Team Jeff & Boltman...

Pat I searched for you,

This is what I found.
www.shorelandr.com
SLR150TAL.jpg

You can also get this in a bunk version.

This trailer can be used to a max hull length of 420" and 15.000LBS
The dry weight of your 340 is 12.500LBS

You also have a trailer selector on this site.

http://www.shorelandr.com/asp/t_boat_alum.asp#

If you can get a gooseneck I don't know...

Peter
 
Pat,

Several years ago there was a boat hauler just north of you, somewhere between Marietta and Cartersville, just on the east side of 75 that always had trailers for sale...some big, some not so big. Going by at 70mph didn't give much time for shopping. This guys yard bordered the interstate. Sometimes there were 3-4 trailers, others there were 20 or so.

Might be worth a look next time you are up that way on 75.
 
never monday said:
I think I've asked this before.
Where did your trailers come from?
I need a 17K GVW goosneck trailer for my 340.
Pat
Click to expand...

Pat,

I can't speak for Jeff and Boltman, but here in the PNW it is fairly common to have a trailer custom made for a 280 or larger. At times I wish I had gone that route with the trailer for my 270.

I think you also should have other requirements that you have not listed. Here are some I might suggest.

1. The boat on the trailer should conform to normal height restrictions on the freeway, if possible. In most states, the freeways are designed for adequate clearance for a 14 foot high trailer load. So if you can keep the tallest fixed item on the boat at 14 feet or less above the highway, you are good to go on the freeway in most states. A motor carrier atlas will tell you the exceptions, where clearance is less. However, my atlas says GA standard design is 13' 6", and the low clearance locations for GA are not listed. :smt021

I don't know your intended use of the trailer, but it may work well enough to expand beyond your initial intentions. I also don't know if you can make this work for your boat. My thoughts are that normally if you take the boats draft and on-water bridge clearance and add them together, that will give you the maximum height of the boat on a trailer if the props touch the pavement. Obviously you don't want that, so need to add clearance to the dimensions for that to see where you are. The other thing that will limit how low the boat can sit is the tire diameter. The tires will need to be fully under the boat for your size boat.

2. Normally for a gooseneck trailer, the trailer can also be a 5th wheel trailer. Usually there is a vertical tube in the front where either a gooseneck or 5th wheel adapter fits to the trailer. I have not used a gooseneck trailer, but have used a 5th wheel. I suspect the 5th wheel is easier to couple up, as you just back into it, it is self-aligning. It has the disadvantage that the pull vehicle and the trailer can't tilt sideways with respect to each other unless the 5th wheel mount in the tow vehicle is a 'rocker'. Then they can.

3. You don't mention what you want for brakes. I would insist that the trailer be controlled by an electric brake controller in the tow vehicle. The amount of braking applied should be easily adjustable from the drivers seat, and should brake proportionally to how hard the tow vehicle is braking. The tow vehicle should not have to stop the trailer, the trailer brakes should do that.

If you use hydraulic actuators instead of electric, which I think is most common, then you will have an electric to hydraulic converter box on the trailer. Now you must make sure that the electric-hydraulic unit and the brake controller are compatible. Most are, but you want to be sure. I think the issue here is that most brake controllers don't send out a nice 'nearly constant' current of varying amps depending on braking force. What they do instead is send out pulses of 12 volts that vary in duration. The electric-hydraulic unit has to respond properly to these pulses to generate the proper hydraulic pressure.

4. If you will ever use a lift to put the boat in the water, then you will probably need to be able to put a sling under the boat for the lift to lift it. If your trailer uses rollers, this is not an issue. However, if you have a bunk trailer, and the bunks are continuous from front to rear (the normal situation), then you can't just put the slings under the boat and lift, the bunks are in the way. So it takes an intermediate step to lift the boat a little some other way, and block it up, so that slings can go between the hull and the bunks.

