Dart 15 Forums

Being new and having really enjoyed our 'home' TT at Stewartby, I would like to travel to some more.
I am in need of a road trailer before I do, as I have already bent the roof rails slightly car topping the boat when I bought it home in scary wind, and would feel safer trailing.

I have found a Dart 18 trailer at an affordable price not too far away, I have searched the forum, and found a few posts that say a 15 will fit fine on an 18 trailer, and another that says it needed altering prevent wheel rub on the hull.

Any definitive advice?

Also any tips on fixing boat down to trailer, where to tie across, where does the trolley go [won't easily go in an astra saloon] you all packed away to quick for me to see what you did!

If I am sorted I may make Carsington.

Thanks Mark

I think wheel rub will depend on how far apart the wheels are on the axle.

I tie the boat where the rear support (bit that the boat rests on) is touching the hull (about where the skegs are) with one long ratchet strap, then again at the front support with 2 straps, one for each hull. The trolley sits upside down about a foot from the bow, tied down to a beam on the trailer chassis. This holds fine, just need to make sure they are fairly tight.

Mark ,
if you have found an affordable trailer I would go for it . A Dart 15 should fit on an 18 trailer , especially if the out riggers are adjustable . Mine has adjustable out riggers , the part that the hull sits on . You could always measure inside hull distance and check out measurements on trailer . Good luck and hopefully see you at Carsington .
Cheers
Derek

Hi Mark,
Afraid I'm not too much of an expert on dart 18 vs 15 trailers - except to say that I have possibly the biggest trailer ever to convey a sprint 15 (it came with the boat, but could easily carry an F18 or bigger) and there's still plenty of clearance between the mudguards and inner hull - so I guess it just depends on the specific trailer design as much as the size of boat it was built for.

I prefer rope to ratchet straps, but I think I'm in the minority there. My reasoning is:
- Ratchet straps have metal buckles that can chip gelcoat
- If you don't arrange straps carefully (e.g. forget to put in half a twist where they span some distance) they can oscillate in the passing air and chafe themselves or parts of your boat.
- Ratchet straps can catastrophically fail with little warning when they age, usually at the stitching.

I tie one long length of rope right across the boat and back again between the rear supports (which sit 6-8 inches in front of the skegs). I have a loop (bowline) in one end and feed the other end through this to achieve some purchase and get things tight (without going mad). At the front, I have two shorter lengths that I take over each bow and tie down to the front supports - again with bowlines in each end to get some purchase. I have pieces of chopped-up Ikea doormat that I place under these ropes at corners to prevent chafing.

Finally, I have two separate ropes that I take from each side of the front beam forwards to the front trailer supports. These stop the boat sliding backwards. The shape of the hulls and the position of the other ties already ensure it can't slide forwards.

I rest my trolley upside down on top of the hulls, about half way between front beam and tip of the bow - directly over the front trailer supports. It sits at a slight angle, but once tied down to the trailer support it won't budge - not very aerodynamic though.

Another thing to think about is a sufficiently wide lighting board and means to mount it on the transoms (unless the trailer has its own mounting under the boat for this purpose). When sitting on a trailer, the transoms point upwards by 10-20 degrees, so your trailer lights will be optimised for low flying aircraft. If you can improvise a method to get the lighting board vertical (I have bodged some wedge-shaped wooden brackets) it makes best use of the slightly feeble light emitted by the average trailer light unit.

That's my 10p worth - others with more 15 towing experience may know better.

Cheers
David

Mark wrote:Being new and having really enjoyed our 'home' TT at Stewartby, I would like to travel to some more.

I have found a Dart 18 trailer at an affordable price not too far away, I have searched the forum, and found a few posts that say a 15 will fit fine on an 18 trailer, and another that says it needed altering prevent wheel rub on the hull.

Any definitive advice?

Also any tips on fixing boat down to trailer, where to tie across, where does the trolley go [won't easily go in an astra saloon] you all packed away to quick for me to see what you did!

If I am sorted I may make Carsington.

Thanks Mark

Hi Mark
Almost all makes of trailers made for the Dart 18 can also be used for the Sprint 15. The one I had (made by Lizard trailers) did not have rollers but had rubber pads which the boat rested on and it was made to accommodate the Stampede (Dart 20), the Dart 18 and the Spark (Sprint 15). The trailer board fitting was drilled for all 3 pintel widths and the bar which went to the towing hitch was adjustable so the length of the rig could be shortened* for shorter boats such as the Sprint 15. This is true for most types of trailer.
Cheers
Bob
* If you get such a trailer and choose to shorten the length make sure that you do not do as Steve Sawford did - he shortened his so much that when he turned a tight corner the bow of the boat coud hit the wing of his car. One day it jack-knifed whe he was reversing and he got a Sprint 15 shaped dent in the rear wing of his Mondeo

Here's my two penn'orth.
If you are tying the boat down across it's width with heavy duty ratchet staps, beware making them too tight. They are very powerful and if cranked on too tight can crush the boat.
For a lighting board check out Indespension, a national trailer company (so there's sure to be one fairly close at hand). They will sell you a 7foot model for around 40 notes which can be drilled to slot over the rudder pintles and tied on to the top rudder brackets to stop it falling off over rough ground.
Hope to see you at Carsington on Saturday.
I see you went to Stewartby for your first TT. Hope you enjoyed it. How about an article on how it went for the Magazine. I'd be forever in your debt! E-mail me direct at: newsletter@sprint15.com
Best regards,