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PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 7:36 am 
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Hi all!

Has anyone gotten a trailer jack other than the Trailex for their Hobie TI trailer? Or a spare tire carrier for that matter? They both seem quite pricey, but I'm not sure if others will fit properly on the trailer. I see jacks listed on Overton's for starting around $50, the Trailex is $109. And I'm finding it very hard to understand why the spare tire carrier is more than the spare tire... ($51!!!)

BTW, you're going to tell me I don't need a jack, that the trailer is light. Now that I've gotten it and tried dragging it & the TI around my slightly tilted backyard, my shoulder begs to differ. Yes, a summer of this and I might have arms...

Other q's: Should I mount a roller of some sort on the back end of the trailer (I don't see how to attach photos here, is it allowed?) to keep that raw edge of the trailer away from the boat as it's launched/retrieved? (I would like to arrange this so that I could do this alone if I necessary.) Also, when I brought the boat home, the V-stand on the bottom of the tongue scrapped the tilt in the driveway coming in--is there any reason I shouldn't remove that if I get the jack? The other thought is to flip the ball hitch mount upside down on the car so that it's raised a bit. Does that throw off the driving balance?

Thanks for any advice!


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 11:18 am 
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Moondancer, you can see a picture of my Trailex double AI trailer here: http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7276&start=435 Scroll down toward the bottom of that page. Personally, I'm not going to add a jack to mine--that will just add more weight, and to move your trailer w/ boat, you may still need some kind of dolly. I guess you are thinking that at least you will not have to lift the tongue off the ground to the ball on your car. True. And, maybe with a jack, you can roll it into your garage or shelter a bit easier. Probably true.

The v-brace on the end of the tongue is 6" off the ground on my trailer when it is hooked up to my 4-Runner. It will not take a gouge out of my driveway. I'm not sure why yours did that--too low obviously. As you say, you can turn your ball hitch insert over to raise the tongue up. The v-brace can certainly be removed if you go for a jack.

Yes, Trailex tire holder is expensive (what isn't nowadays). Adding a tire holder + tire to your trailer will make it heavier--again. The tires are so small that I simply throw the spare in my 4-Runner.

My Trailex trailer with cradles installed does not have a "raw edge" to scrape our AIs as they are launched/loaded. What are you using to support your TI on your trailer?

You can definitely put pictures (very helpful) into posts on this forum. Hobie does not "host" pictures; therefore, you must use some photo hosting service like Photobucket.com (free for a limited, but generous number). Then, get a "direct link" to your photo, paste that link into your Hobie forum post, and wrap it in Img code, e.g., [img]direct-link[/img]. I'm going to put some very specific instructions in the thread mentioned at the top of this post.

Keith

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"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 1:40 pm 
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Location: Southwest Calif.
To answer one part of your question,Harbor Freight has a trailer dolly which is a great way to move your loaded trailer around after dehitching it from the tow vehicle.

http://www.harborfreight.com/heavy-duty ... 60533.html

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 2:17 pm 
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Location: Delaware
I have this one: http://www.westmarine.com/trailer-jacks/fulton--1000-lb-swivel-jack--7869860

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This works great for me as I only use it on pavement/concrete. If your backyard is firm it may work well, the wheel is 6" X 2". I manuever the boat/trailer with the jack handle. Actually, now that I have a winch as well I often grab both the jack and winch handles when moving it around.

I found no better option for me so bought the spare tire/mount from Trailex - pricey but more or less perfect for the purpose.


Edit: Here is a pic from my winch post that shows the jack mounted: (The spare tire is just past the jack mounted to the bottom of the tongue)

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 2:47 pm 
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Hi, Thanks for the uploading info, I'm going to try it here. The way my yard is, I have to pull straight in with the car & trailer, and then uncouple and put the trailer into its storage position next to the garage in the grass, so there's a lot of maneuvering of the trailer off the car. You can also see here how the center post of the trailer extends back beyond the rear crossbar with the taillights. I didn't put the trailer together, btw, the dealer did. I'm not really happy with the open ends of the posts. Is that right?


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 3:18 pm 
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Location: Delaware
Moondancer wrote:
I'm not really happy with the open ends of the posts. Is that right?

I can't say that I consider it "right", but that's the way it is. I have had a couple leg scrapes during the years I've had mine. I make myself take extreme care around them when wearing my dry suit :evil: You would think they could come up with some caps or plugs for them.


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 3:27 pm 
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I didn't get a trailer manual with the trailer, but looking at the 350-S manual on the Trailex website, they have a rear roller mounted. I wonder if it was left off mine. Also, the bottom bracket holding the 2 parts of the center post together does not look like the instructions, which have the plates all centered over the join. The bottom plate looks shifted too far forward. I may have to give the dealer a call on the roller.


