Post by sullyI haven't hauled a valuable shell in a long time, but I still believe
in
tying inside, go from structure inside the shell and tie to rack,
then
add ties over the top.
You can tie too tight and damage your hull. More strap at lighter
pressure is better than heavily tightened shell.
Modern shells don't have a lot of places that you can tie on the
inside, what with watertight compartments and all, there's just not
that many things you can tie to.
Properly cured carbon fibre/honeycomb/aramid hulls are are quite
strong - and the arch is one of the strongest structures in
engineering. If you tie with the straps limiting sideways movement of
the gunwale on the trailer, you can cinch down quite hard because the
arch formed by the hull supports itself and the straps buttress the
gunwales to provide more strength. If a modern boat is damaged by
tying to the trailer, then either you're doing it wrong, or you need
to talk to the manufacturer about better curing of resins. (One
sculler I used to coach had a boat that was built in the maker's early
days of synthetics, and after every trip, his boat would have new
welts from where the straps made indentations - that's a manufacturing
problem with inadequate hardness in the resins.) Wooden boats, yes,
they can be damaged by tying too hard over the hull, 'speshully' if
they're single-skin, non-fibre reinforced - but if you're transporting
one of those, it ain't likely going for a race, and you'd crate it up
for the museum. (CD boats excepted) Natural varnishes, heaps of wear
from straps over the hull.
Singles are a different kettle of fish - most of the tie-down is done
either at the bow or stern decks, or both - we used to use a rubber-
padded wooden "VEE" board made from 2x4 or 2x3 taped to the trailer,
with the "vee" cut out so that the sides of the boat would be in
contact, and the deck-stringer down the middle would not be in contact
with the frame of the trailer. Or, we'd loop above and below the
decking, and suspend the single between racks. Most of the time we'd
tie the boat down at the knees, or where the rigger bolts on (if it's
a wing), and use a "vee" or slinging for the bow. However - it bears
repeating, most newer boats won't suffer if you're tying them down
quite hard to a trailer. Newer singles with the rounded decking need
to be supported so that the decking isn't crushed to the trailer.
As you remark about checking the chains and hitch - we've recently
witnessed a school's trailer coming apart - the steel bits going from
the main trailer frame to the hitch/jack end of the unit broke off at
the welds joining the frame to the front end. Fortunately the trailer
was parked, still attached to the truck, with a bunch of kids crawling
on it to unload the trailer. A couple of weeks later, said trailer
jackknifed and ended up on its side on the highway from Auckland to
Karapiro - destroying both of the school's Hudson 8+'s and a few other
boats, writing off the trailer, and "shaking and stirring" the driver,
who was otherwise unhurt - although his Ranger wasn't in good shape -
not big enough to pull a rowing trailer.
So - to add to Sully's comments, check that there aren't any apparent
cracks on stressed bits of the trailer. Check that the hitch-ball is
tight and that the hitch is securely attached to the frame of the
vehicle (implies using a vehicle that still has a frame).
Try to avoid bumper - attached towing bars - they break (now, how
would I know that?)
Make sure the chains cross underneath, and don't drag on the pavement
- it's no use to anyone if you use a 3000 km road trip to grind off a
couple of chain links.
When you start up, check your trailer brakes (if you have a brake
controller in the tow vehicle) by putting the vehicle in gear,
starting gently, and manually activating the trailer brake. They
should at the very least slow you down, and ideally bring you to a
reasonably quick stop from about 5 km/h, but common sense needs to be
practiced - ease the brake on, no slamming.
Make sure the signals, running lights, brake lights, and clearance
lights all work - at least once a day on long trips.
Ensure that there's a light on the farthest-back part of the load.
Fluorescent orange fabric flagging taped or tied to the bits and
pieces that stick out behind the trailer, and I used to like to have a
red tie-down strap hanging almost to the ground from a couple of boats
at the rear, also, to suggest to drivers behind that it wasn't
necessarily good to drive up too close.
Carry safety vests for the vehicle crew to aid visibility when
checking the load
carry those little break-down safety triangles in case you do end up
stranded on the side of the road - and place them so they start at
least 100-150 m down the road from you so people have a chance to
react.
Could go on. A good clinic on hauling rowing shells is a good idea -
and people who drive big trucks need special tutorials on pulling
because they're not used to the big overhang and wide swing of the
bows in tight turning. (we once had a truck-driver parent pull boats,
but managed to knock a bow off a boat with a lamp-post because he
forgot that rowing trailers behave differently from semi-trailers).
Gotta go... Cheers
W
