RL28 Trailer Modifications - Kingsley & Kay White

We don't tilt the trailer but immerse it only untill the rear roller is level with the water. This also has the advantage that the rear axle wheelbearings are not normally immersed. The rear roller [see photos] is made up of a group of 4 pivoting flat rollers with 2 vertical ball rollers mounted on a common pivoting frame. The 4 flat rollers are needed to take the weight of the boat as it comes onto the trailer. The round vertical rollers guide the boat as well as stopping it from slipping sideways off the horizontal rollers. We find that once the boat is 1 meter onto the trailer the pull of the winch will be all that is needed to keep it centralised on the rollers.

We also fitted a four wheel drive type electric winch low down on the front of the trailer with a turning block on the trailer post to bring the cable up to the right height for recovering. With the winch in this low position we can also run the cable under the boat which is then attached to a rope which goes around another turning block mounted on the rear cross rail of the trailer. The rope then returns back to the recovery "U" bolt on the front of the boat and a loop in the rope is dropped over it. This allows the rope to just fall off as the launching takes place.

This may sound a complicated but in use it is very easy to use and most importantly the boat is always under control.