| West Wight Potter Owner's Association Potter Article Technical ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ |
Tilt Trailer Tips
By
Bruce Hood
Owner of P-15 #2229 "Eilidh"
My first P-15 "Aillte" was built in 1984, and had the Dilly tilt trailer which we used for the entire 16 years
we had the boat.
Here is photo of Harry Gordon launching his P-14 #234 "Manatee" using a tilt trailer.
There are several things that I did that helped make the trailer work well. I sprayed some white lithium
grease, or some 20 wt. Oil on the pivot bolt of the trailer tongue, and on the pivot bolts of the carpeted
bunks. The Dilly was lightly built of a light gauge steel u-section and painted. It rusted pretty badly over
time. (I should have re-painted it more often) I had one spring break in about the seventh year, and I
replaced both springs with a one stage heavier grade of leaf spring. Probably replaced the 8" tires five
times. I did find that the slightly more expensive "high speed" tires from the local Firestone store did
hold up better. It was important to test the tire pressures frequently (50psi) as they always seemed to
leak a tiny bit.
I would often squirt some liquid dish soap on the carpeted bunks and would always be sure to wet the
bunks well with water when launching and especially just before retrieving. Diminishing the friction of
the boat bottom on the carpeted trailer bunks makes an enormous difference in the effort necessary to
crank the boat back onto the trailer. I also would grease the sides of the trailer tongue where the U
section of the tongue drops down on top of the central spar of the tongue. If the box section hangs a
little on top of the tongue, as you winch the boat up, if it is greased a little on the sides a little shove
sideways on the bow will help the tilt box section to drop on down the rest of the way in perfect
alignment. Usually just a moderate push back and upward on the bow would cause the trailer to tilt and
the boat to begin sliding off the bunks. the water under the stern at this point lifting the back end of the
boat clear of the trailer.
If the water is really shallow, wait to ship the rudder in the pintles, until after you are launched.
Because, with the tilt raised steeply, you can jam the rudder blade right into the bottom and damage it. I
have seen a couple of people do that at Woodward Reservoir, over the years. When recovering you
deliberately tilt the trailer to receive the boat, and tilting makes it very easy to align the bow of the boat
with the back center roller. (I also had "goal post" side guides on our "Dilly"). You just crank the boat
steadily onto the trailer and when the boat's weight passes the fulcrum point of the tilt pivot, it pops
level, and cranks the stern out of the water.
I think the tilt is well worth experimenting with. It is supposed to be "self-aligning" based on the principle
of dragging a weight up an inclined plane... as you pull the weight up the slope, the tendency will be for
the weight to align itself, like a plumb bob weight, and in my experience it does work that way pretty
well. If it is blowing crossways like crazy and the wind is heavy it doesn't work so well since the P-15 is
so light and has so much freeboard... but that would be true for any boat at the ramp on such a day.
I liked ours, and it really worked rather well.
Hope this helps... Cheers, Bruce
By
Bruce Hood
Owner of P-15 #2229 "Eilidh"
My first P-15 "Aillte" was built in 1984, and had the Dilly tilt trailer which we used for the entire 16 years
we had the boat.
Here is photo of Harry Gordon launching his P-14 #234 "Manatee" using a tilt trailer.
There are several things that I did that helped make the trailer work well. I sprayed some white lithium
grease, or some 20 wt. Oil on the pivot bolt of the trailer tongue, and on the pivot bolts of the carpeted
bunks. The Dilly was lightly built of a light gauge steel u-section and painted. It rusted pretty badly over
time. (I should have re-painted it more often) I had one spring break in about the seventh year, and I
replaced both springs with a one stage heavier grade of leaf spring. Probably replaced the 8" tires five
times. I did find that the slightly more expensive "high speed" tires from the local Firestone store did
hold up better. It was important to test the tire pressures frequently (50psi) as they always seemed to
leak a tiny bit.
I would often squirt some liquid dish soap on the carpeted bunks and would always be sure to wet the
bunks well with water when launching and especially just before retrieving. Diminishing the friction of
the boat bottom on the carpeted trailer bunks makes an enormous difference in the effort necessary to
crank the boat back onto the trailer. I also would grease the sides of the trailer tongue where the U
section of the tongue drops down on top of the central spar of the tongue. If the box section hangs a
little on top of the tongue, as you winch the boat up, if it is greased a little on the sides a little shove
sideways on the bow will help the tilt box section to drop on down the rest of the way in perfect
alignment. Usually just a moderate push back and upward on the bow would cause the trailer to tilt and
the boat to begin sliding off the bunks. the water under the stern at this point lifting the back end of the
boat clear of the trailer.
If the water is really shallow, wait to ship the rudder in the pintles, until after you are launched.
Because, with the tilt raised steeply, you can jam the rudder blade right into the bottom and damage it. I
have seen a couple of people do that at Woodward Reservoir, over the years. When recovering you
deliberately tilt the trailer to receive the boat, and tilting makes it very easy to align the bow of the boat
with the back center roller. (I also had "goal post" side guides on our "Dilly"). You just crank the boat
steadily onto the trailer and when the boat's weight passes the fulcrum point of the tilt pivot, it pops
level, and cranks the stern out of the water.
I think the tilt is well worth experimenting with. It is supposed to be "self-aligning" based on the principle
of dragging a weight up an inclined plane... as you pull the weight up the slope, the tendency will be for
the weight to align itself, like a plumb bob weight, and in my experience it does work that way pretty
well. If it is blowing crossways like crazy and the wind is heavy it doesn't work so well since the P-15 is
so light and has so much freeboard... but that would be true for any boat at the ramp on such a day.
I liked ours, and it really worked rather well.
Hope this helps... Cheers, Bruce