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 5:18 pm 
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Location: Delaware
I don't know if that part is different or not, but if you have the Hobie model trailer, the correct assembly sheet is the 350 AIT not the 350 S.

http://trailex.com/Instructional%20Sheets/SUT-350-AIT.pdf


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 6:30 pm 
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Location: Forster, NSW, Australia
Everything I have read states that the cradles should be 67 inches apart centre to centre. Your front cradle seems way too far forward.

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2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 6:34 pm 
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The SUT-350-AIT manual provided by Herbaldew shows the completed trailer to be very different from your set up, Moondancer. Clearly, whoever set up your trailer, did NOT follow those directions. It is fairly obvious that your rear lights should not be so close together--even if they are legal(?), they do not delineate the corners of your trailer. Also, the tongue should not be extending more than an inch or 2 beyond the end of your cradle cross bar. The parts are all there. Your trailer has just been assembled incorrectly. Take it back to the dealer with the correct pictures, maybe the whole copy of the manual, and ask them to assemble it correctly. Bummer, but it can easily be corrected.

I like the SUT-350-AIT manual; much better than the manual that came with my double AI trailer.

Tony--I know the cradles should be 67" for the AI, but are they the same for the TI? The SUT-350-AIT manual does show them much closer together than Moondancer's picture.

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2014 10:59 am 
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Thanks everyone, I realized I don't have a picture of the TI sitting on the trailer, I'll take one and compare to everyone's setup and measure the gap.

So I spoke to Trailex (Hobie told me to call them) who said the dealer did not put the trailer together properly—as far as the cradles, I'll need to check the (AIT) manual and measure, but they also did not properly place the bottom bracket holding the center posts together, and left off the amber front lights completely. As far as the rear lights, apparently Trailex was mounting them centered as shown on mine, and recently switched to the wide mounting as seen in the AIT manual, but as they assured me both are legal, I'll leave those lights where they are now. My husband can do wiring, and rather than bring the trailer back down to Brick to have them redo it, they will send us the missing parts for the amber lights. And I will reposition the connection brackets and, if needed, the cradles. (I feel like sliding them back a bit so the center post isn't sticking out.) BTW, they don't do a rear roller on that trailer as sold.

Not happy at all with the dealer. When I picked up the boat, the balance due at first included an extra trailer... that took quite some time to get cleared up. Then I realized that they hadn't given me the cert. of origin, and after, when I went to get a plate at DMV, it turned out it wasn't filled out properly, it showed the dealer as owner and no sales tax info. I drove back (over an hour, and Saturday Shore traffic for fun), and the person who "helped" me argued the whole time about how I "should just go to another line at DMV" and how the mistake "wasn't done by me." DMV had given me a bill of sale form for the dealer to fill out, and he gave me grief about doing it. (And yes, when I went back to the DMV they wanted that.) And this after buying, what, probably the most expensive kayak they sell?

Hoping we'll be able to fix it all up by Saturday and actually take the boat out on Sunday, Godwilling & the creek don't rise...


Last edited by Moondancer on Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:39 am, edited 2 times in total.

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2014 11:11 am 
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BTW, torque wrench, don't have one. Any particular style of these things better for using on these trailers?
There's a "needle" style one on Amazon that just is making me think of Game of Thrones... :wink:


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2014 12:07 pm 
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Location: Forster, NSW, Australia
Moondancer, firstly, I believe I have seen it here that the cradle spacing for both the TI and AI is around 67 inches. It certainly is on my trailer.

Secondly, I believe your experience with your dealer justifies a formal letter of complaint to them, followed by sending a copy to Hobie if the dealer does not give you a satisfactory response. Hobie goes to a lot of trouble to produce good products, and backs it up with very ethical warranty behaviour, and I am sure they would not appreciate a dealer behaving poorly, even if the trailer is not manufactured by Hobie themselves. It is in their catalogue after all.

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:10 pm 
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Yeah, really. Well I'm hoping we get it in the water on Sunday. A friend recommended Round Valley reservoir in NJ and it looks like a nice quiet place for a shakedown. Deep tho! I immediately got mirage leashes.


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PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 9:03 pm 
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Well. I finally sat down with the trailer and the assembly manual. Not only were the cradles too far apart, and the center post brackets not properly connected, the wheel assembly was on the wrong side! On top, instead of under the center post!!! And the front cradle needed to be moved behind the join, the entire assembly need to be moved back, and by the time we got all that done it was dark, and we'll have to do the front lights another day. I want to actually try the boat out tomorrow and not work on the trailer ...

But the dealer will be hearing from me. I am absolutely staggered at the amount of time and work it's taken to deal with this.

It would have been better to just put it together myself. BTW, I didn't see an actual number in the manual, but I spaced the cradles at 67 inches from the back of the front cradle to the front of the back cradle. Hope that's right for the TI, seems to look right.

And now I know why the bottom bracket was off center: since they put the back part of the tongue the wrong way around, the grommet for the wiring to exit was in the front of the tongue section, and not the back. So the bottom bracket wouldn't slide past the grommet, and they left it that way...


Last edited by Moondancer on Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:21 am, edited 2 times in total.

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