E25 Keel on a Trailer

[Opatry808]

Aloha,

I'm looking to buy a 1976 E25 keel. Great shape, very well taken care of for the right price, but... oddly in Hawaii there are few slips available with very long waits. My hope was to trailer a boat. Does anyone have experience trailering the E25 keel or have schematics for what the trailer needs to look like?

 

[davisr]

e25 trailer options

Opatry,

Welcome to the forum. As you probably know, most of the E25 sailboats were constructed not with the extended keel, but with the ballasted hull and centerboard. It seems that the market demanded the centerboard version since that was type friendly for trailering. This does not mean, though, that an extended keel E25 cannot be trailered and trailer launched. I cite as evidence for this the attached picture from the Ericson Forum from 2008. I can't remember what thread it appeared on, but I copied it and labeled it sometime this past summer when I was researching something on the E25.

If there is any doubt that an extended keel boat such as the E25 can be trailered and trailer-launched, I urge the disbelievers to contact E29 owner Randy Rutledge who is an active member of this forum. He recently sent me pictures of his set-up. Very impressive.

Below is a thread which explains in great detail just about anything you might want to know about E25 trailers. Most Sailboat trailers are made to be adjustable, so they will adapt to the size of your keel and the shape of your hull. Some of the pictures in the thread, for example, show boatyard workers using levers to adjust my trailer to fit the E25 when I had her hauled for the first time.

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?7964-e25-centerboard-trailering-weight

Regards,
Roscoe
E25, #226

 

[davisr]

picture of E25 extended keel being trailer-launched

Here's the picture that I neglected to attach to the last posting.

Roscoe

 

[Opatry808]

Thanks,

Aloha Roscoe,

Thanks for the welcome, information and picture. I read in the owners manual that the keel version wasn't really designed for trailering and I was afraid I would have to let a very nice boat slid away. I was beginning to despair. Now all I have to do is modify a trailer to fit the keel. The picture you included should help quite a bit with that.

Mahalo nui loa - big thanks,

Mark

 

[davisr]

Mark,

Glad to help. I'd try to send Randy Rutledge at personal message in order to get a few more specifics. For example, he told me that a tongue extension is a must. He also described to me less obvious techniques, for example moving or removing the aft most screw pads just before launching and retrieving.

Regards,
Roscoe

 

[Vagabond39]

First you must consider the launch facilities for a Boat with a keel. Do you plan on using a crain or travel lift to launch and haul out?
Or if you are using a ramp, how far into the water the trailer must go,befor the hull will float off the trailer.
Does the paved ramp extend far enough st that the wheels don't drop off its end?
Then the heigth and width of the trailer and load on Oahu raods. Unless they have improved considerably, forget it.

 

[Opatry808]

Roads still bad

You touched on all of my ongoing worries, I don't know if a ramp will let me get deep enough to launch or retrieve, and some are very steep leading to the water. As nice as the E25 is, I just don't know if I can make this work. The keel version just isn't really designed for a trailer/boat ramp method on a regular basis. I'm on several waiting lists for a berth, but that can take years. And no the roads around the island ares still narrow, in bad repair and loaded down with folks visiting who are either lost and don't care or rushing to the next attraction.

 

[Vagabond39]

THE OTHER CONSIDERATIONS ARE THE VEHICLE YOU WILL USE TO HAUL CVER 6000 POUNDS OF TRAILER, BOAT, AND GEAR.
And that includes up the ramp with possable bildg water adding weight, and lubrecating the tires.
Plus the inconvenience of stepping and unstepping the mast, etc.
The marine Cradle Shop, Inc makes a nice looking trailer. As does trident, which will run $6ooo.oo plus shipping.
Good luck.
Think carefully, and like carpentry, measure twice, cut once.

 

[Vagabond39]

Correction: Triad Trailers in North Carolina. Trident in an English outfit.