GP14 Technical - Trailers & Trolleys
Off My Trolley - Or - Is a GP14 Heavy?
I wondered what I had let myself in for when I offered to do a comparative report on the various trolleys used for GP14s.
With over 100 GP's berthed on the Welsh Harp, we have most of the common names (although not all of these are still in business) - Elite, Hallmark, Rapide, Snipe, Sovereign, West Mersea, as well as many of the old types and quite a few DIY one-offs.
Somewhat daunted by the task, I wandered round the boat park on a busy afternoon pestering anyone who would give me advice and, for starters, measuring from the backs of boats to the axles of the trolleys to see if there was much variation. The owner of a bit of unpreposessing inronmongery, modestly explaining that it was something he had cobbled together, invited me to lift his boat. I was amazed how feather-light his GP was to lift compared with my own. I went round the boat park again, this time lifting as well as measuring, and the penny began to drop. The longer the measurement is from the back of the boat to the axle, the nearer the boat is to actually being balanced on its trolley, the better balanced it is, the easier to lift.
A Balancing Act
One of the biggest beefs mentioned by boat owners in the recent questionnaire is the weight of the GP Fourteen out of water. Energy wasted holding up the weight of the front of the boat, is energy that could be better used pulling it along. All the boats I lifted were nose-heavy, some excessively so. I decided to speak to the experts to find out why, and what could be done about it, and spokesmen for Sovereign, West Mersea, Snipe and Indespension, who make Hallmark, were kind enough to share their expertise.
Manufacturers both large and small have many compromises to make - in two main areas. The first is standardisation versus bespoke. Costs can obviously be saved if a trolley can be made to fit many different types of boats with minor adjustments. Many trolleys therefore, have simple struts set above the axle, which adjust easily to the shape of the GP, with perhaps a roller supporting the keel. They do not always, however, support the GP on the ideal spot for a good balance.
The other area of compromise is that of trolley versus trailer. When the trolley is designed to be part of a combi for transporting the boat, it is important to have the wieght of the boat distriubuted as evenly as possible between all three supports - the bow, the front and the main support. Therefore, the centre of gravity of the boat (the balance point) inevitable ends up forward of the main support and of the trolley axle.
Fellow club member, Don Williamson, who used to make trolleys in the 70's suggested a very simple solution to the problem of a heavy GP - make sure you don't pull the boat all the way up to the bow support when you pull it onto its trolley. It's quite easy to find the balance point of your particular boat on you particulary trolley. Unfortunately this may mean, as it does with my boat, that you can't open the self bailers while the boat is on the berth, a distinct irritation, as the self-bailer wells in the new Estaugh/Holt GP14 fill up with rain water which breeds slime. If this solution would work for you, howver, cheap metal spacer brackets are available from West Mersea to set the nose support 6 or 10 inches further aft. The solution is to buy a dolly-wheel (jockey-wheel), supplied buy all the manufacturers. Some of the trolleys have a round slot already moulded on to receive a dolly-wheel; otherwise there are bolt-on varieties. West Mersea also supplies a more expensive dolly-wheel which comes with a handle. This gives extra leverage and is excellent for pulling the boat along, though not so good in reverse. It is especially useful if you have back problems, as the handle adjusts to the natural angle of your arm.
Other ways to improve trolley performance are to keep the wheels well oiled and the tyres pumped up, especially if you have to launch over sand or shingle. If your handles don't already have one it is useful to insert a screw or rivet to stop them twisting round to the wrong position - or worse, coming off completely halfway up the slipway!
Rock-a-Bye Baby
Sovereign and West Mersea have both designed wide cradles which follow closely the shape of the GP14. These have an added advantage that they are set behind the axles of the trolleys. This helps spread the load while travelling and also means that they are not so high off the ground, so launching and recovery are easier. sovereign uses moulded resin covered with carpet like material, West Mersea softens its GRP cradle with a type of dense foam. Their cradle also projects up a few inches round the sides of the boat, useful for recovery in side winds or cross currents and giving extra security when trailing.
There is no doubt that these cradles are superior in terms of support for the boat, but there have been problems with the blue foam which was used initially be West Mersea, as this was causing blistering of the gel-coat on the bottom of the FRP GP's. I'm not clear whether the black foam used subsequently has been any better; I do know of one person who claims to have blistering where the trolley touches the boat. The early blue foam trolleys should all by now have had rigid rubber mat glued on to prevent this, but the rubber does tend to stick to the bottom of the boat when you're trying to launch and it marks the bottom of the boat. Take a stiff brush to this matting occasionally to stop the ridges blocking up with dirt and water deposits and preventing the circulation of air.
The Sovereign covering material doesn't cause blistering, and the only drawback is that it tends to rub through after a few years and may need replacing or covering with carpeting of you own. Robert O'Neil, who make the Sovereign combi-trailers suggests that the very best material for covering the cradle is Astroturf and that although this is very expensive, it can be purchased in squares sold as doormats! However, Mike Corduff from West Mersea warned that a stone could be easily overlooked in this material, with dire consequences to the bottom of you boat. If you decide on carpet, Rob advised using a cord-type carpet, no pile, and to make sure the groves are running lengthways along the cradle to drain moisture to the lowest point under the centre of the boat.
My thanks to all who gave advice. If you have any suggestions or ideas how the trolley - probably the least loved part of the boat - could be improved, please write in and tell us.
Liz Hall
BTYC Sailsports, Welsh Harp.