Neringa RL28 Cruising Improvements - Part 1

[@ivanbuldo7676]

Mark, fantastic video n very informative with excellent ideas.very excited to watch the rest! Thanks for sharing Mate 🤗

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@zhuangshi5081]

Awesome, What a great job, thanks for sharing.

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Thanks for the comment. Half the fun of having a trailer sailer is working on it an making it great for trips away.

[@Coolsweat67]

Nice too see all thoes up dates and tricks on ur sailer trailer.

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Half the fun of owning a boat is the tinkering to see if you can make things better. The other half is the sailing of course!!

[@Freo2024]

Some good ideas. Well done.

[@ostrality]

Thank you. Very informative and some great ideas for trailer sailer improvements.

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

One of the joys of owning a boat is the tinkering, its an endless process and rewarding when you get things to work.

[@alansmith2203]

I have a 28 foot Sharpie cat ketch rig that unstayed. Have been watching Simon Carter's videos and came across your adaptation of your trailer sailor. You have given me some more great ideas. Trailer sailors rock. I can understand why people like keel boats for the comfort and room. But i can never get my mind around how much money they have to spend to put them in slips with all the attending problems with osmosis, stray currents, hull cleanings, and constantly being in a sea environment. If you like to be able to go to many different places to sail you are not constricted by time and distance. Well done sir...

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Hi Alan. I have watched many of Simon Carters videos with interest. I went through the keel boat trailer sailer dilemma again before buying Neringa. Yearly costs were a big factor against keel boats but it was more I wasn't ready to give up the versatility of trailer sailers. Properly prepared they can do the same coastal cruising of a keel boat but can also access shallow anchorages and travel across Australia to sail locations that would take months to reach by keel boat. Wear and tear on the boat sitting on the trailer under cover is also substantially less than when moored or penned. On the down side they do take around 90 minutes to rig or de-rig to go sailing. Cheers Mark

[@rogermace4516]

WOW what a heap of awesome mods. well done

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Thanks Roger. One of the joys of having a boat is the tinkering and improving along the way. Working on a wind vane self steering system at the moment. Needs a bit more refining but I think it will work in the end.

[@SuperADI2]

I love how you organized the interior space, is so smart used and you add many useful modification s , I really love it, is a gorgeous sailing boat, well done :)

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Lots still to do. We love the boat and the full standing headroom in a trailer sailer is great. Thank you for the comment.

[@CaptMarkSVAlcina]

All ways a great vlog. Love your work.

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Cheers for the comment. Got another one on the way sailing to Queenscliff but will probably be another week before its finished.

[@CaptMarkSVAlcina]

Hi.... Very sorry can not remember your name. I used to drive a 40 foot charter boat up the Yarra and the Maribyrnong Rivers, may be you can do one up there.And now you can take your mast down that would be good. I used leave Southbank and do a 3 hrs. trip up and back at about 5knts. and also did it at night. Great trip all the time.But keep in mind ,beware if its been raining the rive will be running and the river will be up at some of the very low brides. Also the Maribyrnong is a great trip.

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Hi Mark. Not a bad idea, maybe one for winter when the bay is less inviting. Would probably just leave the mast down, limited sailing on the river anyway and with the keel up could get a long way up the river. Cheers Mark.

[@tonywoollcombe1799]

Thanks very much. Looking forward to part 2. I thought your improvements to Halcyon were fantastic. Particularly the wind vane steering. Cheers Tony woollcombe

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

I loved the windvane on halcyon, the dagger board rudder on Neringa is more of a challenge in regard to designing a wind vane that works. I have a few ideas but it might be a while as my next project is to build a hoist that can lift neringa off the trailer to remove the keel and work on the hull, the engineering involved will take a bit of work.

[@brendanbarker2095]

I would like to see the hoist when you have finished

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Probably doing a trip up to the whitsundays in a month or so so unlikely to start construction until late July. Happy to make a video about the hoist and removing the keel for restoration when it is finally ready.

[@tonywoollcombe1799]

Look forward to the video to the Whitsundays, cheers

[@tonywoollcombe1799]

mdedman100 have a look at the Hebredian Wind Vane details on the web cheers

[@brendanbarker2095]

nice boat, well set up

[@peterbryan3295]

That is set up so well..I see this video is 4 year's old, do you still have the boat.

