MacGregorSailors.com

This may not be a practicle solution to your issues.
Had my engineer drop off some steel the other day. He looked the trailer over. We discussed options should it need replacing in the future.
His comment was......
"If it gives up the ghost, keep it, and I will have an appentice make a knock-off. It is really simple, and easy, and cheap to copy. Once you have the frame, all add-ons are 'off-the-shelf' items. Yanks certainly havn't over-desgned this one. I hate doing trailers, but I'll do one for you if.....if I have too".
So there is an idea.
Your old one is the pattern for the new one.
Maybe it is worth getting a price.
Cheers
Phillip

Stephen

Thanks for the info re state to state regs.

When I mentioned the 2000lb benchmark, I was not referring to laws really, just vehicle tow guide info from various manufacturers. I seem to remember reading that GM Ford Dodge etc recommended having serge brakes on trailers over 2000lbs. Keeping in mind my memory IS failing.

I have towed a 2000lb boat with trailer and a Starcraft tent trailer with no serge brakes for more than 20 years, and now, with my Mac and serge brakes I can honestly say WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

G

The HP of your tow vehicle to pull the boat is a lot less important than the ability of your breaks to safely stop. On a downhill slope, approaching a curve, is no place to realize that the boat is driving the car!!! I have a 28 ft car hauler with electric breaks and I actually like the fact that the breaks on the trailer will stop my truck if I adjust them that way. Serge breaks are less complicated and hopefully just as effective when needed. Now I just need a “water brake” when I try to put it on the trailer.

Highlander's trailer is a Continental, if they are easily adapted they could be an east coast supplier of replacements for our rustbuckets. Please post more pictures! I can't see any forward bunks, how does that work?
I also think it's possibly to reproduce the cross bunks, but I like the idea of standard bunks. The boat has to be easier to winch onto long bunks than cross bunks plus then the pulling forces aren't trying to shear the bunks off of their mounts.
I have talked to Road King trailers at the factory, and they said they sell a Mac26X trailer. They don't actually sell any, their dealers do, but they gave me a model number. So I called a local dealer. Problem was, it was single axle. The dealer told me it was only available in galvanized. Yuk...and not what the factory told me. I called the factory again. They told me it -could- be ordered aluminum. ??!!
Crazy. The factory is happy to put together any parts needed to sell a trailer, but the dealers don't want to sell them.
I never saw a photo so I don't know if it had cross or long bunks.
Getting a decent trailer is as hard as getting good barbecue in New York!
Florida has a lot of trailer dealers and builders, so I'm sure I could get a frankenstein rig. But something even semi-standardized would really be nice...

Getting a decent trailer is as hard as getting good barbecue in New York!

Great BBQ in NY at Goldstein and Wongs.....

argonaut wrote: ... I also think it's possibly to reproduce the cross bunks, but I like the idea of standard bunks. The boat has to be easier to winch onto long bunks than cross bunks plus then the pulling forces aren't trying to shear the bunks off of their mounts....

Does your boat drag on the bunks when being trailered? I guess it depends on one's ramp.

Mine does not drag on the bunks at all ... it contacts only the forward bunk, while it floats above both sets of aft bunks.

Does your boat drag on the bunks when being trailered? I guess it depends on one's ramp.

Depending on ramp slope it may not drag on initial retrieval... But pulling forward, the the boat settles onto the aft bunks and the bow will pull away and need to be dragged to the nose post again. That's the classic "boweye pulling away from the v-block" behavior, caused by the plane of the ramp and the plane of the boat on the water's surface being different. Not unique to only Macs either. So at that point the boat has to be dragged into position.

I go through two "pull forward a few feet and crank" steps with everything wet and that usually does it, there is no bumping the boat forward, lots of friction due to bottom paint i suspect.
I think the boat might slide forward onto the nose block more easily were it resting on long bunks, plus I think the bunks and attaching hardware should tolerate the lengthwise forces of the boat being winched better than the cross bunks as on the factory trailers. My old V-17 never had any issues with the main bunk bracket tabs popping off and that was a typical painted steel, minimally constructed mac factory trailer too, but with the usually found lengthwise bunks. The small forward vee bunk -did- break away after a few years, and it was the only cross bunk on that trailer. I think this has been an issue since the seventies anywhere rust abounds, In freshwater homes these trailers don't seem to suffer near as badly.

The bump never worked for me--but neither do I feel comfortable slamming the breaks as they should be. No matter how tight I crank the winch, once the boat is drained and out of the ramp, it settles a couple of inches away from the end. The rope stretches and settles on the spool, no matter what, and you would lose a few inches. I have added a security chan that doesn't allow it to slip any farther back, and I live with it. I realize that this position shaves off several good pounds from the tongue weight (which is too light even so) but what can one do?

On the bright side, a shameful confession--last year I forgot to engage the stopper to the winch as I was pulling the boat out of the water, on a VERY steep ramp. The boat slipped back five more inches, but still stayed on the trailer. I doubt that would have happened, had I had a trailer with rolers. I pulled it all the way out of the water, drained the tank, and was half way up the ramp when I realized my error. I quickly backed the trailer into the water and winched it back correctly.

That's when I decided to install a second saftery chain

In case anyone is interested.... the cost of these new trailers is $2190. I've managed to get my local dealer to agree to order one broken-down (unassembled) for delivery on the same truck as a couple boats. They are charging me $200 for the shipping.

My dealer was going to have to assemble the trailer and would need to charge labor for doing so. I guess it is a 2-3 hour job. I'm probably going to do it myself since I need to modify it for a 26C.

Anyway... just sharing information. I went to another local trailer builder and they quoted me $3K on a galvanized trailer with a single axle, brakes etc... for the Mac 26. I like the aluminum better and since it was made for Macs it has a couple nice features that I wouldn't get with a galvanized trailer (350bls less weight, ladder up front etc...).

Another thing, the new trailer is rated for 5000lbs. Since my 26S would probably be around 3500lbs with the water ballast full I should be fine. New trailer weight is 550lbs.

kevperro wrote:I like the aluminum better and since it was made for Macs it has a couple nice features that I wouldn't get with a galvanized trailer (350bls less weight, ladder up front etc...)

Hmm.. so your ordered the up-rated trailer then? Because the stock trailer does *not* come with the ladder.

kmclemore wrote:

kevperro wrote:I like the aluminum better and since it was made for Macs it has a couple nice features that I wouldn't get with a galvanized trailer (350bls less weight, ladder up front etc...)

Hmm.. so your ordered the up-rated trailer then? Because the stock trailer does *not* come with the ladder.

Na.... I need brakes and I don't want my axle rusting.