Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Trailer questions and Answers/Suggestions

[VBra676539@aol.com]

Gary and all,

In fact, there is a simple way to do away with all the extra tie-downs needed to keep a free-standing sub out of the pickup bed. On the Kittredge built trailers, all subs are positioned for proper tongue weight during construction and then heavy angle brackets are welded to the trailer frame with knee-braces to resist a forward slide. These brackets are set so that the battery pods (or bottom skid) rests against them from behind. Brackets are then fabricated to bolt between this bracket and a brace on the sub and that locks the sub down pretty good. Then I use an "X" of chain with hefty turnbuckles on either side from sub to trailer frame to crank it down really tight.

Another very slick idea is to weld a vertical and well-supported piece of 4"channel (about 4 feet high, legs aft) onto the trailer's centerline at the forward tow-point of the sub, which happens also to be the forward-most piece of a K-sub. You then simply motor the sub up to it, poke the tow point into the channel and hold yourself in place with the thruster while swinging a rigid pivoting bracket down to the forward lift point (pivoted from the top of the channel upright). This pins in place and keeps the sub in one spot fore and aft as the trailer is pulled up the ramp. Strong trailer fenders with angled guides then lets the sub jostle its way along and almost always helps it center itself during the move upward and outward.

Once all that is done, you can hose down, plug in the lights and hit the road! There is a dandy view of how this works on Captain Kittredge's video tape when he recovers the last K-350 built by the factory on the public boat ramp just down from his shop.

One word of warning for anyone planning a run to the Florida Keys for sea trials: Ramps in Florida are short! The tides are not high enough to let the concrete guys get their cofferdams very far out, and the bottom sludge normally found in the rivers and what not is about like liquefied talcum powder. A hefty trailer can drop off the end and be a real bitch to haul out, empty or not. In the Keys, you can find ramps with hard packed sand, but you have to look for them. It's worth it. Running a sub off Molasses Reef outside of Pennekamp in 70 fsw and 100 foot viz is a treat worth the effort!

Best Regards,
Vance




Vance