getting the wave out of the water

I'm a new Wave owner this year. I'm on a lake in southern Maine so the boat needs to come out of the water. I have a trailer for it and I can use a neighbor's driveway which goes down to the water's edge. If I bring the trailer down to the water, can I get the boat on the trailer by myself, or is that too difficult? I think there's a winch on the trailer. Also, could I then lower the mast while the boat is either on the shore or on the trailer?

Additionally, I'd like to try to disassemble it for storage. Do I need to get it off the trailer to do that?

thanks!


Joe

Beach the boat, try to rise it on the height of the trailer. If you can do it, you probably can load it on trailer.
Yes. If you plan to do it on trailer keep trailer hitched to the car.Yes.

I have rollers on the back crossbars on my trailer. I'm not sure that makes a difference. Two people can load it on the trailer fairly easily. You can probably recruit a bystander. When I had to do it by myself I used the mainsheet and a piece of rope. Mainsheet at full extension and then tie it to the trailer near the front crossbar and hook the other end on the boat. With some tension on the sheet you can lift the front of the boat and it will stay up on the rollers. Then pull it as far as it will go. Extend the mainsheet, shorten the piece of rope, and do it again. I remember doing it three times but I don't know why you would have to. Maybe my mainsheet is short.

Tie the front of the boat down, attach the trailer to the car. These will keep the whole deal from tipping over backward. If you have the club model you'll need two people. One to hold the mast up, just by pushing forward gently against the shrouds. It's easy. and one to back out the screws and undo the bridle wires. Then lower the mast. It's easy, really.

You have to have the boat on the ground to disassemble it because the hulls have to slide sideways for you to remove the crossbars. You can do this by yourself, I've done it, but it's easier with two. You need to pull one crossmember out a few inches by pulling the hulls apart, and then the other and then the other and keep on doing that until they both pop out.

I've loaded it on my trailer myself a few times. Average build for a 180 lb, mid-forties male. It's easier with a helper though. When solo, I lift the bow on, pull it forward from the front a bit to make the back easier to lift, then I shift to the back and push.

I always drag my boat onto the beach first. You can certainly back your trailer into the water if you want and the location suits. I'm always in salt water so I choose to use a little muscle to minimize the salt exposure to the trailer. A Wave is 'just' light enough it can be dragged with some effort solo. I tied a line from each side of the front crossbar to make the handhold more suitable to my height.

I de-mast it on the beach as well. That reduces it's weight a bit for the lift onto the trailer. Not a ton, but when your tired, every bit helps. I have yet to try raising or lowering the mast solo though. I've seen tricks to do it but it seems dangerous if you can avoid it. There is pretty much always someone on the shore willing to hold the mast forward with the halyard for a minute while I do the rest.

I also made some ladder like sliders from 2x6s and PVC tubing to slide the boat over when the terrain is too rough or too soft. With four of them, you can drag it almost any distance with very little effort. A few tubes on thier own will work as well. I just wanted less running from front to back.

I usually trailer my boat once or twice a year, and pretty much always do it solo. I find it works best to beach it first, to take off the mast and rudders, then it's pretty light for sliding onto the trailer. Raising & lowering the mast is really easy, but you can attach the halyard to the bridle as a helper line if you're worried. To separate the mast sections, leave the base attached to the ball, then pull and shake from the top end. I bungee the mast sections to the trailer.

I have a Thule roof-box which the sail and all other parts fit into perfectly for road trips or winter storage.

_________________
What - Me Worry?


2006 Hobie Wave 7358
"Ish Kabibble"

The wave is very manageable to get on a trailer at the boat ramp, which gets done about twice per week over the summer for me. When I get off the water, I park the Wave at the shoreline facing seaward, then drop the sail. After removing the crossbar/tiller beam, I use the halyard/bridle method to lower the mast, then detach the top half of the mast and place it on the tramp, shrouds still attached. Then a short walk over to the ramp, and I pull the boat solo onto the trailer, first from the end of the trailer and then from "inside" the trailer using the rear crossbar, axle crossbar and a forward crossbar on the trailer as foot leverage. The boat slides right on (I have sched 40 PVC conduit horizontal rollers with inside carpeted 2x4 guide rails running the length of the trailer). The upper mast remains bungeed on the trailer for the trip home, the wires get looped through some large carabiners attached to the straps, and the lower mast gets bungeed to foam cushions under the boat on the trailer crossbars. That way all the shrouds are still assembled to the hull and upper mast which speeds launching the next day. The bridle just loops around the mast ball and also stays attached to the hulls. Launching is essentially the opposite of retrieving, with all work being done at the shoreline (not on the trailer).
Likely switching to a T2 for 2015 and I'm hoping the whole launch/retrieve can be as simple! But of course the 26ft mast won't be separatable and the T2 will weigh just over 100lbs more!