Dart 15 Forums

Has anyone ever considered or undertaken adapting or converting a trailer from a trailer tent to carry their boat as well ?

Thanks,
Peter

Yes, Henry Clark of Swanage did that some years ago to carry 1543 on top of his trailer tent.
He no longer sails Sprint 15s as he has a Shadow these days but I can give you his EMail address if you Email me to request it out of the public domaign.
Cheers
Bob Carter

Peter,
A few years ago I saw a Trailer Tent on ebay that had been adapter to carry a Dart 18. Main thing was to increase the length on the "draw bar" bit on the trailer, with some diagonal bracing – so it can be done.

We've got a folding camper, and I keep looking of ways to put 1683 on top of it, but I've not managed yet - main problem being the length of the hulls vs the length of the unit (hulls over hang by about 1.5m at back and you need to get a frame sorted to support the boat above the folding bits of frame and canvas).

We end up with the hulls on the car roof, and then the beams, sails, wheels (and other stuff, bikes, a kayak etc) on top of the folding camper).

Cheers
Mike 1683

I think it was Steve Roberts (1910) who had a very tidy rack for his D 15 fitted to the top of his trailer tent, last seen at the 2005 Pwllheli Nationals.

Thanks for the replies so far chaps. Hopefully there will be some more!
From those that have been mentioned, were the boats transported on these modified trailers in assembled or broken down form?
I am particularly interested in transporting mine in an assembled mode as if it were on a normal trailer.

Thanks,
Peter

Peter,

It will require some good ole applied mathematics to get right. My simple job of extending an old camping trailer to take a tractor mower meant not only extending the bed and sides by 300mm but cutting off and rewelding the spring hangers further back to get the nose weight balance right.

The key thing is the length of the hulls and the clearance you need to give between the front of the hulls and the rear of the car to enable you to make turns properly. With bows forwards the hull weight will be largely towards the rear and axle position will be important.

You need to check the trailer suspension unit ratings to see if they will take the extra 70-80 kgs (ratings are per pair e.g. 250kg units take a total load of 250kg per pair of wheels). A lot of smaller trailers have lower ratings e.g. 150kg. If you extend the front A frame to give extra length you will probably have to reposition the wheels so you do not put too much weight on the hitch - and thus the back of the car. Some of the smaller tyres have quite a low weight limit as well.

Check out the AUTOW web site for trailer parts and spares - a lot of their parts have full dimensions and weights that might help you. I have used them a number of times and they have been excellent.

Check if your car manual gives any minimum and maximum trailer nose weights.

Steve W

Can anyone tell me where I can buy a mast support for a road trailer?

The mast support for the trailer which goes with 1520 is a bit wonky, ie where it is welded to the trailer.

Andrew.

Andrew,

Try ringing Autow on 01738 627272 .

Whilst they do not show a mast support on their web site they do state that mast supports are available for some of their boat trailers, worth a talk with them.

Has yours just broken free - is it worth welding? We build our own trailers for our patrol boats and weld them out of 2x2 and 1x2 box section steel and also do welding repairs on our boat trailers.

Steve

Hi Steve,

Thank you for the phone number.

Welding is a bit impractical for me. However, I notice some mast supports come with a flat base which can be U-bolted to the trailer.

Yes my 15 trailer has one like you describe.

It has a flat base plate with turned up ends (to stop it sliding out from the U bolts and special U bolts (i.e. not U but right angled - bolting to flat plate not round tube).

What worried me last year is that one of the turned up ends on the bottom plate broke off ! Must get round to welding it back on.

My 18 trailer has one that is welded to the main front trailer beam and also has a 2 foot angle bar from the main bar to the support to triangulate the load. I use that with a special bracket on the back of the box to bring all three masts home in the winter and it does sway about a bit

If you get no joy with autow Towsure might be able to help but they don'seem to do much marine stuff otherwise I know it is quite a round trip but we are doing some welding on and off at the club at present.

My MIG welder is probably a bit light for a deep weld on the trailer but Chris Stafford and Dave Lincoln do arc welding so if you are interested I could ask them - send me a photo of the problem piece if you can get one to ssc at ehvpa dot com

Steve

Does anyone know where I can buy some of that polystyrene stuff that we stick onto the cups of our standard wheel trollies? How should it be stuck, glue or sticky carpet-backing strips?

Is it a Windsport item? I can't see it mentioned.

Andrew.

I used to use the thin foam sold by Millets as campbeds. I presume that they are still available. They were about £5 and one campbed is just big enough to do one trolley.
I'm pretty sure that is what is on 1818's trolley.
Cheers
Bob

Bob Carter wrote:I used to use the thin foam sold by Millets as campbeds. I presume that they are still available. They were about £5 and one campbed is just big enough to do one trolley.
I'm pretty sure that is what is on 1818's trolley.
Cheers
Bob

Yep Argos do them as well at £5 (item: 340/5712). Worked well on my trolley which I did just before the nationals.

Martin S.

Hi Andrew

I am sure we have had this question before!

If you look at my trolley (next to you in the boat park) there is some blue nylon carpet on the cups. I have some spare in my garage, which you can have. Otherwise, Geoff Keane carpets in Woodgrange Drive, will have offcuts for free. That will last years longer than the foam.

Go to Homebase/B&Q and buy a can of spray-on glue, and raid your wife's clothes peg supply, or buy large clip on clothes pegs.

Cut the carpet with an inch or so overlap all round. Spray generously and glue the carpet on and peg the overlaps.

Had I known you wanted the foam, I would have saved the old bits I cleared out of the garage last weekend!

Duncan Ford TBYC 1973