TI Trailer Rev 2 - now in PVC!

I haven't been very happy with the fit of the TI cradles, there wasn't a place I could position them where they fit the hull very well at all. I also found that having the trailer extend past the rear cradle (I have three) didn't work out well when trying to load/unload with carts, even with a roller at the end.

Last night and this morning I started thinking - always a bad sign... So I spent the day tearing everything down and rebuilding.

I cut a bit over two feet off the end of the trailer (it's still longer than the 350-AIT model), moved the wheelset forward to reduce the tongue weight (oh that was a fun misadventure), and went with PVC bunks.

The PVC went well, but I needed something for the amas. Hm... I now have these cradles sitting around spare...! Wielded the hacksaw again, cutting off the ama portions of the cradles, and bolted them down to hold the amas a couple inches away from the main hull. Now I don't have to mess with padding between the amas and hull, and the hull straps hug the sides which seem more secure.

As expected, the venturi drains were in the way of the right side PVC bunk. I tried heating with a heat gun and pushing down on the PVC as Bob suggested but I wasn't successful. I got the PVC to where I could push it in but it would just go right back to the original position! I guess I needed it even hotter? I was already at 1150F on the gun, just an inch or so away! So I just swapped to the dremel and cut slots in the top for the drains to fit into. Worked fine, they slide on just fine but do try to hang when I am sliding the TI off. Might have to try trimming / shaping the trailing edge of my slot some.

My wheel set misadventure involved disassembling and reassembling the trailer TWICE! Argh... At first I was trying to hold the same cross piece spacing I had before, which meant I had to move the wheel set several feet forward. The calculations I found online suggested I should be okay so I went ahead and tried it. This had the wheel frame straddling the big splice in the center of the two tongue pieces so I had to remove EVERYTHING to get the necessary T-nuts in the right places! I get it all assembled - looked great - and slid the TI on for a test-fitting. Hey, just fine - but I wonder what the tongue weight is? Unhitched from the truck - and it pivoted back on its butt! Oops... So I got to disassemble everything AGAIN and put it all back in the original arrangement. At least by that point I realized with the PVC bunks I didn't need to keep the same cross piece spacing as before so slid the middle one forward some to allow the wheels to be a little over a foot forward of their original location.

I had never been very fond of the lights mounted on either side of the tongue, either that they were so close together or that they were so very low to the ground. Since I had shortened the tongue a couple feet I really didn't want them there again so I borrowed another idea from here (forget whose it was at the moment!) and put the lights on a 2x4 with a couple posts to keep it in position over the fishing rod holders. Looks good, and is far more visible!

Now I just need an afternoon to head back to the lake and try it out... The TI slides on the bunks VERY smoothly, I might even be able to keep the trailer wheels out of the water - or at least the bearings.

I like the setup. Why didn't you just mount the lights on the rear most crossbar instead of on the 2x4?

_________________
2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

I wanted to get them up higher. A bit more "in your face" for the inattentive idiots in SUVs...

Also, with the slightly shorter trailer I thought the tail of the TI could partially block the lights to anyone at an angle. Granted, that enormous rudder could do the same but it wouldn't be as bad.

I may be full of it there, but I haven't followed any other TIs to know how it looks... Suppose I could let someone drive my truck while I follow in something else, if the question bugs me too much...

Just curious. I know the trailer that my dealer is furnishing with my TI has lights almost directly behind the fenders.
http://www.selectsail.com/product/1213/

_________________
2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

I had the same concern about my trailer lights being visible so I mounted them on a frame above the boat. It looks like your rear crossbar is wide enough to do something like that if you get tired of rigging the lights.
Have you found that the new scupper drains are useful or necessary ? I'm planning to just remove them to avoid interference with the bunks.
- Chris

I did think about removing the speed drains, but I've never tried opening them while sitting on the water and not moving to see if the floor of the kayak is above or below water level. If it's above, I'd probably just remove them.

So far all I've really done with the drains is open them after I get back to shore. I keep forgetting they're there while on the water! One particularly splashy day that had me sitting in a puddle as I had the seat at the lowest setting and the area underneath was completely full. I had been wondering why I felt so cold, it wasn't until I got out at the ramp that I realized what was up.

The only problem with putting a frame over the boat is I would have to load/unload with the amas collapsed. I usually pull up to the ramp parking area, set everything up including extend amas and strap on hakas, then launch ready to go. Retrieve the same way.

However, looking again at the rear of the trailer I think putting the lights low at the end of the crossbar might not be too bad - they'd at least be away from the hull so not as easily obscured by angles. The idea didn't even occur to me last night, I got to the lights after 8 long hours of work on the trailer itself and all I had in my mind was to finish! So the only options I considered were what I'd already done - either side of the main boom - or what I'd seen in some pictures here - on a board across the top of the hull. I'll try this a while and see what I think. Rigging is easy, just lay the board across the back letting the pins (wood dowels about 1") slide in the fishing rod holders then plug in the trailer connector to the socket strapped to the cross member just below. I may need to strap it down, maybe a bungee around the hull, but it seems to be quite secure with the sail laying across it.

RJ,
It's a shame your 3 cradles didn't work out but it looks like your solution will work well. Nice job.

The third cradle needed to be positioned as far back as possible, right at the end of the trailer. In that position on my trailer it:
- supports the stern when transporting
- supports the cantilevered hull when unloading, making it easy to fit a cart
- supports the bow unloading/reloading
- lines up hull and ama for sliding straight onto the other cradles when reloading.



What are you going to do with your cradles? You could make a dolly cart out of one.

The PVC pipe bunks look to be a better alternative to cradles and are a much cheaper solution.
For 2015 AI owners they are also available now!

Yeah, I was originally going to put the third cradle at the very end of the trailer but that looked really silly on mine. In order to fit in the garage I had to get the bow right up to the coupler which meant the tail end of the SUT-350-S was right at the end of the main hull. It also did nothing at all for supporting the hull in that position. I had it moved forward about 2 ft just behind the rear seat where it supported the hull. I just cut off that extra 2ft - still a bit longer than the 350-AIT but not by much.

I added a roller at the end of the trailer boom but it wasn't wide enough. When sliding the boat onto a cart that narrow roller really distorted the hull. That was my primary motivation to change things up! The roller now functions as a bow roller, where it fits nicely.

I was going to simply shorten the trailer, but when I was laying under it Sunday morning I saw just how badly the TI sat on the cradles. I was never able to find a position where any of them would fit the hull well. Either one of the "ridges" that should fit the grooves was an inch or so off pushing a divot into the bottom or the outer portion was pushing a divot in the side. So I decided to try the PVC.

Not sure what I'll do with the remaining cradle set. I already bought Hobie's beach dolly so don't need one of those. Two of them were chopped up so I could use the ama portions on the current setup. I still have the third cradle and the fourth unused mate to it.

I just finished a PVC cradle for a 15 AI, and had the same issue with the PVC under the heat gun. I used a hack saw to create two slots to the depth i wanted into the PVC. One where i wanted the recess for the scupper to start, and one where i wanted it to end. Hittin' it with the heat gun and the non-business end of a screwdriver after that kept the PVC from rebounding.