Questions on 2007 Stock Trailer

[Idiotfool]

Good evening, all.

Yesterday, I was able to take out my new-to-me 2007 26M for the first time and I've got a few questions on it:

1. There is no cap/cover for my wheeled tongue jack. Any idea where I can get one?
2. 14 years in the South Florida sun has done a number on the winch and jack handles. Are they replaceable?
3. At the tongue, there was cap covering access to the sliding tongue for the surge brakes (I think). The cap flew off on the 4 hour drive from the previous owner's to my house. Any idea where to get a replacement cover cap?
4. There was a hitch coupler pin, rather than the bolt that the manual called for, on the trailer when I took it home. Somehow, after getting home and parking it and taking it out again 2 weeks later, the pin has gone missing. Is there an easy replacement for this?
5. There were no PVC pipes on the goalposts. How long should I make them? Should I add caps, or is that not necessary?
6. If I have the boat nose winched all the way in for trailering, it is absolutely impossible to launch the boat. When retrieving, if I winch all the way in while the boat is still in the water, as soon as I pull it out of the water, it slides back a good 4-5 inches. I have to inch up the boat ramp and constantly go back and forth to grind on the winch to have the nose in. I suspect the previous owner's efforts to replace the wood on the trailer adjusted the angle, or my ball is too high, but the trailer looks pretty level on the ground. Could someone hazard a guess, here, or let me know if this is a common issue?

Thanks in advance!

[Starscream]

1 thru 4: here in Montreal we have several specialized trailer shops that stock all the spare parts one could need. If I was looking for those parts I would head to one of those.

5: PVC posts are so-so. Nice to have a target, but you're gonna snap them off pretty quick, I promise. Steel extensions are better, and the trailer shops in 1-4 should be able to do this. Just above the rubrail, I would say. if you do extend the goalposts, they become the widest point of the trailer, and since they angle outward it's possible to create a trailer that exceeds 102", the point at which a permit is required to roll in most states. just thinking liability and/or a ticket.

6: common issue. Search the forum for "Mac bump", which is the process of hauling out with the boat a few inches back and then slamming on your brakes to slide it forward. The Mac bump has never worked for me because of the rough bottom paint I had on until last year. I don't like the amount of pressure required on the bow ring to keep the boat snug in the vee when hauling out, so I don't do that. My boat sits a few inches back from the vee and that's how I tow. I may change that with the new slick bottom paint but I only towed twice last year, once in and once out, staying the whole Covid year in the same marina. Didn't occur to me to test the bump. Your boat your rules....YBYR should be the forum motto.

[Russ]

[*]At the tongue, there was cap covering access to the sliding tongue for the surge brakes (I think). The cap flew off on the 4 hour drive from the previous owner's to my house. Any idea where to get a replacement cover cap?

Is this the aluminum trailer? I think that was about the time Macgregor switched from steel.

If so....here. I actually have a couple of extras but don't ask me where they are.

[*]There was a hitch coupler pin, rather than the bolt that the manual called for, on the trailer when I took it home. Somehow, after getting home and parking it and taking it out again 2 weeks later, the pin has gone missing. Is there an easy replacement for this?

Are you talking about this? If so, you can get them anywhere. Wal-mart.

[*]If I have the boat nose winched all the way in for trailering, it is absolutely impossible to launch the boat. When retrieving, if I winch all the way in while the boat is still in the water, as soon as I pull it out of the water, it slides back a good 4-5 inches. I have to inch up the boat ramp and constantly go back and forth to grind on the winch to have the nose in. I suspect the previous owner's efforts to replace the wood on the trailer adjusted the angle, or my ball is too high, but the trailer looks pretty level on the ground. Could someone hazard a guess, here, or let me know if this is a common issue?

YES! It's the way the Mac loads. You need to do the "Mac Bump" Once you get the boat off the ramp, you need to slam on the break to get the boat to slide up onto the trailer. It's just the way it is.
Do NOT try to winch the boat with brute force onto the trailer. You will likely break the winch.


