Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hello All--

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

I have fabricated s set of loading guides. These are very sturdy, steel, all welded and powder coated. Pretty basic idea.

I went with this design as during windy days the stern of my toon wants to drift away from the trailer. With these guides the toon should stay between the guides. The bow of the toon appears to not be a problem, as it is aligned and on the bunks when I crank onto trailer (I keep about 3-5 feet of bunks exposed when I place trailer in water during retrieve). It's the stern that was wanting to drift off during loading.

I have not tried these yet. I was hoping for some input on the last part of my design. I will be adding about 6' sections of 2" PVC over the upright posts. My questions are as follows:

1. Should I cut the upright posts to where the blue tape is placed? This is about 9" above base (part that mounts to trailer). I would then place the 6' PVC pipe over this 9" metal upright. This would insure that in the event I came in too fast during loading, my boat would destroy the PVC before causing damage to pontoons. The 9" cut off point puts the upright posts below the bunks.

2. If I leave the metal upright pipe at its current length, do you think I run the risk of damaging my pontoons in the event I came in too fast during loading?

Any input/critique on my design?

Thanks!!

Here in Florida if your pontoon is already 8'6" you would be in violation of the maximum width law. Most law abiding citizen's here use the inside center mounted guides. If you live out in the sticks and personally know and contribute to the police widows and orphans fund, you'll be Okay. But, if you do not... forgetaboutit.

If your state width maximum is 8'6". What did dirty Harry say?..... "Do you fell lucky pal?"

Nice workmanship though....

Kind regards,

Rascal

My boat is 8' wide (widest width on trailer). The posts add 3" to each side.....8'-6" total width

Just measured installed.....1/2" gap between post and side deck rail, is 8'-6". I would have liked to have 2" gap on each side but that would put me at 8'-9". If I cut the metal posts down to 9", the PVC should flex 2"-3" when boat enters between guides, correct?

Thanks

102" is a federal legal width on us highways and interstate. Local counties are all different and can vary on different class roads. In the landscape / snow removal business here in mi. We deal with this. My plow is not legal anywhere 103" but there is plenty of other stuff for cops to find like over loaded salt trucks! Some of the neighboring counties wait on side roads for guys with wide stuff. According to the guys I know here in the Detroit area with wide boats they say that the dead give away is if a boat has twins. Once they see that it is a easy guess that it has a wider beam.

I like those guides and can see where those would be real handy. I have been in plenty of situations where the wind was pulling me to the side while loading the boat. Mount them how you would like them. It wouldn't bother me at all being a couple inches to wide. If your not in a commercial vehicle the cops don't care so much. Let us know how they work when you get a chance to try them out !

I read in some posts on other sites that if rear lights (ex. Pipe Lites), are mounted on guide posts, you can exceed the 8'-6" Need to research this a little more.

I guess I could remove them before getting on the road, but that would be a real hassle!

I really like your principal idea. Fact is I may fab one up real similar for myself. The real change I'd make is I'd make it up like a receiver hitch that you'd find on your tow vehicle. When ready to load the boat slide the upright hardware into the hitch and insert pin, load the boat pull the pin and remove the hardware and stash it away until it's needed again. It would then be clean out of the way and unoffensive to others sharing the road as I'm motoring down the road.

I personally wouldn't worry about it at all. Your barely over width and only at your guides. If you get stopped it won't be for that ,it would be for some other issue and that would be second if at all. Even in the remote case you did get stopped 99 percent of cops would say take them off and not write you. The Dirty Harry line I read above was laughable at best. Your not exactly a wild rule breaker with a set of pontoon bunk guides Every 2 place jet ski trailer is illegal according to some and I don't see those getting impounded left and right !

those work good on a boat but real poor on a pontoon.

MH Hawker wrote:those work good on a boat but real poor on a pontoon.

how so?

Liquid Asset wrote:I personally wouldn't worry about it at all. Your barely over width and only at your guides. If you get stopped it won't be for that ,it would be for some other issue and that would be second if at all. Even in the remote case you did get stopped 99 percent of cops would say take them off and not write you. The Dirty Harry line I read above was laughable at best. Your not exactly a wild rule breaker with a set of pontoon bunk guides Every 2 place jet ski trailer is illegal according to some and I don't see those getting impounded left and right !

Yes, I completely agree. Over by a few inches is not really an issue. Especially when I can remove and/or push them in if needed. Just have to test and see how they perform.

Bamby wrote:I really like your principal idea. Fact is I may fab one up real similar for myself. The real change I'd make is I'd make it up like a receiver hitch that you'd find on your tow vehicle. When ready to load the boat slide the upright hardware into the hitch and insert pin, load the boat pull the pin and remove the hardware and stash it away until it's needed again. It would then be clean out of the way and unoffensive to others sharing the road as I'm motoring down the road.

I like your suggested idea of the hitch pin. Makes it quick and easy to remove. I was thinking of adding pipe lites; this wold not make them easy to remove. Mine are made of square tubing so I could convert to pins if desired. I just hate to have to store them while en route to/from lakes.

SoCalAngler wrote:

MH Hawker wrote:those work good on a boat but real poor on a pontoon.

how so?

Fiberglass will bounce off and toon will bend or dent.

the idea is good..... but...

don't your inside guides perform the same task? if not... are they in the right place? are you backing into the water too far? if the inside guides are too much submerged, couldn't you just increase the height of them?

when i have my trailer on the ramp, my rear 'inside' guides are barely fully submerged. matter of fact, that's usually how i gauge how far i need to get my trailer into the water.... if they are even with - or slightly under water, i'm at the right depth..... since the tubes run deeper, the guides work to keep it aligned as i attach the strap and crank in the slack. as i drive out of the water, gravity and the inside guides insure the tubes rest upon the trailer correctly. i've never had an issue with having to back into the water again, to realign the boat onto the trailer.

YEP i like the inside guilds too, even in a wind you can hook the guild with the front of the toon and bring the rear end around, having a roller trailer, all I have to do is roll on slow,even if I'm a foot short, I can reach out, put on the strap and reel it the rest of the way on.

With the rollers I don't have to be as deep as bunks, where you get in trouble with my trailer is getting it to deep, even sitting on dry land I can slide it back easy by hand, so that's why I have to make sure I have it tied down good and don't untie the boat at steep ramps, till half way in the water.