The MacGregor Bump

[craiglaforce]

With my ablative bottom paint (rather rough and not slippery at all) the bump never worked for me. And I've tried tightening the winch on the way up the ramp and all it did was flex the winch support after a certain amount of tension was applied.

This spring in the backyard I finally got the hull to move forward for the first time. I adjusted the trailer jack down, put blocks under the boat's stern, then jacked up the tailer jack removing the rear of the boat from the trailer, then cranked the winch and tried rocking the boat by pusing hard on the sides. Worked pretty well. Not perfect, still about an inch back but much better than 3 or 4 inches back.

I don't use ramps very often so have not practiced much. Maybe the soap idea would make it better. Neer tried it.

[Tony D-26X_SusieQ]

Frank C

It sounds like moving the winch up may be the answer. That well made trailer won't fall apart if I have to drill a hole in it will it?

[BK]

Dimitri, You do the wiggle after you pull out of the ramp and the boat is in the lot. Just push the pulpit rail back and forth with your right hand and crank with the left. The boat should be wet and it helps if the boat is headed down hill a bit. I use the rollar spray on the carpet which I just replaced to make it easier to slide.

[Frank C]

It sounds like moving the winch up may be the answer. That well made trailer won't fall apart if I have to drill a hole in it will it?

Remember, I haven't done that mod, just read about others having done it. I seem to recall that it required flipping the winch over, which implies that the winch handle can be installed from either side? It does seem logical that you could use the winch to pull the bow up a couple of inches to its target position. (My boat is 35 miles away).

Needs a little scopin' out & noodlin'. With boat/trailer on flat ground, mark the bow just above the v-block. Then note how far down that mark is when you're ready to pull upramp - I'd guess that it's ~ 3 inches.

[Steve K]

1.Most fellows I've seen recovering their MacXs, back the trailer in too far to start with. Be mindful of how deep the trailer is. You just want it deep enough to get the bow up onto that little V-bunk. I never have the V-bunk under the water, when I recover my boat.
2. It's much easier to get the boat placed correctly on the trailer, if ballast is empty. (although I rarely drain my own)
3. I spray Liquid Rollers on my bunk carpert a couple times per year.
4. A smooth, clean hull helps a lot.

BTW: Since I started using the Liquid Rollers spray, I don't really have to do the bump. The boat slides easily into the bow stop, the first time I apply the brakes. I then take the slack out of the winch rope. I tow a couple hundred miles to go sailing and have never had a problem with the boat shifting on the trailer.

One more thing. This all depends on how steep your ramp is, you know. If your regular ramp is not very steep, you may be one of those guys who wonders why everyone has problems with this. If you launch at a very steep ramp, you'll be lucky if you get the bow within 6 inches of the bow stop, before pulling the boat out. It is more about how steep of an angle the trailer is sitting, when trying to get the boat back on it, than anything.

Two things that would improve recovering the boat would be;
1. move the winch to the top of the winch tower. (someone has done this I think). This would cause the winch rope, or strap, to pull up on the bow a little while winching, which would make it easier to pull forwards. where the winch is now, it tends to pull down on the bow eye which doesn't pull the bow forward.
2. Adding normal trailer bunks to the trailer, instead of those transverse bunks on the MacX trailer, would surely help guide the boat up onto it much better. It would likely support the boat much better too. Look around. How often to you see bunks like ours on a boat trailer? There is a reason for that.

The reason is, regular bunks create a ramp, of sorts, to pull the boat up onto, so the trailer doesn't have to be backed in as far. Our trailers are more like trying to pull the boat up a set of steps, rather than a ramp. Think about it. You have to back the trailer in far enough to get the bow up onto the highest step. The other two steps (mid and rear bunk) are well below the float line at this point.
SK

[mgg4]

1.Most fellows I've seen recovering their MacXs, back the trailer in too far to start with. Be mindful of how deep the trailer is. You just want it deep enough to get the bow up onto that little V-bunk. I never have the V-bunk under the water, when I recover my boat.

Not to disagree too much, but...

Having had to replace one of my bow bunks and perform an extensive gel coat repair on the bow of "Offline", I now recover with lower part of the bow bunk at or below water level. Since I started doing this, there is much less stress on the boat and trailer during the recovery process. I'd rather do the bump and wiggle than repair gel coat.

--Mark

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Yea, the other problem I have is that the tip of the CB catches a bunk and makes it difficult to launch the boat if the trailer is not deep enough. I remember the first time I ever retrieved the boat...it still had 150# of dumbells up in the nose and the vbunk was above the water line. I creamed that little vbunk hard. After I took the weights out, I didn't have that problem any more.

[Mark Prouty]

BTW: Since I started using the Liquid Rollers spray, I don't really have to do the bump.

Where do you get this stuff?

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Where else? West Marine

[Mark Prouty]

Where else? West Marine

Thanks!