RS Venture Road Trailer
- Make and Model – Snipe unbraked single axle Trailer with swinging arm suspension.
- Road Wheels – The road wheels are heavy duty tubeless trailer tyres STARCO 145/80 B10. Tyre is the bias ply type ( as distinct from Radial or Cross ply) with a diameter of 480mm. A tyre with bias ply is more flexible than normal and handles rough ground better - exactly what is required for a boat trailer. The downside is these tyres do not corner well at speed. The tyre width is 145mm. The Load rating is 74N ie a maximum load of 375Kg at a speed of 87mph. The wheel is fastened with 4 - 10mm fixing studs. The rim diameter is 280mm. The Trailer wheel nuts require a 17mm socket.
- Jockey Wheel- The trailer Jockey Wheel is a standard 200mm x 34 mm 1 ton unit with a clamp attaching it to the road trailer drawbar. The diameter of the removable axle is 20mm. To remove the jockey wheel axle either jack the trailer or hook it to the towbar. Lift the wheel off the ground and remove the split pin retaining the axle. Pull the axle out from the side with the bent tabs. Useful to keep the axle greased (lithium or silicone based) to ensure the wheel turns easily. Avoid dragging the jockey wheel tyres sideways over rough or gritty ground, always start the trailer by rolling it in the direction of the jockey wheel and only then swinging sideways, to avoid taking chunks out of the solid tyres. If the tyre does suffer damage replacements are readily available from Amazon, part no.LMX 449 at a price of around £7.50 (2019).
After the road trailer has been coupled to the towing vehicle make sure that the Jockey wheel is fully retracted and locked to avoid the risk of the Jockey wheel striking humps in the road. - Wheel Bearings - Enclosed with a steel waterproof cap.
- Road Trailer Electrical System – The Road Trailer wiring supports a lighting board assembly with a 7 pin 12N type plug and also its own permanently connected white riding lights mounted on the front of the mudguards.
The Road Trailer System connects to the towing vehicle with a 7 pin N-type plug permanently wired into a 7 pin 12N chassis mounted socket. Modern cars are often fitted with a European type 13 pin socket. A 7 pin to 13 pin adapter may need to be used for the RS Venture road trailer. The lighting board connector needs to be brought forward, inside the hull, to the socket mounted on the trailer chassis. The plug normally stored in the chassis mounted socket connects the road trailer electrical system to the car.
The 7 pin N-type system supports tail lights, indicator lights, number plate lights and a fog light.but does not support reversing lights. The lighting board to be used with the RS Venture should be 1800mm in length.to meet legal requirments.
The permanently installed wiring consists of a thinner wire that runs from the rear of the chassis mounted socket along the off-side member of the road trailer into the off-side mudguard riding light. A second wire runs from the off-side riding light across the frame to the nearside riding light. The riding lights are LED units and can be expected to last the lifetime of the trailer. The wiring is clipped to the Trailer frame by nylon ties.
The wiring connections follow the standard for 7 pin 12N connections and are as follows
- Left Indicator - Yellow
- Fog light - Blue
- -ve Earth - White
- Right Indicator - Green
- Right Tail Light - Brown
- Stop Lights - Red
- Left Tail Light - Black
- Lynch pin – stainless steel pin ring diam 1.25”, Shaft diam 8mm. This pin is used to lock the nose of the trolley to the front of the road trailer and its use is essential. The pin should additionally be retained by a thin cord that both aids removal and prevents loss.
- Roller – This consists of a heavy duty galvanised tube with a welded disc inserted at each end to provide a crude bearing. The roller is retained by a 10mm bolt and locknuts at each end. The end of the bolt protruding into the hole in the disc. There is no proper bearing as such and the roller spins on the bolt threads. A very unsatisfactory type of bearing surface that can cause the roller to run along the thread and jam against the road trailer frame. Use some 10mm stainless steel washers as spacers to prevent this happening.
- Spare Wheel – Mounting the spare wheel on the trailer saves luggage space and ensures that in the event of a puncture the spare is readily accessible. It also avoids the need for a wet muddy tyre to be stored in the towing vehicle. A stand-off carrier bracket is required to ensure that the spare wheel does not foul the dinghy. The carrier bracket is simply bolted in position on the frame. When selecting a bracket check the frame size and mounting space. A wheel cover is useful to avoid sun damage to the spare wheel.
Check the tightness of bracket bolts and wheel nuts annually. - Main support frame - Frame size is H 50mm W 30mm.
- Lighting Board - The trailer has slots either side into which the steel lighting board holders are fastened. The holders need to be removed for storage or when the boat trolley is removed from the trailer. The lighting board holders may be adjusted in length to match the boat - a thumb screw locks the holders into position. A lighting board length of 1800mm is required for the RS Venture. The lighting board needs to be removed from the holders for storage. When under tow the lighting board is severely shaken by poor road conditions and therefore needs to be very firmly fastened to the holders. In practice the mast requires a rear pintle mounted cradle that usually includes a mounting board support bracket. This makes the cumbersome lighting board supports of the trailer unnecessary.
- Winch - The road trailer is fitted with a fixed ratio winch. The primary purpose is to pull the Venture trolley on to the road trailer. The winch also has a lock that ensures the trolley does not slip backwards off the trailer. It is important that this lock lever is engaged and that the winch hook is attached (by rope) to the bow tow ring to avoid the boat hull sliding backwards off the trolley when under tow.
- Towing the Trailer - The boat and trailer need to be properly prepared for towing if damage is to be avoided. Run with relatively soft tyres, around 22 psi, and keep speeds down to ensure that road shocks are reduced. The road trailer is fitted with welded strap loops adjacent to the wheels. Use a heavy duty 2" ratchet strap to hold the boat, trolley and trailer together. Ideally place a 25mm plank, padded with carpet offcuts, across the boat directly above the strap loops. The plank length should be approximately 50mm longer than the boat width at the point directly above the strap loops. The purpose of the plank is to ensure that the clamping force on the boat is directly down rather than acting to squeeze the boat gunwhales and distort the boat hull. The main strap should be firmly tightened but not overtightened. Place a second light strap across the bow of the boat and underneath the road trailer. The purpose of this second strap is to prevent the boat from rocking fore and aft and snatching at the lynch pin during the tow. The shape of the bow and trailer frame will create a tendency for the light strap to work forward and loosen. To prevent this the strap needs to be tied back to the main strap - a strong bungee cord will achieve this.
Make sure that the winch hook is attached to the hull of the boat and that the winch ratchet lock is engaged to prevent the hull sliding backwards off the trolley. The winch strap should be only lightly tensioned. The RS Venture road trailer is fitted with a welded tube on either side of the frame. Two heavy steel bars slot into these tubes and can be clamped into position with large thumb screws. Adjust the length of the bars to position the lighting board at the end of the boat. Welded brackets on the end of these bars enable a lighting board to be fastened. The lighting board must be fastened very securely to the bars because during the tow the bars will whip around. In practice most lighting boards are mounted on the rear of the boat using the rudder gudgeons to fasten a mast mounting bracket and board holder. In practice the bars are usually left unused.
The sails may be stored in the boat during the tow but the boom, paddles, boat hook etc are best stored in the car or roof-rack. If it is decided to store such equipment in the boat whilst under tow then they should be securely tied down and wrapped / padded to avoid damage to the hull.