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Yes, still have the boat. The shower area is not very practical. It is the toilet compartment shown on the video with a drain into the forward bilge with a bilge pump to empty and a shower curtain across the door. Showers are very cramped using the closed toilet as a seat. They certainly are not your typical stand up shower, but on a 28ft boat that would be very big ask. The shower head is on a flexible hose so can be used as a hand shower which is the only way it would work in such a small space. In warmer weather when anchored away from others I prefer to use the deck hose out in the cockpit for showering. Hope this answers your query. Cheers Mark

[@noissimdam]

Hi Mark , always useful info to refer back to your vids , could you expand on your bimini choice ? Model detail would be helpful as yours seems to have stood the test of time. With retrospect is mounting the flexible solar panels on top a success .

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Its been a good bimini and definitely heavier duty than the cheap ebay ones but it was on the boat when I bought it so I don't know the brand, I will look through the receipts that came with the boat and see if I can find out. The solar panels work well on the bimini as long as you have sufficient strapping to hold them in place. I have had mine out in 30 knots so far without any issue. They are more hassle to put on and off but as the only real useable space for extra panels it works well. The boom shades them a bit so I tend to sail with the boom a bit further out when ever I can to reduce the shading. They do have some weight so a reasonable bimini is needed. If you go this way and buy flexible panels don't take any notice of output claims especially on ebay. You will get around 180w per square metre of panel. Some of the claims out there are just outrageous lying and fraudulent. The above figure is pretty accurate with todays efficiencies and technology. Cheers Mark

[@noissimdam]

Thanks mark , yours are stainless ? And not joined mid hoop ? I will have a 160 w rigid panel on the pushpit and 2 flexible for the bimini. The push is on to get the RL finished.

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

@@noissimdam The bimini hoops are alluminium but heavy 3mm wall for memory. Sounds like you will have a similar solar array to Neringa. We have 160w on the davits and 360w in flexibles on the bimini. All the best with your project. Cheers Mark

[@maatthc]

Pretty cool! Do you do training?

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Really just a hobby but I have done a few talks when invited to local yacht clubs.

[@SuperBullyone]

did you put the protective rods over the hatch? nice trailer too.

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Hi John, no the bars were a standard part of these Houdini Hatches that were popular in the 1980's and fitted to many boats. As they were glass they were probably needed. I have recently replaced them with offshore rated Gebo Hatches that are plexiglass. The old hatches leaked and no matter how many times I replaced the seals they still leaked. Love the new hatches, made especially by Gebo to replace the Houdini hatches. Cheers Mark

[@wilsnich02]

I like your trailer winch.... I have just bought a Power winch today for my little trailer sailer... how do you power your winch... ie battery in the back of the ute, power lead routed thru to the back and something like an Anderson Plug ?

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

On my last trailer I had a trailer mounted battery. On my current trailer I have a couple of leads with spring clips that I clip onto a battery in the back of the ute. When not in use they are wrapped around the winch post. Its easier to charge the battery this way back in the shed at home.

[@wilsnich02]

Thanks for the reply... I am going to do the Battery in the boot and charge at home.

[@leadmuncher]

Hi, Love your boat. I am considering buying a RL 28 as well however the boat is moored and does not have a trailer. Can you tell me what brand trailer you have, model number, Tare weight and ATM. I would value any advice on what type of trailer to purchase. thanks Pete

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Hi Pete, My RL28 was moored also and had to put a new trailer under it. It has been a learning process and given a chance to start again I would buy a different trailer despite having mine about right now. For an RL 28 it is advisable to get a trailer with a GMV of 3500kg with a trailer weight of 750kg. Most of the time mine would be around 2500kg lightly loaded and 3000kg + loaded for extended cruising. My trailer is a Swiftco 7.2m tandem trailer and cost $9800 with an optional roller ladder arrangement for the keel. Having said this the last 40cm of the keel is not supported. This doesn't worry me as the original tinka trailer that was sold with the RL had about the same support. The minuses for this trailer are: 1) all the chinese bearings needed to be replaced with japanese ones. 2) axle u bolts were utterly under size for the size of the trailer with a nasty mishap when one broke on the way back from the whitsundays. I have since replaced them with over engineered ubolts. 3) the electric over hydraulic brake unit was not the best and failed on the extended trip leaving me without brakes on the trailer for 1800km. I have since replaced the brake unit with an alko brake unit which has been much better. 4) All blue rollers had to be replaced with red rollers although I am finding the red rollers are giving too much rolling resistance when loading and unloading so I might go back to blue again. The only other suitable trailer was a Mackay trailer for $13600 which in hindsight might have been a better choice as it had a roller bed to the rear of the trailer and would fully support the keel. I cant comment on if all its components would be locally made or chinese imports like with swiftco. At nearly $4000 more I would hope for better quality. I have spent around $2000 on the swiftco in modifications and repairs. The frame of the swiftco is reasonably built and up to the job. I will probably never know it the Mackay would have been the better choice. Hope all this helps Cheers Mark

