fetch the trailer. When you are ready to recover you cast off one end of the anchor warp from the stern and pay it out allowing the dinghy to blow onto the trailer until you can winch on, in the usual way. You recover the anchor using the tripping line.

Aftercare

If possible you should hose down the boat and trailer before leaving a marine site in order to remove the salt. I always thoroughly douse the trailer paying particular attention to the inside of any tubular sections. It doesn't hurt to give another squirt of grease into the bearings before you start the journey home.