Bringing the boat home (land version)

[stephenm27]

Seeing Brad's trip bringing his new BC 370 home reminded me that I should post a few pics of our own "bringing the new boat home" chronicle from Monday. It was all-land and we didn't have the luxury of having Rusty along for the 30 mile drive but it was thankfully an uneventful experience .

Similar to Brad, we've moved on from the Sea Ray brand but hope to remain contributors/viewers here as our 310 fell victim to a distracted driver/auto collision back in June 2020.

The new boat moves us to the outboard world along with no canvas to mess with in inclement weather.

A few pics of the trip:

 

[douglee25]

Nice looking boat!

 

[Fill Ess]

Wow! THAT is a proper boat garage!

Do you have any pics of the transfer from the lift to the trailer?

 

[wyrman]

Looks great, and just in time.

 

[andy k]

That would be my dream garage!

I am curious if you were able to measure the height on your trailer. We are wanting to get a newer boat and am have a hard time finding a boat that we can trailer yet that is under the 13' 6" height on a trailer. All of the new boats seem to sit so high now days.

 

[Chip S]

Nice boat! Welcome to the world of outboards. You'll never go back to anything else.

 

[stephenm27]

That would be my dream garage!

I am curious if you were able to measure the height on your trailer. We are wanting to get a newer boat and am have a hard time finding a boat that we can trailer yet that is under the 13' 6" height on a trailer. All of the new boats seem to sit so high now days.

I designed this trailer to have the max height on the boat (forward spotlight on hardtop) to be at 13’ 2”. The trailer was manufactured in St. Petersburg (Owens and Sons) while the boat was built in Ostroda, Poland. When the trailer and boat finally “met” last week, I determined I was off by 1”—it sits at 13’ 3”. This appears to be the result of having less compression on the torsion axle trailing arms than I had calculated. The garage door is 14’ clear opening so tree limbs and low traffic lights are the primary height concern.

For comparison, our previous boat (2009 310 Sundancer) was about 13’ 6” with the arch lowered (14’ 5” arch up). It had a significantly greater dead rise at 21 degrees vs 16 on this boat. So it was both taller and lower to the ground at the keel than this boat.

In general, I have found beam to be a bigger obstacle to safely trailering, with height being a close second. Weight is always a factor but 6 x EOH disc brakes stops everything rather quickly. With a standard width trailer, any over-width boat will have the chines span the trailer fenders. When this happens, how low you can sit the boat on trailer is dictated exclusively by this aspect.

 

[stephenm27]

Wow! THAT is a proper boat garage!

Do you have any pics of the transfer from the lift to the trailer?

I have a couple video snippets but this is one of the still pics:

 

[dtfeld]

I have a couple video snippets but this is one of the still pics:

Welcome Home! I thought that looked lot looked pretty familiar.

 

[stephenm27]

Welcome Home! I thought that looked lot looked pretty familiar.

Thank you!

We typically launch from Mary Alice Park or Bald Ridge on the southern side but the dealer (St. Simons Island) had a working relationship with the folks at Aqualand so we obliged. I must say the team there made quick work of offload and were a great help.

Now, to find the time to actually float the thing...

 

[dtfeld]

I see you met Tony Coto. Tony is the go to mechanic on Lake Lanier.

 

[Fill Ess]

I have a couple video snippets but this is one of the still pics:

Great, thanks for posting! I've never seen a boat this size transferred from the straps to a trailer and always wondered how they did it.

 

[stephenm27]

Great, thanks for posting! I've never seen a boat this size transferred from the straps to a trailer and always wondered how they did it.

It's a good question...and one I had, too. My trailer does not have slots for the sling straps in the bunks so I assumed they'd dunk the boat and I'd have to retrieve it via the ramp.

In reality, they were able to move the forward strap far enough forward to clear the front centering bunk. For the back, they blocked the rear of the trailer to eliminate flex, then lifted the front end of the boat high enough to separate the rear sling strap and remove it. Lastly they lowered the front back down on the trailer.

In the end, it's just physics (and experience), but it's certainly not where you want the "new guy" on your lift job.

 

[dvx216]

When I got my 310 Da. loaded on a trailer I had build one of the experienced hoist guys rested his arm on my truck rear fender and directed the operator where he wanted it on the trailer then they set the wench stand. Boat has always rode nice behind my truck. Nice to have people that are good at their job.