best j16 bow bumper?

[Floridah2o]

I am redoing a trailer from another boat to fit a j16. What do y'all find to be the best type of bow bumper? Or does it matter?

[papadave]

I've tried to find the post with the pictures but didn't have any luck. The best I've seen is a pair of hand truck style wheels and tires replacing the bunk altogether. Someone posted the idea here and I gave it a try, works like a charm.When the stern floats and the bow drops they just roll with it .. doesn't hang up on the lip and is really cushy on the hull.
My old tub is camo and pretty beat up so I don't worry about skid marks on the hull, but if you got a nice shiney hull and you don't want to have to wipe off the marks you can get non marking wheels/tires from Harbor Freight (http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-non-marring-rubber-tire-47638.html) for $8 each.

[Floridah2o]

Papadave,
thanks. Never thought of that. I am buying a new j16 hull and gutting out my old 14' skiff trihull (different brand boat) and putting it all into the j16. Everything is 2004 except the new 2010 hull, so it will be a fairly new boat all around. (I have another thread going on rigging it, so please pipe in on it if you have ideas). So yeah, I hope to keep the boat in as good of condition as possible without being too ocd about it (after all, thats a big reason for these boats... to bang around in). My other boat has had issues with catching on the lip when launching on a steep ramp, so that is a major issue to me. Did you put the wheels up high on the winch bracket, or lower down off the trailer frame itself? This is a cool idea. I was already considering abs or pvc bunk caps instead of carpet. Any more ideas will be great!

[papadave]

Up high on the winch bracket, the wheels are about a 12"-18" down from the lip, just in front of the winch. I did have to move the winch down a notch in order to have the wheels hit the hull below the lip.

The 2 other things that I would suggest is a cajun anchor (mines homemade from 5' of galv. ground rod), and a good push pole/boat hook. I used a fairly stout 12' extendable paint roller handle with 1" PVC pipe fittings for the foot. I'll post a pic of both later.

The push pole/ boat hook is a necessity, the cajun anchor is a luxury that I won't do without. Since I put it in the boat I haven't pulled out either of my traditional anchors (but I almost never anchor in more than 10' of water)

[throrope]

I didn't take the effort to find the post that inspired my solution below. A recent post by exceed has a similar fix.
http://www.carolinaskiffowner.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8469
The wires are for an electric winch that since replaced the hand crank.

[Floridah2o]

Very nice! I have never seen that, and it's look much less "rigged" than I thought it would. I see alot of cool ideas on this site, and I see alot of things rigged, like my papa used to do! Example: he used a lawn mower blade as a transom brace where the motor bolts on. That is just one of hundreds of "make do" things he did!!! lol! he was a trip!

[exceed]

Very nice! I have never seen that, and it's look much less "rigged" than I thought it would. I see alot of cool ideas on this site, and I see alot of things rigged, like my papa used to do! Example: he used a lawn mower blade as a transom brace where the motor bolts on. That is just one of hundreds of "make do" things he did!!! lol! he was a trip!

Now that is necking it. Here is a picture of my old skiff and the bow stop mod I made on it. It was needed on that boat but on my new carolina I guess they finally fixed the issue because I have not had it hit the bow stop on the lip 1 time. *Woot*

http://www.carolinaskiffowner.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9114

[Floridah2o]

What is that made of? Is that just a normal large roller? And, since this is such a simple mod to do at a later time, I will probably just stick with what I have until I launch at the evil ramp and see what happens.

btw, I like those polars. Do they still make them? Can't find that design. A friend has one and I really like the room and look of it. His is very underpowered, but that isn't the boat's fault! What were your likes/dislikes?

[exceed]

What is that made of? Is that just a normal large roller? And, since this is such a simple mod to do at a later time, I will probably just stick with what I have until I launch at the evil ramp and see what happens.

btw, I like those polars. Do they still make them? Can't find that design. A friend has one and I really like the room and look of it. His is very underpowered, but that isn't the boat's fault! What were your likes/dislikes?

It is just a 6 or 8" rubber roller. Not sure if they still make the polar or not. This was a 17' flat bottom. Do not buy one. They are made with more wood than glass they are cheaply built. They are very wet boats. The gas tank is in the hull so it cuts down on the gunnel height which makes it wet as hell. The console was so low you had to be a midget or on my knees to put it in reverse. I could go on all day, my 1980 dlx is a million times better ride and boat. I will never own another polar but I will buy another carolina skiff.

[Floridah2o]

great info! Yeah, CS has a great reputation. And I like that they are lightweight so you don't have to go broke powering them!

[lsucole]

Floridah2o,
I used two plastic lawnmower wheels from Lowe's and it works great. ALSO, you need to install about a 2' section of 2 1/2 pvc pipe underneath the front lip of your J16. The wheels then ride right over the pvc and takes the contact pressure off of the front of the lip.

[precisionair]

Now that is necking it. Here is a picture of my old skiff and the bow stop mod I made on it. It was needed on that boat but on my new carolina I guess they finally fixed the issue because I have not had it hit the bow stop on the lip 1 time. *Woot*

http://www.carolinaskiffowner.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9114

I am about to get a j16 and I am going to reuse the trailer from my 14' tin boat. How far can the hull hang past the back of the trailer? On extended bunks of course. The trailer looks to be similar in size to the one pictured.
Thanks
Scott

[flafisher]

I copied some Bottom heavy pivoting goal posts from somewhere on this site. Tried them out today and they worked great. I also learned the boat will try to load under these posts if you back the trailer in to far. And the ramp is too steep. Learning everyday from the school of trial and error.