Bow Eye and Trailer Adjustment

I installed the bow eye into the stem of the boat. The bow eye is just a long stainless u-bolt that the trailer winch attaches to. I had to chisel out some of the stem because the u-bolt wasn't long enough (this is a common practice I hear). On the back side of the u-bolt there is a steel backing plate to prevent the stem from getting crushed when the nuts are tightened. I also installed a metal clip where a pulley will be attached that rotates (or raises and lowers) the centerplate. I fabricated the metal clip out of some stainless steel plate using an angle grinder.



The boat saw a brief glimpse of daylight as I opened the garage door to winch it up on the trailer. Ooo ... here is a glimpse of the future towing rig. I know I know, it's a beast.




Back in the garage she goes. The garage door is sealed up with plastic again since its still pretty cold outside.



After a few hours of adjusting the roller and bunk heights, the boat is now firmly seated on the trailer. I moved the bow stop (and thus the boat) aft a foot or so to reduce the tongue weight. The boat and trailer will weigh about 1000lbs and I'm shooting for a tongue weight of about 50-70 lbs. After I moved the boat aft, the tilting function of the trailer actually wants to tilt the boat back even when the boat is all the way forward against the bow stop. I thought this would be a problem, but its actually not, because the winch pulls the boat forward and down, which automatically levels the trailer when I'm winching it up onto the trailer. Also, the tilt joint is locked in place with a pin except when launching the boat.



There was a scary moment when I tried to board her from the rear (gigidy) and the whole trailer and boat violently tipped back. After that, I added jack stands under the rear of the trailer frame. The boat is now stable enough for me to climb around in.