Finally, recovering straight on a CLH trailer?

[Wave Sweeper]

Hi, its been brought to my attention that the photos I mentioned on the above item are not visible. This is because they are marked as moderator approval required.

In the meantime my post has been returned by the welder who has added a strengthening piece.

[Jonathan Stuart]

Sorry, I hadn't noticed the photos required approval - and I don't know why they did! - but I've approved them now.

[Peter Cockerton]

The break looks as if it was only ever welded on one of the four sides of the post - amazing that it lasted this long.

Looking at the photo of the failed weld, the weld is clearly all around the bottom of the post as you would expect, what is worrying is the box section of the post appears to have separated from the weld leaving the welded section of the box still inside the weld.
So fatigue cracks in the box section is most likely, suggesting that the box section material is not up to the job, or the welding process is leaving the material brittle near the weld. The small additional support section your welder has put behind the post will have some beneficial help but CLH should really look at this in more detail i think and offer some explanation.

[Graham W]

That's the third BR20 trailer made by CLH in that era (2009/2010) to have suffered from this specific winch post failure.  If it happened on the road and the ratchet straps were not holding the boat down, it could cause a nasty accident.

It ought to be easy enough to remedy - get an extra support welded to the base of the post, as in Chris's photo above or as per the attached.  I suggest that everyone having a CLH trailer that came with an early BR20 checks their winch post without delay.

[Graham W]

I've just been reminded of one other important point - if your boat's bow regularly gets jammed against the trailer swinging cradle on retrieval, that certainly won't help.  Particularly if you've had the trailer converted from unbraked to braked, which usually involves having larger diameter wheels fitted.  The extra inch or so of height makes quite a bit of difference.  The answer is to have brackets fitted to the trailer frame that stop the cradle swinging more than 45°, preventing jamming and making retrieval easier. See http://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/smf/index.php/topic,1141.msg9835.html#msg9835

[Wave Sweeper]

Ok, so I have now returned to my trailer, fitted the new( or at least old, but rewelded and strenthened) post and removed the roller which I showed a photo of earlier. Once CLH and Swallow Boats had denied any knowledge of this roller I spoke to the previous owner who said he had fitted it, but it hadn't helped and I was best removing it and throwing it away.
Recovering the boat gave me chance to watch exactly what happens when I winch the boat on. This convinced me that the solution I need is the one Graham showed which limits the swing of the swinging cradle, and possibly his other one with the stainless plate bent over the beam. I am now wondering what the best way is of sourcing a suitable method of doing this. Any ideas? Where did you get yours Graham? Has anyone else done it? I suspect best thing will be to find a local welder - again!

[Graham W]

Chris,

The yard supplied me with the limiter brackets for the swinging cradle, although I'm sure that any metal shop could knock up something similar.

I made the skid pad thingy myself, with some stainless steel sheet, a length of stainless tubing, some thin rod to hold the tube in place under the sheet and a couple of large u-bolts that secure everything to the rear beam.  I think I bought it all on eBay.

[PYoung]

In the end I knocked the right side of the cradle forward by 1.5cm.

Jonathan, do you think a similar cradle correction on my trailer would give the desired effect? 'Mist' currently ends up at this jaunty angle on recovery. (See pic attached)

Best

Pete

[Graham W]

That really is jaunty, even by CLH standards!

[Jonathan Stuart]

Hi Pete,

Yes, if your boat isn't straight on the trailer then it's definitely worth checking. I had this problem with my BRe and then again with our BC26. Without the boat on the trailer it was quite easy to see that the rear rollers on the swing beam weren't "aiming" towards the trailer's centreline and bow post. Adjusting the swing beam fixed this. Just needed a couple of spanners / sockets and a hammer. Swallow Yachts produced a document about this problem and how to fix it. See link below.

https://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/What-to-do-if-your-boat-is-skew.pdf

Jonathan

[Peter Cockerton]

The problem is misaligned roller sets obviously, Jonathon though adjusted the swinging beam alignment on the trailer, the Post from Matt describes altering the roller fixings on the beam.

Peter C

[Jonathan Stuart]

Yes, good point Peter. But regardless of what is adjusted - the swing beam or the roller mounts - the issue is the same, i.e. the rollers are pointing in the wrong direction so don't "load" the boat parallel to the trailer's centreline. On my trailer the swing beam and the rollers' mounts were both square section so it was impossible to adjust the direction they pointed. However, the swing beam could be adjusted so that did the trick.

[Simon Bright]

Hello Swallow sailors,  I am a new member and new owner of Svala (on an unbraked trailer) which is up in Scotland near the Gatehouse of Fleet. I realise that with my Citroen Berlingo 1.6 GTI the log book says I can only tow 540 KG's with an unbraked trailer. I have read the informative thread on Trailers. Two questions. Does anyone know of a trailer fixer in Dumfries who can convert my unbraked trailer to a braked trailer ? Should I buy a kit from CLH trailers and find a garage that can do the job in Dumfries or round there ? Any tips gratefully received.