[snipevii]

Ours is setup the same way, with the stern facing the car. After several years of launching and recovering, I’d agree that launching is definitely the easier of the two operations.

The slipway where we launch and recover in Norfolk has a relatively shallow gradient. We favour unhitching the trailer from the car and using a warp (or, in fact, two warps – one as a backup in case the other one fails!) to lower the trailer into the water. If we were using just the trailer hitch we wouldn’t be able to get enough depth of water before the back of car was itself getting wet.

Launching is usually as a straightforward as lowering the trailer far enough for there to be water under the keels and giving her a good shove. Occasionally we’ve had a bit of a hiccup where the keels catch on part of the trailer as she goes afloat, but that has been quickly remedied by just easing her off by hand.

Recovery has been more tricky. The main challenge for us has been keeping her straight as she is winched back, not least because the trailer beds where her keels sit are relatively narrow on our trailer and have runners on each side. If she sways a couple of inches to the left or right as she is being winched back, the keels don’t align and she needs to be eased off again, re-centred and the operation restarted. It often takes a few attempts before she is sitting nice and true.

Some things I’ve found helpful over the years (sorry if some of these sound like sucking eggs for the more experienced members on the forum):

– 4 pairs of hands are ideal. 1 in the vehicle, 1 on the trailer winch, 1 on either side of the slipway to control a bow line on each side to keep her straight as she is winched back. We’ve done it with 2 people many times, but 4 makes it so much easier.

– A couple of sets of chooks, particularly if you’re short-handed, in case you need to chook the car or trailer wheels at short notice.

– Take-up the load on your main warp between vehicle and trailer, but have another already attached with a tiny bit of slack in it, just in case.

– Chest waders for at least one of the launch party. Despite best laid plans, recovery almost always involves getting a bit further into the water than anticipated to help guide the boat onto the trailer stern-first. Since we’re often doing it in winter, the chest waders make this possible – and mean you’re not then wet and cold for the rest of the de-rigging/packing up etc.

Hope some of that is of use. Happy to have a chat / share some pictures of our trailer setup if it would help before your launch.

Best wishes, Marek (Snipe VII, no. 358)

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