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.................--- Why the Mac-Bump Possibly is Needed ---

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The following is my thoughts on what happens when you retrieve the boat and why you end up with a gap at the "V" block on the trailer at the bow of the boat. I need to have Ruth drive the tow vehicle once and actually watch the boat/trailer as it comes out of the water.

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Here the boat/trailer is about ready to come out of the water. Note that the bow is pulled up into the V-block. Even though the bow is out of the water it isn't hard to pull the boat to this point due to the bow roller down in the water, bottom arrow. What is critical to understanding all of this is look at the difference in where the boat is in relation to the trailer down in the water and up on land.

At this point the trailer is down at a considerable angle to the boat, evidenced by the fact that the trailer fenders are even under water. Most of the boat is still floating at this point.

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This is a close-up of the bow and the boat/trailer are still in the same location as the first picture. The bow is in the "V", but look how high it is in the "V". Watch the relationship of the PVC bunk tube and the black stripe on the boat. They are very close together...

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... and the boat looks like it should come out in the "V" and stay there, but....

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...it doesn't. The picture isn't great but there is now a couple inch gap between the bow and the "V" above. Note the boat is still on the roller, bottom arrow, but the gap between the PVC bunk tube and the black area on the boat is a lot wider now.

As the boat comes out of the water it finally contacts the first bunk behind the roller and settles against it. Then as the boat comes further out of the water it pivots on the first bunk and the bow raises, as seen above, and it settles on the back bunk. Since the bow slopes down when it raises it is further back in the area of the bow and the "V".

I think also that the winch strap is tight when you pull the boat forward, but not real tight as it doesn't take a lot to pull the boat to the "V" when most of it is still floating. Once the boat pivots back on the first bunk it puts a strain on the winch strap and it most likely tightens around the winch drum and pulls out some.

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Above you can see how far the double anchor roller brackets are above the PVC bunk tube. It appears there would never be contact there, but then looking back a few pictures you can see that when that tube is right next to the black stripe on the boat a problem develops especially if the anchors are on the rollers. The other problem on a steep ramp was when wincing the boat towards the bow before the bow roller on the trailer lifts the bow those roller brackets just ran into the tubes. The mod where I moved the tubes down solves all of that.

In the picture above you can see the boat is back from the "V" block on the trailer. The picture was taken after returning home from Florida. The boat road home like this ok, but rocked up and down on rough roads and I didn't like the loading and unloading of the bunks during those times.


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