Tom made an excellent illustration why this happens.

[Idiotfool]

[*]At the tongue, there was cap covering access to the sliding tongue for the surge brakes (I think). The cap flew off on the 4 hour drive from the previous owner's to my house. Any idea where to get a replacement cover cap?

Is this the aluminum trailer? I think that was about the time Macgregor switched from steel.

If so....here. I actually have a couple of extras but don't ask me where they are.

Yep. That's the one. Any trick to keeping it in place when hauling so I don't have to replace another one?

[*]There was a hitch coupler pin, rather than the bolt that the manual called for, on the trailer when I took it home. Somehow, after getting home and parking it and taking it out again 2 weeks later, the pin has gone missing. Is there an easy replacement for this?

Are you talking about this? If so, you can get them anywhere. Wal-mart.
[/quote]

No, I have 3 of those from when I owned a camper and needed hitches on various vehicles. This is the pin I'm after that secures the spring loaded UFP ball clamp:

[*]If I have the boat nose winched all the way in for trailering, it is absolutely impossible to launch the boat. When retrieving, if I winch all the way in while the boat is still in the water, as soon as I pull it out of the water, it slides back a good 4-5 inches. I have to inch up the boat ramp and constantly go back and forth to grind on the winch to have the nose in. I suspect the previous owner's efforts to replace the wood on the trailer adjusted the angle, or my ball is too high, but the trailer looks pretty level on the ground. Could someone hazard a guess, here, or let me know if this is a common issue?

YES! It's the way the Mac loads. You need to do the "Mac Bump" Once you get the boat off the ramp, you need to slam on the break to get the boat to slide up onto the trailer. It's just the way it is.
Do NOT try to winch the boat with brute force onto the trailer. You will likely break the winch.


Tom made an excellent illustration why this happens.


[/quote]

I bought the boat from someone who had a lift on a canal and I had to meet my wife with the trailer at the marina, myself. Not knowing any better, I fought with it and I was able to get the boat up to the nose after a few up and down maneuvers on the ramp, but I did have to grind the last inch or so. When I took it out for the first time, I nearly crushed my hand trying to get the damn winch to unlock. Because of this, and the fact that I'm only 5 miles from the marina, I decided to just let it be for the drive back and the nose of the boat is about 3 inches away.

With that said, while I did not slam on my brakes, I did hit my brakes several times at around 30 mph and the boat did not budge. How hard are you going for the bump and do you use the winch to take up the slack, or leave it be so you can actually get the boat off the trailer at the marina?

Thanks in advance!

[Idiotfool]

5: PVC posts are so-so. Nice to have a target, but you're gonna snap them off pretty quick, I promise. Steel extensions are better, and the trailer shops in 1-4 should be able to do this. Just above the rubrail, I would say. if you do extend the goalposts, they become the widest point of the trailer, and since they angle outward it's possible to create a trailer that exceeds 102", the point at which a permit is required to roll in most states. just thinking liability and/or a ticket.

Whatever original caps the trailer came with for the metal posts are long gone, and I scraped one too aggressively on my first retrieval, and I didn't want to repeat. I will probably just get a 10 ft section and see what looks appropriate.

6: common issue. Search the forum for "Mac bump", which is the process of hauling out with the boat a few inches back and then slamming on your brakes to slide it forward. The Mac bump has never worked for me because of the rough bottom paint I had on until last year. I don't like the amount of pressure required on the bow ring to keep the boat snug in the vee when hauling out, so I don't do that. My boat sits a few inches back from the vee and that's how I tow. I may change that with the new slick bottom paint but I only towed twice last year, once in and once out, staying the whole Covid year in the same marina. Didn't occur to me to test the bump. Your boat your rules....YBYR should be the forum motto.

This bump thing doesn't fill me with the warm fuzzies. I'm contemplating on fabbing up a spacer to fill the gap that I can slip on and off when I tow and launch. Or a lower hitch to match Roger's Ford Taurus that he used in all his promotional videos. He didn't seem to need to do the bump...

