[PSUBS-MAILIST] Trailer questions and Answers/Suggestions

["Gary R. Boucher" <protek@shreve.net>]

     I have a couple of tips in designing a trailer.  First, I highly 
recommend using two axles like I did in my design.  You definitely want to 
have some form of braking on the trailer.  I have one electrical brake but 
I could use two.  They recommend that you do not use electrical brakes for 
boat trailers but it seems to work for me.
     With that much load being towed fishtailing can be a problem.  Much of 
this has to do with the center of mass of the boat/trailer relative to the 
wheels.  I had a severe problem when I first took my sub out on the 
highway.  I went back and moved the position of the almost 6000 pound sub 
forward a few inches and it helped greatly.  The type of tires are 
critical.  I first used just truck tires but finally went to a heavy duty 
trailer tire that uses 60 PSI air pressure.  This also greatly helped the 
stability.
     Most people underestimate the force of stopping suddenly and the 
amount of constraints that are needed to hold a 4000-6000 object in 
place.  Don't!  I have chains, straps, straps, and some more restraints in 
place to keep it from moving forward.  I don't want the last thing going 
through my mind to be the bow of the Vindicator.
     One other thing and this may be most helpful.  I never intended to do 
this until I saw there was no other way.  A sub is not like a ski 
boat.  Only a small portion of the hull of a ski boat need go into the 
water before it floats away.  With a sub most all the hull has to go into 
the water before it floats off the trailer.  This means that if you are 
using a boat ramp made for surface craft (Most are!) you may have to back 
your truck back till nothing but the hood ornament is above the water 
line.  You will need full scuba gear while driving the truck to accomplish 
this plus a truck snorkel.  I tried to remedy this situation by building a 
tongue extension.  I can actually take off the tongue of my sub trailer and 
place a 10 foot piece of tubing between the hitch and trailer to give me 
more of an extension.  However, even with this, it's not enough most of the 
time.  What I finally started doing is taking a 10,000 pound nylon strap 
and hooking one end to the hitch and the other end to a device I can attach 
to the trailer.  With this in place and considering that I have a dual axle 
trailer, I can simply allow the sub to, once on the slope of the ramp, be 
lowered down maybe some 40 feet behind my truck.  It works well for me.  I 
then use the strap to add extra security to the sub/trailer combination for 
hauling.  I no longer take the extension since the strap works 
better.  Caution, if the strap breaks, the sub will be a sub.  Don't allow 
any of your personnel close to the sub while doing this procedure.
     I use a come-along to wench the sub onto the trailer in-place before 
pulling it out of the water.  This does require me or someone helping me to 
dawn the scuba stuff or at least a mask to go underwater and wench it 
up.  When I do this the sub is only placing a few pounds of its weight on 
the trailer since it is mostly below the waterline.
     One last thing...  If you don't have a lot of good friends, forget 
it!  Once at a lake in Texas with friend that also has a sub one of his 
helpers made the remark, "You have to have a lot of friends and don't mind 
imposing on them to do the sub thing."  He was right.

Gary Boucher