I think you can have the trailer made with reliefs in the bunks where the slings go so the sling can be threaded through if this is an issue for you. I wish mine had that.

-------------------------------------

Then with any trailer with trailer brakes, and issue you need to deal with is proper ground return from the trailer to the tow vehicle. There is a ground return in the plug, but it is not always totally reliable, I have found by personal experience. (Yes, I think I have done everything wrong one could possibly do!) Anyway, if you read on the net about trailer wiring, you will find the most common problem is the ground return. You would think the metal to metal contact of the hitch would be enough, but it is not.

What can happen when your ground return is not the best is that when you apply the brakes, pulses of 12 volts from the battery positive get applied to the brake wire. They go the the braking device, whatever it is, and through it to ground. In essence, the current through the braking device is trying to make your trailer frame be 12 volts instead of battery negative (ground). If your return is bad, then it can (almost) succeed at doing so. So your brakes don't work as they should.

But worse, the frame of the trailer, which is connected to all your trailer lights, is now at 12 volts and puts 12 volts on what should be the ground side of the lights. The lights are happy to send this 12 volts right on through themselves, back through the light connector pins in the trailer electrical connector, and into your trucks brake, tail, and turn light control box, whatever that is. These days it may well be an electronic gizmo that has no expectation of having 12 volts applied to what it thinks are its outputs. It thinks it is supposed to be the one supplying the voltage, when it wants to. It might even generate a bad burning odor when you do this to it! :smt013

-------------------------------

Edit: I left out why it might fail. Proper mechanical design of a connector would have a ground pin that is the first to make when the connector is inserted, and is the last to break when it is removed. This is normally done by having it extend farther out than the other pins. However, I have never seen this in a trailer electrical connector. They are all the same length. So if the connector starts to work it way out for whatever reason, it is entirely possible that the ground pin will be among the first to lose connection. Just rule of chance! If that happens, you have issues.

Oh oh. May have strayed off topic a bit. The above does not really answer the "where" question. :smt018
 
Dave,
Excellent read. I agree 5th wheel would be the way to go, but I went gooseneck when I bought this truck. I'll never tow any other way. I already tow a 101" deck over goose to move engines and my stuff on.

The trailer for my boat will be a 35-40' on deck with removable bunks. I'm going to build the bunks in 4ft sections so I can space them to sling the boat. I need to be able to use this for more than just the 340. Electric/hydraulic brakes and dual 8K axles. I'm designing for 16K GVW and shooting for 3-4K empty weight. I think I'll have to go AL as steel will put me in the 6500 Lb area for the trailer. If I end up with steel then I'll go triple 8K axles. That will net a load capacity nearing 18K.

I was trying to get referrals to trailer builders some of y'all have used. This is looking like it's going to be a $10,000 expense and I want quality. Every where on the web you can find 10,500 GVW trailers for as little as $3000.00. Break the 5 ton DOT limit for a regular license and the price triples.

Pat
 
never monday said:
I was trying to get referrals to trailer builders some of y'all have used. This is looking like it's going to be a $10,000 expense and I want quality. Every where on the web you can find 10,500 GVW trailers for as little as $3000.00. Break the 5 ton DOT limit for a regular license and the price triples.
Pat
Click to expand...

He Pat,

:thumbsup: because you want your Yanmar's in your 340 :wink:

Peter
 
goosneck trailer

Pat, You call Gary from Loadmaster Trailers in Ohio , he will build you a trailer as he did mine, He will custom fit that Boat like Glove, I have the fifth wheel design and I love it, I have Electric Brakes and they work so well even under water. The trialer Tracks so well Most of the time i don't know she's back there.

http://www.loadmastertrailerco.com/

Tell them that their BOLTMAN sent you and he will treat you well, I have sold many trailers right from the luanchs for him ,due to how well mine performs just copy and paste this link I put on here for you. I trust Gary with My Families Life's, you will too.

Feel free to PM if you'd like too
 
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