97 Rinker Fiesta Vee 240 trailer bunk setup

Stever00

Bought this boat that was drydocked at marina. Slapped on trailer to sell. Boat strakes sit on the bunks. Winch is too high. Ive added couple short bunks in the rear. Like to see some photos of trailers and how bunks are set up for the front V bottom. Havent had chance to float it and reset them. Anyone got any ideas of to set them with 5000 lb boat on trailer?

PickleRick

Resetting boat on trailer is a easy but time consuming.  Chalk wheels of trailer on level ground.    Lower the tongue jack all the way.  Place block's under rear of boat or boat jack stands.  I have used concrete blocks with a wood 12×12 block on top to touch the hull.  I use once for each side and one for center of hull in rear.  

Now raise tongue jack all the way , the rear of the boat should come off of the trailer in the rear. If not lower the trailer tongue again this time using a floor jack instead of trailer jack to get lower.  

Once the boat is off the trailer in the rear raise the tongue jack as far as it will go.  Then place blocks under the hull.  First at the front and then a row of 3 along the middle of the hull, sides and again center support.  Lower trailer, should come off for adjustments. If not place blocks under trailer jack to get it higher.  The longer the boat the more stacks of blocks you need.  The heavier the boat, well stack them like you would under a mobile home, 2 wide 

You can paint the hull the same way.

I got tired of all the walking doing this years ago so I stole house jacks from my dad.  Now i just walk around the boat raising and blocking.  On my roller trailer i could just raise the back side of hull high enough to work on one side of adjustments at a time.


I dont trust concrete blocks to crawl under without the trailer there as a safety net.  Even then i lower one section of trailer support at a time for prep/paint then immediately put it back before moving to the next section.  If the boat falls its only a couple inches onto the trailer.  I watched a small skid loader collapse jack stands back in highshool, was well under the weight rating.  I was painting it.  Since then I'm overly cautious crawling under anyting.


If you dont mind playing musical blocks you can walk the trailer out from under the boat. As the boat is clear of the trailer you can start to stack the blocks for better/safer/beefier holding power.  


An engineer can tell you how many blocks/where to place to make it suitable to crawl under better than i can

Dude_Himself

What PickleRick described is called "cribbing". With enough wood blocks and a lever you can park the boat on the roof and the trailer in the garage.

Stever00

I seen a video on You Tube where a guy done that with a Donzi. I was just worried about the hull sitting on blocks in the front. Seems like if you picked up most weight in front and blocked under the V it would be lot of weight on it unless you had some kind of V cradle made. Blocking on each side of V would push out. Guess you could move back to where bottom was flatter. I was worried about damaging hull. Guess they are pretty strong.  I went to a boat repair place here where i live. I ask them how they lifted heavy boats when they do fiberglass work. He said by the winch hook. I said what about a 5000 lb boat? He said it wont hurt it. Now how stupid is that?
Anyway I appreciate the help.  I may give it a try when the temp gets below 100 here in Al but not high as the roof. Lol
 I dont even want to tow it the way it is now. What about front bunk setup in the front?

PickleRick

Most of the weight is in the rear of the boat.  

You'd have to post pics of your trailer. Many different designs out there.

Stever00

Yea, here are a few. I added two short back bunks. May have to move them to raise boat. This way it was when i bought it. Yes, its a mess.

Stever00

Yea, here are a few. I added two short back bunks. May have to move them to raise boat. This way it was when i bought it. Yes, its a mess.

Stever00

This a 240 the way i think it should be. I dont trust those bolt on brackets on this boat.

Stever00

I was hoping someone with similar boat would chim in with some picture of how their bunks are set. The outer bunk brackets are 13" and set high as they will go. The front L bracket is already bent. The bow of boat curves upward and front part of bunks do not even touch. It all looks like crap and I'll have to do lot towing to get to water from where I live.
I don't trust that heavy boat setting  on  it now. The bottom photo shows boat like mine with welded brackets on front to fit rise in bow.  I dont have a crossmember in front this close  together to make two short bunks.  The winch is too high on post. Boat would have to come forward over foot to be level with winch. That makes me wonder about tounge weight if I move it forward. I've noticed some big boat trailers have like 2x6 bunks turned on side . This looks like it would carry weight well but not sure if it would allow height for boat to clear trailer fenders. This boat is 5000 lb empty setting on bunk brackets with L brackets already bent . Not to mention crappy roads in my county. This EZ loader trailer. Not sure if it was original trailer or not. Bought from guy who sells cars part time so you know they won't tell you sh%#! He only had it one year. He bought from original owner.
If I was sure where they needed to go I might weld angle iron bunk brackets to trailer. Be nice to go place that had a gantry and just lift whole boat off trailer and fit it to it.