Trailer for catamaran

[Vy511]

I'm thinking of having a trailer build for my Lagoon 400.
Any advice? Specs available?

[leboyd]

I may not understand the question. A Lagoon 400 is over 21' wide. Any load over 16' (in the US) requires TONS of permits and special things (like when you can travel and possibly requiring the cost of road closures). Are you really wanting a trailer or are you want to put the boat on the hard?

[Tupaia]

https://youtu.be/zINQKAWl1yM

[Vy511]

Originally Posted by leboyd

I may not understand the question. A Lagoon 400 is over 21' wide. Any load over 16' (in the US) requires TONS of permits and special things (like when you can travel and possibly requiring the cost of road closures). Are you really wanting a trailer or are you want to put the boat on the hard?

I'm in Mexico so the permit and special things don't apply here
And the trailer will stay here - home port, San Carlos Sonora
Yes, it's mostly to put the boat on the hard in case a hurricane comes around. Marinas are full and hauling out a cat isn't too commun here. Only one guy can do it and he's got the worse reputation (rip off).
It's just to get the boat out of the water to marina seca.

[catsketcher]

To launch my cat I got four box trailer axles (two under each hull) and welded each two together with 50mm angle. It was very agricultural and could not steer. It had two long pieces of angle that were an A frame for the draw bar. To turn the whole thing just sort of warped a bit. It was fingers crossed the whole thing would not just fall apart.

The axles were underdone and bent a bit. So when I pulled the boat out to finish her I added reinforcements to the axles. The whole shebang got the shell into the water (I ran out of money and had to launch and go back to work), then out again (I had some money) and in again (when sort of finished for cruising).

You could do something similar but most people who make their own find an old flat bed
truck chassis and get someone to weld a frame on top. You are stuck with a big structure (mine was pull apart) but you can use the truck steering to turn the whole shebang. Tow it with a tow truck or big 4x4. Two people I know did this and some mum and dad boatyards had a similar setup. As long as the area is flat and you can do it without police hassling you, this is what I would do now. If I was near you I would ask to go halvies so I could use it too. Move the boat where you want and then jack it up and off for storage. Good quality secondhand chassis and nice frame would be very strong. I have seen some awfully dodgy ones carry lots of weight but it would be good to do a good job carrying a nice cat (carrying it from under the bridgedeck of course).

cheers

Phil

[ggray]

When our Voyage 430 was hauled from factory to port (and most other cats built in Capetown) she was carried by what was basically a flatbed trailer ( a low one) with multiple landing gear legs mounted inverted on the trailer.

Landing gear legs are what are mounted about 10 feet back from the front end of a road trailer to support the trailer when not hitched to a truck, and these could be individually cranked (raised) to contact and raise the bridgedeck of the catamaran being moved.

These legs are quite common and numerous so are reasonable in cost. You could probably find used ones.

[NevilleCat]

I have hauled on a flatbed style but simply had gal I beams all the way across so 25 feet or so, that way, with some timbers perhaps or tyres it will sit on the keels. (It was a set up for big fishing boats)

[Sand crab]

The specs say that boat weighs more than 22,000 pounds so a beefy trailer is needed. Can it be lifted by the bridgedeck?

[valhalla360]

On our Gemini when we hauled, they just used a flatbed trailer with 6x6 wood beams crosswise at the hull support points (and this is consistent with factor deliveries).

Obviously, yours is wider and heavier but the same principal should work if you are just pulling out at the yard and going no where.

For storage, you could put stands under the beams to give the trailer more stability if a storm rolls thru.

PS: at 21ft wide, I wouldn't count on there being no rules in Mexico. That's basically taking all of a two-lane two-way road, so you will be creating an issue.

[leboyd]

Originally Posted by Vy511

I'm in Mexico so the permit and special things don't apply here
And the trailer will stay here - home port, San Carlos Sonora
Yes, it's mostly to put the boat on the hard in case a hurricane comes around. Marinas are full and hauling out a cat isn't too commun here. Only one guy can do it and he's got the worse reputation (rip off).
It's just to get the boat out of the water to marina seca.

If it's just to haul out (and you are going to keep it on the trailer while out of the water), you have lots of options.

An easy one that I would look at first is using a heavy duty flat bed (even an 18 wheeler if the launch/haul site was deep enough) and put heavy duty cross members (long enough to go under the hulls). The cross members could be metal or they could be wood (like 10"x10"). Nothing fancy.

If you're in shallower water, you could build it so the cross members had a drop after the width of the trailer, where the hulls are lower than the trailer bed (but you have to be high enough that nothing on the bottom of the boat hits the trailer.

Depending on how many times I was going to do this (1x for 10 years? 5x for 10 years?) and how long it would sit on the trailer (the longer, the more the cross members might sag), I'd overbuild it.

