 Trailers for RL 28 | I am thinking of purchaseing an RL 28 that does not have a trailer. Does anyone know approx price for a suitable trailer, supplier name and any other information which may be helpful?
Many Thanks.
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| Re: Trailers for RL 28 | Donald
Be careful and take advice from a boat trailer manufacturer or read the boat trailer laws of the State the trailer is going to be registered in. You usually can read their trailer regulations in the Road Traffic Dept. website.
All the different States have different rules with Victoria having overhang restrictions (distance from last axle to end of boat). I remember seeing some beautiful wooden rowing eights being cut in half by a local boat builder. He fitted two bulkheads at the middle and the boat was trailed in two parts before the government rushed through an amendment. I think the glider trailers were in the same boat.
They would not let me register my NSW rl24 registered trailer down here in VIC when I tried. I needed to fit over ride brakes.
Hope this helps
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| Re: Trailers for RL 28 | Re Victoria, the overhang rules also have a trailer sailer concession which is described on the VicRoads website. The relevant booklet has to be carried with the vehicle combination - http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/9EB0518E-760C-4BC3-B067-844F9CC410D1/0/TR2004222.pdf
Maximum overhang is 5 metres as opposed to the standard 3.7 limit. Re brakes, as I recall, anything over 750kg requires hydraulic over ride and, above 2 tonne laden, break away electric over ride brakes.
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| Re: Trailers for RL 28 | You will need to know the weight of your RL28 to specify the trailer. Most standard RL28s with outboard motors weight less than 2000kg on the axles so mechanical override brakes are ok. Some RL28s such as those with furler, diesel and accessories can have an axle weight over 2000kg which requires a breakaway brake system which can add $3000 to the price. A standard trailer with override brakes will be $5000 to $8000.
Redco, Felk, Boeing are all suitable trailer builders.
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| Re: Trailers for RL 28 | "keeping the boat light as she used to start to sway at over 80k. I reckon this was caused by the wind sweeping over the car and hitting the flair of the bow at that speed. I eventually shifted the axle back on the trailer and loaded up the towbar and this solved the problem"
Standard dynamics problem - a trailer has a speed initiated instability if the CG is aft of the axle. You corrected the problem by moving the axle to the rear. A cheaper solution would have been to put some more load in the front of the boat (ie forward of the axle station).
The trailing airflow from the car is probably reasonably symmetric and, if anything, probably provides a small downforce on the bow rather than a lateral oscillation
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| Re: Trailers for RL 28 | Thanks for your input.
I bought my rather rundown mark 1 RL24 along with its poorly matched trailer very cheaply in 1981. The boat was apparently sold as a kit to be home assembled! She was poorly finished off and the hull also showed signs of being damaged and then roughly repaired, this along with the very substandard rig and sails made her a real shocker to sail.
On her first sail/race the boat handled very poorly and also leaked. She had no mast prop inside the cabin and the mast pumped the cabin top up and down. I even remember losing a wheel from the trailer when on my way down to a Marley Point race. It landed in a wheat field and I search for it for ages and never found it! I just hope it did not damage the farmers harvester later on at harvest time!
The boat appeared to overload the independent rubber torsion tube suspension system on the trailer. There was not enough room between the hull,the tyre and mud wing to fit the very necessary light truck tyres!
The C of G of the unit was OK when not in motion and I remember I had the maximum allowed weight on the tow bar then (NSW). I also kept the petrol tank in the anchor well along with a good few metres of anchor chain. The outboard was always removed and placed in the boot of the car when towing.
It was strange, the minute I hit the 80K speed she would start to sway. I never needed to look at the speedo as the back of the HQ Holden used to start getting into the swing of things too! On the trailer the boat was trimed by the stern and this meant the bows stuck up in the air above the car.
Anyway it did not cost me too much to fix. I bought and fitted a new axle with the proper leaf springs and hubs (no over ride brakes needed then) and also fitted light truck tyres to the trailer. This and fitting pump up air shock absorbers to the back of the Holden solved all my trailer problems.
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| Re: Trailers for RL 28 | You're a braver man than I.
[I'm glad we never had that problem with all the detail as an exam question .. I guess your instability was due to something in the axle/wheels setup rather than the simple CG situation .. I can recall a knowingly misloaded trailer full of lengths of wood ... about 25 mph was the trigger .. but I got the wood home and that was the priority]
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| Re: Trailers for RL 28 | John
I built a road trailer in Scotland for my flying fifteen in the 1960s using these horrible torsion rubber suspension units (no override brakes). I towed it with my Mini Cooper S and you should have seen the look on the faces of the other drivers when I came round the corners in Scotland going like the clappers! The hull of the FF was of course higher than the roof of the car!
I remember coming back from a FF meeting and coming down the hill from the highest village in Scotland (forget its name) when the cars brakes started to fade. I stopped and put my hand in to see how hot they were and ended up with four burnt fingers!!!
My better half Meg says that the hill was called the devils elbow!!
Enough Said
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| Re: Trailers for RL 28 | A trailer was supplied with Swan (RL28) when I purchased it 2 years ago. As Swan was in a marina berth and no way I wanted to own a vehicle that could legally tow it, I sold it for $6k. It was in excellent condition having never been used. It was a Belco and manufactured in Brisbane. Belco gave me a price at the time of around $8,000 to replace. It was very solid, a monster being the full length of the boat with electric brakes etc.
If you are in Brisbane I can give you the name of the original owner who had it built to check if Belco still have the design.
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| Re: Trailers for RL 28 | Hi I bought the trailer (made by BELCO) from Russel and brought it back to Bendigo, it has carried the RL28 (Counter Point) some 2000 km since, no real problems. The electric brake controller driving hydraulic disk brakes on all four wheels is very sucessfull. It is towed with a diesel disco (manual).
The regulations regarding large trailers are very explicit as above.
The trailer and boat with outboard and other extras come to a total mass some where near 2.5t.
Cheers Ewen
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