Small Boat Voyages

Following the addition of several extra keel rollers on the trailer and a rear vee guide I added these side keel guides to make sure the boat is aligned squarely on the rollers during retrieve. This worked perfectly. The only problem, as shown in the first photo, was the guides were a little too tall causing the hull to rub on the top of the guides at a critical point diring retrieval. These guides were subsequently reduced in height about three inches as shown in the following images to hive the hull some clearance.

The reason I chose to make the guides was the abundance of material. I had recently built a small sewage plant for our house, basically a raised bed of silica sand and gravel, and the sides were made out of three inch by eight inch oak sleepers. I had a few of these left over and these were an ideal size to make the supports for the guide planks. The only additional things I needed were sixteen galvanised M10 coach bolts and eight trailer U-bolts also M10.

The guides formed from two long planks running either side of the keel and during retrieval the idea is that the keel is maintained in the channel thus formed.