[Tomfoolery]

When I took it out for the first time, I nearly crushed my hand trying to get the damn winch to unlock. Because of this, and the fact that I'm only 5 miles from the marina, I decided to just let it be for the drive back and the nose of the boat is about 3 inches away.

Look at the sketches above; the reason the boat pulls away from the bow block is due to the geometry between the winch and the bow eye when the trailer rotates upward at the rear to meet the hull. If you bump it into the bow block for travel, which I recommend (Liquid Rollers will make that easy), you have to undo that to launch or you risk breaking the winch line or ripping the ring out of the bow.

When you launch, remove the safety chain and slacken the winch line before you're in the water, but reengage the winch ratchet pawl before moving on to the next step. I remove the safety chain in the parking lot when putting out fenders, removing the dock line from around the rudders, etc. I put a lot of slack in the winch line. It floats off but stays captive since it can only move back half a foot or so. That's if I'm alone, or with people who wouldn't know what to do.

If I have help that can actually help, then I hand them the dock line or lines or loop, number and style depending on the situation, and remove the winch line completely with the stern in the water and while the winch is still above the water line so my feet don't need to get wet. Then I back in the rest of the way and float the boat off. If I don't want to go that far back, like at a really shallow ramp, I do a reverse Mac Bump®, and the little bit of momentum launches the boat off the trailer.

But if you remove the winch line before it's all the way in the water, which is perfectly fine, just don't do it at the top of the ramp. There are plenty of videos and photos of folks losing their boats off the back of the trailer at the ramp, especially power boats with roller bunks.

If you're halfway into the water on the trailer, even if it slides off unexpectedly, nothing bad will happen as by the time it's off the back of the trailer, it's in plenty of depth.

[Russ]

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Yep. That's the one. Any trick to keeping it in place when hauling so I don't have to replace another one?

Insert and twist it 90 degrees to "lock" it in.

This is the pin I'm after that secures the spring loaded UFP ball clamp:

It's the safety pin. VERY important.

https://store.ezloader.com/custom-trail ... ch-pin-kit

With that said, while I did not slam on my brakes, I did hit my brakes several times at around 30 mph and the boat did not budge. How hard are you going for the bump and do you use the winch to take up the slack, or leave it be so you can actually get the boat off the trailer at the marina?

As Tom mentioned, there is no way to get the boat into the V while it's still partially floating. The "bump" is really the best and simplest way.

Some folks have had good luck with this stuff making it easier.

[Russ]

Or a lower hitch to match Roger's Ford Taurus that he used in all his promotional videos. He didn't seem to need to do the bump...

If you watch carefully, you will see a soon as he pulls the boat off the ramp, a GAP in the V appears.
Mac "bump" aside, you do need to have a hitch so that the trailer is fairly level. Towing with my son's truck, I need a step-down hitch else the boat is tilted backward.

[Tomfoolery]

At 9:05, you can see why I added the bow roller to help the bow up onto the forward vee bunk. He hits that thing pretty hard, and it would be worse if he couldn't get it even that deep into the water.



Boy, I really need to go on a diet.

[Russ]

Bow roller makes a TON of sense. I need one!

The gelcoat in the bottom of my bow is all destroyed because of that.

[Tomfoolery]

Bow roller makes a TON of sense. I need one!

Here's a photo essay, FWIW.

The last two pics is the little extra 2x4 block with bunk carpet, mounted to the forward side of the middle bunk. It's there to catch the swing CB in case it's not secured and I Mac Bump® it too hard and the CB tries to get caught on the bunk cross member. Which it did once, and I had to remove the hinge mount in order to free it.

One minor mistake was setting the roller too high so that the bow could wiggle on the roller while on the road. It wore a bit of a flat spot in the roller. Either set it high enough to take the whole load, or low enough that it kicks the bow up onto the vee bunk but doesn't touch the hull while driving, which is how it is now. Still works just as well, since that's it's intended function, but it won't get ripped up by that rough bottom. Of the boat, not mine.

