MacGregorSailors.com

I installed this on my trailer today:

http://www.trailervalet.com/

I park at Pier 32 parallel against a fence and between two other boats, so even though I'm pretty good at it it's still a bit of a PIA to get the boat in and out. And those times when I park in my driveway it's very difficult because I have to go parallel to my house.

It took about 15 minutes to install. The unit is entirely powder coated and everything appears to be very high quality and solid. While I was putting it on another guy at the ramp ran over to have a look. I took a video of him moving it around. He was very impressed by it as well.



It's extremely easy to use: Pull the steering handle up (which unlocks the brake), rotate it the direction you want, and crank to move the boat. It's got two gears, a very easy low, and a bit harder but faster high gear. It easily moves the boat in any direction in just a few seconds and makes lining up on your ball a piece of cake.

One thing I really like about it is the entire mechanism comes entirely off the mount plate by pulling a hitch pin out, which means that I can put it in the back of the truck when the trailer is on rather than dipping it in the salt. That should make it much longer lived than my other trailer jacks. You can also carry it on the mount plate if you want.

Bottom line: Works as advertised. Quite pleased with it.

Looks pretty cool - do you think it would work on gravel or grass?

Yep, I park on gravel and it works just fine. The only problem would be surfaces so soft that any jack would sink into. It's got two fat pneumatic tires.

What magic did you use to post the short video into this forum

Phil M wrote:What magic did you use to post the short video into this forum

It's an animated GIF, which is simply a stack of GIFs that browsers know how to flip through. I used an app on the iPhone called "5secondsApp" which will take a video you record on the phone and convert it to animated GIF format and then share it out to a number of services. On this forum, it's just an image link, and your browser does the animating.

The app I used is limited to 10 seconds in length, but that's enough to show the process here. The AGIF format is not limited by any particular length; performance varies from browser to browser on larger files. One could probably get up to a minute before browsers start crapping out.

Cool product. Has anyone been brave enough to try it on the ramp?

The app 5secondsapp is free for the IPad and easy to use too. The 10 second app costs $1. It could come in handy in this forum.

I would NOT attempt to use this on a ramp. There's not enough mechanical advantage provided to safely take a boat up a ramp by any means.

My actual primary motivation in buying it however, was disaster preparedness: If we wind up having to evacuate using the boat, and we're at the trailer storage without a truck, how do we get the boat into the water?

With this, I can walk the boat over to and down the ramp, and then bring the empty trailer back up the ramp and leave it in the ramp parking, entirely without the tow beast. Take a while, but its better than not being able to use your boat.

It's a real scenario for us: This last week we had ten simultaneous fires with three freeway closures on the same day: The I-5, the I-15, and the I-805. It's entirely possible that we could be trapped in San Diego by wildfires around us in the county.

And because Zombies.

Looks pretty good, other than having to bend over. Wonder if that cd be remedied by retrofitting a set of bicycle sprockets and chain onto the crank axle, and perhaps an extension to the steering handle. If you used a three speed hub then you'd have six gears!

or you could sit on the trailer tongue

Sitting on the trailer tongue might give you enough traction to get up the ramp, but probably not. I have an electric one for 'boat' and it will loose traction if the grade gets too steep.

Very tempting device.

Here's the Youtube demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqVDxOMrgak#t=131

Here is my posted Amazon review of this dolly, I gave it 3 of 5 stars

"I ordered the dolly after being assigned a dry-slip with difficult access. I have a 26' sailboat weighing with the dual-axle trailer about 4000lbs and the tong-weight on the trailer is about 400lbs. While about 20% under the advertised maximum loads, this seems to be close to the practical limits of this dolly. There was substantial flexing noticeable, even in the lower position, when turning the trailer in a confined space. Another small deficit is the working height of the lower gear handle that requires an odd body-posture while turning the handle, steering and moving the trailer. It may be more comfortable to use if one has a lighter trailer and can predominantly use the upper high-gear handle."

My $0.02, and I stick to that

Obelix

P.S.: I only used it a few times, it is still in as new shape and I'll be willing to sell it at a significantly reduced cost.

Obelix wrote:Here is my posted Amazon review of this dolly, I gave it 3 of 5 stars

"I ordered the dolly after being assigned a dry-slip with difficult access. I have a 26' sailboat weighing with the dual-axle trailer about 4000lbs and the tong-weight on the trailer is about 400lbs. While about 20% under the advertised maximum loads, this seems to be close to the practical limits of this dolly. There was substantial flexing noticeable, even in the lower position, when turning the trailer in a confined space. Another small deficit is the working height of the lower gear handle that requires an odd body-posture while turning the handle, steering and moving the trailer. It may be more comfortable to use if one has a lighter trailer and can predominantly use the upper high-gear handle."

My $0.02, and I stick to that

Obelix

P.S.: I only used it a few times, it is still in as new shape and I'll be willing to sell it at a significantly reduced cost.

Hi Obelix,

I would buy it from you. Just sent you PM. Please let me know if you didn't receive it.

Thanks!

I only have a single axle, and I think that might be a significant difference between my experience and Obelix's. It pivots around my axle with no drag or difficulty at all. I also don't get the feeling of it being near it's capacity, although my boat is also lighter than many.

Bending over to an odd angle--absolutely correct. It's the nature of this particular beast. Quite apparent in the video I posted.

If you have a dual axle, you should heed Obelix's review perhaps more than mine.