Good luck

[John_Trusty]

Remember these cruising cats are designed to be weight-bearing on the stub keels, not the bridgedeck. Is the bridgedeck structure strong enough to allow the hulls to hang? Perhaps, but it would be safer to work with the design and support from below and keep the bridgedeck joints in compression only. I have not tried to ramp-launch such a large item, but I would consider Catsketcher's plan - rig two separate boxes with wheels to support each keel and make sure the hull does not come off of the center of those boxes.

[Vy511]

Originally Posted by catsketcher

To launch my cat I got four box trailer axles (two under each hull) and welded each two together with 50mm angle. It was very agricultural and could not steer. It had two long pieces of angle that were an A frame for the draw bar. To turn the whole thing just sort of warped a bit. It was fingers crossed the whole thing would not just fall apart.

The axles were underdone and bent a bit. So when I pulled the boat out to finish her I added reinforcements to the axles. The whole shebang got the shell into the water (I ran out of money and had to launch and go back to work), then out again (I had some money) and in again (when sort of finished for cruising).

You could do something similar but most people who make their own find an old flat bed
truck chassis and get someone to weld a frame on top. You are stuck with a big structure (mine was pull apart) but you can use the truck steering to turn the whole shebang. Tow it with a tow truck or big 4x4. Two people I know did this and some mum and dad boatyards had a similar setup. As long as the area is flat and you can do it without police hassling you, this is what I would do now. If I was near you I would ask to go halvies so I could use it too. Move the boat where you want and then jack it up and off for storage. Good quality secondhand chassis and nice frame would be very strong. I have seen some awfully dodgy ones carry lots of weight but it would be good to do a good job carrying a nice cat (carrying it from under the bridgedeck of course).

cheers

Phil

Hi Phil,
Thanks a lot for your input.
I am trying to find a good quality secondhand chassis. That'd be a lot easier to start with, to be sure.

[catsketcher]

If it was me I would be going the under bridgedeck mode. It keeps the centre of gravity lower and means you don't have to immerse the trailer as much.

BUT as has been pointed out - you gotta be careful. I would make sure the planks under the bridgedeck are very straight and have good padding. My mates trailer I went up on has a curve in one of the main bearers which bent the ply underwing loaded - all good when load was released but not good for my heart rate.

My advice would be for very long bearers, running fore and aft under the bridgedeck. I would be worried taking a cat offshore that couldn't take its own weight under the bridgedeck - here in Oz - our best boat yard (The Boatworks) uses an under bridgedeck setup for most cats. I reckon you should check your boat type with a call to double check it is fine to do so but I think it should be okay. Stangely enough, an aquaintance of mine got involved in some legal issues when the local boatyard placed his French production cats on its keels and they started to crack the hull - crazy stuff.

Two long bearers, running across multiple bridgedeck bulkheads from up front (behind the tramp) to beyond the rear crossbeam, with padding and a strong frame underneath would be my setup. I just don't have anywhere to do it myself.

Watching the guys at the Boatworks get my cat ready for lifting was interesting. They took their time to be careful and used shims down to 3mm for packing - ensuring the boat was going to be lifted at all points under the bridgdeck (my cat does not have a straight bridgedeck for and aft). Some carpet too and it was a very nice experience. My mate who does this at a little yard behind Fraser takes his time - gets some friends and goes slowly. They then jack the boat off the traler so the next guy can use it. It works well too - although they use the tide to help keep the trailer on a nicer piece of the ramp - so they sometimes launch/retrieve in the dark.

cheers

Phil

[Vy511]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

On our Gemini when we hauled, they just used a flatbed trailer with 6x6 wood beams crosswise at the hull support points (and this is consistent with factor deliveries).

Obviously, yours is wider and heavier but the same principal should work if you are just pulling out at the yard and going no where.

For storage, you could put stands under the beams to give the trailer more stability if a storm rolls thru.

PS: at 21ft wide, I wouldn't count on there being no rules in Mexico. That's basically taking all of a two-lane two-way road, so you will be creating an issue.

Marina seca 1-2 miles from marina... No big deal here.

[Vy511]

Originally Posted by leboyd

If it's just to haul out (and you are going to keep it on the trailer while out of the water), you have lots of options.

An easy one that I would look at first is using a heavy duty flat bed (even an 18 wheeler if the launch/haul site was deep enough) and put heavy duty cross members (long enough to go under the hulls). The cross members could be metal or they could be wood (like 10"x10"). Nothing fancy.

If you're in shallower water, you could build it so the cross members had a drop after the width of the trailer, where the hulls are lower than the trailer bed (but you have to be high enough that nothing on the bottom of the boat hits the trailer.

Depending on how many times I was going to do this (1x for 10 years? 5x for 10 years?) and how long it would sit on the trailer (the longer, the more the cross members might sag), I'd overbuild it.

Good luck

Thank you much for the input!