Also, in the video I posted, you can see that I scraped the starboard goal post, which I almost always do but didn't know I was actually hitting it until I saw this vid (I was getting knocked to port), but you can also see that I grab the CB line and pull it up since I was hooked on the rear trailer bunk crossmember. I like having the CB down a little for control (along with at least one rudder), and it simply folds up when it hits that bunk. But it also traps the boat if I don't pull it up, which I'm doing in the vid. Just an FYI for sailors at least.



















The bow is to the right in the last pic.

[C Buchs]

I do the "Mac Bump". If you want to modify your trailer, here's a mod that you might consider. http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... ds-17.html

Jeff

[Idiotfool]

When I took it out for the first time, I nearly crushed my hand trying to get the damn winch to unlock. Because of this, and the fact that I'm only 5 miles from the marina, I decided to just let it be for the drive back and the nose of the boat is about 3 inches away.

Look at the sketches above; the reason the boat pulls away from the bow block is due to the geometry between the winch and the bow eye when the trailer rotates upward at the rear to meet the hull. If you bump it into the bow block for travel, which I recommend (Liquid Rollers will make that easy), you have to undo that to launch or you risk breaking the winch line or ripping the ring out of the bow.

Oh, I understand the physics of it and saw that it was the nose angle, winch angle and the boat angle relative to the trailer changing between retrieval and hauling on level ground. I just couldn't see a way of overcoming the bump when trying to launch and that's what caused me issues on my first launch.

When you launch, remove the safety chain and slacken the winch line before you're in the water, but reengage the winch ratchet pawl before moving on to the next step. I remove the safety chain in the parking lot when putting out fenders, removing the dock line from around the rudders, etc. I put a lot of slack in the winch line. It floats off but stays captive since it can only move back half a foot or so. That's if I'm alone, or with people who wouldn't know what to do.

Safety chain? I only have the nylon winch line. Thank you for the simple explanation on loosening the winch prior to dropping the boat into the water, though. Too obvious for me to think of it.

If I have help that can actually help, then I hand them the dock line or lines or loop, number and style depending on the situation, and remove the winch line completely with the stern in the water and while the winch is still above the water line so my feet don't need to get wet. Then I back in the rest of the way and float the boat off. If I don't want to go that far back, like at a really shallow ramp, I do a reverse Mac Bump®, and the little bit of momentum launches the boat off the trailer.

But if you remove the winch line before it's all the way in the water, which is perfectly fine, just don't do it at the top of the ramp. There are plenty of videos and photos of folks losing their boats off the back of the trailer at the ramp, especially power boats with roller bunks.

If you're halfway into the water on the trailer, even if it slides off unexpectedly, nothing bad will happen as by the time it's off the back of the trailer, it's in plenty of depth.

Got it. Thank you for the info.

[Idiotfool]

If you watch carefully, you will see a soon as he pulls the boat off the ramp, a GAP in the V appears.
Mac "bump" aside, you do need to have a hitch so that the trailer is fairly level. Towing with my son's truck, I need a step-down hitch else the boat is tilted backward.

Thanks. I didn't see that when I watched it last night, out of curiosity, but I see it now.

Does anyone have the original DVD? These uploads on youtube don't have the best quality and even though they're 15 years old, I would think the resolution would be a bit better if they were uploaded at full scale.

[Russ]

Here's a photo essay, FWIW.

THANK YOU!

I've never given it much thought, but this makes so much sense. That V is pretty rough on retrieval.

Hmm...I may have to examine my trailer and see how difficult this mod would be. Thanks for posting this Tom. My V bow is all chewed up and not from the few beachings I've done. Must be from that V cutting it.


RE: Original DVD. Probably not much better quality. This was the tech at the time 90s. We take for granted HiDef and 4k now.
I can't believe my boat is already 13 years old.