Home › Forums › Bass Cat Boats › Keel centering roller on Sabre trailer
JBsSabre1.
I know that this has been discussed before but I can not find it. I am having the hardest time getting my boat on the trailer right. Aways miss the bow stop. Single axle trailer. Thinking about adding a keel centering roller. Any thoughts.
Sounds to me like you’re trying to load the boat on the trailer with the trailer to deep. The bunk boards should be guiding you straight unless you’re coming in at it too much angle.
I have a 2009 Sabre with a single axle trailer here is how I load: Back the trailer in until the outer bunks are barely under water. With the square nose of the boat the center line of the hull is further to the port side and does not align with the square nose. I attempt to hit the center of the trailer bunks with the center of the hull, pause and let the trailer center the boat then make sure the motor is straight and then power to the bow roller. The only way I can possible miss the bow roller is if like Phil said I have the trailer in too deep.
The nose is off center of the hull. I used a piece of bright yellow duct tape and put it on my trolling motor bracket to give me a visual of where the center of the boat is. Line up the tape, load her up!
Don
Don when I had a sabre ftd I didnt realize the nose was off center till I hit the water with it the first time. Cool feature for the trolling motor. I used to always lean towards the middle of the boat while loading and line up the center compartment latches and seat post hole in a row.
Thanks for the replays, I do back my boat down to get the bunks wet before I try to load. I will be sure to check where the bunks are in the water before I load. Some where I have a picture of a Sabre being loaded. I have checked it out. Only problem with picture is the water is calm, no other boat traffic. I don’t see a wave boat anywhere in the picture sending a 3 foot roller on to the ramp. I think maybe the boat like Phil says is too low in the water and the motor is not straight. The tape thing is a good idea. I will try these and if other have suggestion please post. Thanks John
I agree with Phil. Occasionally, I have to load mine (solo) at Conroe with rollers crashing in on the ramp. When this happens, I definitely stop my trailer short on the ramp. Probably a foot shorter. With a Fury, Tempest, or Bravo I can still powerload stopping the trailer shorter in the water without a problem. The waves will give you a push. No way I’d put my trailer deep in this scenario.
I was up at Guntersville march-april a year ago. We had two problems going on:
(1) significant wind blowing toward the launch ramp, which was producing some significant waves;
(2) idiots that do NOT understand what “no wake” means. It does NOT mean run WOT right up to the no-wake sign and then chop the throttle. It means your wake should NOT go beyond that point in any significant way. Yet there was major boat traffic around the ramp (there was a bass tournament going on so it was lots of “our friends” that were guilty.
I watched a guy back too far in, pulled his boat up on the trailer, and watched a big roller pick the boat up and turn it sideways and drop it on the trailer. Don’t know what it did to the bunks or boat, but the only good news was that with the big rolling waves coming in, several of us were able to wade into the cold water and catching a wave just right and pushed the boat back around to where it was supposed to be. And we continued to hold it on the trailer until he could pull out.
Moral: Don’t back in too deep. If conditions are bad, ramp is way steep, etc, don’t back in as far, get the boat started up on the bunks so that is not floating freely. You can always have your helper back in a little more once you have the boat stabilized. Launch/recover enough and you will develop a feel for how deeply you need to back in, whatever the conditions. Any time the bow comes in under the roller, you are in too far. If you can’t get the eye up to the roller, you are in too shallow. I change the back-in depth, even at the SAME ramp, if conditions change. Really calm water, I will back in deeper and barely need to touch the power to contact the roller, for example.
Lots of things are different with a BassCat. The offset nose (a great idea for being able to easily back up a boat using the trolling motor) makes it look a little offset. The T.M. position is far forward and takes getting used to. Ditto for loading the boat on the trailer. It can make you look like an old pro once you get it right. It can make you look like an idiot until you do. 🙂
Oldtimer57, I am way older than most. I will reach 80 in January and fish a lot by myself. I don’t intend to give up bass fishing until it is God’s will. I know each time we launch it is a different time and different water conditions. I am probably rushing getting my boat on the trailer. You know the issue with water conditions. Thanks for you input. I also enjoy your post on running your boat. It is very helpful. Gotten to know CB_SabreFT D18 though Text He know how to really run a Sabre. Now back to my problem. I want to clime out of the look like an idiot group into the old pro group, I will use the information that you all have given me and go from there. Thanks again, John
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