[@leadmuncher]

Hi Mark, Thanks so much for you informative reply. It seems we are following the same path. I too have been looking at the Swiftco trailer as well as a few others. I have been watching your video ( which are really well made) and noticed that you have removed the rear wobble rollers on the back of the trailer. Is there a reason for this? Is it because they don’t give any support when trailing? Would they however assist with recovery? Thanks Pete

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Hi Pete, because of the hull shape the rear wobble rollers cant be set high enough to support the boat while trailing without stopping loading and unloading. If set low enough for loading they do nothing to help steady to boat on loading because the shape of the hull at the front half of the boat. They are really designed for supporting the rear of powerboats that have a flat rear hull shape. Once half loaded the forward rollers steady the boat well. So all they were doing was adding extra weight. The rear of the trailer does give some help guiding the boat to the center if the trailer is put in the water so that the top of the mudguard at its rear edge is just under water. If you do go swiftco I would recommend getting the ladder roller bed. You will also need to adjust the wheel position and winch post position to suit the RL and to give you the correct tow ball pressure. Let me know if you do and I can give you the measurements on the frame for both to get this correct. They would probably do this for you if you have the measurements. Cheers Mark

[@leadmuncher]

Hi Tony, I get what you are saying. I have done a bit of research on trailers and looked at a Bonanza 7.2 boat trailer that comes with a Hydrastar brake actuator which should be reliable. Actual trailer is straight out of China flat packed and assembled in Australia for $8500. Did you come across this brand when you were looking, any thoughts. Can you tell me what width your keel ladder is, 30 cm? Is there a particular width that suits the size keel housing on the RL 28. Thanks

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Hi Pete, The Bonanza was not around when I bought the swiftco but from what I can see they are the same trailer and probably from the same factory in china. The brakes and brake unit are added by who ever imports them. The felk brake unit on the swiftco is australian made and worked OK until it blew an internal o ring and filled itself with brake fluid. The hydrostar unit is a very similar design, and maybe I was just unlucky. The only thing I would worry about the bonanza is if you need parts for it will they be around in a few years. My guess is parts from swiftco will fit. If the bonanza price is $8500 without the ladder roller then the price is much the same as swiftco. ;My ladder roller is 30cm wide and the RL could get away with 8inches wide, the rollers would be alot cheaper but they would have to be flat or cotton reel style to fit the keel properly at that width, not the dog bone style that most of these trailers are supplied with. cheers Mark(tony?????)

[@rhyskleinekathoefer8611]

How is the furler arranged Mark? I am looking at adding a furler to my Ultimate 18 and want to be able to reef like yours. I currently have a hanked on genoa. Cheers, Rhys

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Hi Rhys. The furler uses a ronstan trailer sailer drum and swivel and although not cheap are still quite alot cheaper than the smallest profurl. It is set up completely separately to the forestay which can still be used if needed. The furler drum on mine is attached to a separate ubolt installed in the deck as close to the center as practical. The swivel attaches to the headsail halyard and is used to tension the foil. The foil is the tricky bit. I have used 16mm electrical conduit. You have to make brackets (mine are stainless flat and tube that fit onto the ends of the conduit.) Basically the flat steel protrudes out of the end and into the conduit. On the outer bit there are 2 holes, one for the drum or swivel pins and one for a shackle to which the sail islets are attached. The steel flat inside the conduit has a hole to which an internal cable is attached. The internal cable needs to be a bit longer than the sail but short enough to allow the foil to be pulled tight by the halyard before you hit the mast. The end brackets are bolted to the conduit to make it and the brackets turn as one. ie the top and bottom bracket turn at the same time and the same amount, the cable takes the tension, the conduit takes the torsional force. The sail is lashed to the shackles top and bottom and to the conduit along its length. It helps to tightly stretch the foil between 2 trees or posts while you do this to ensure a tidy fit. I thought about using a profurl furler but decided to go this way which I also had on my previous boat because it is so easy to put the sail and bring it down because the home made foil can almost bend double whilst pulling it up or bringing it down but it still allows reefing in strong winds. You could do the same using a torsional furling cable that you have made but they are quite expensive. If you need some drawings let me know and I'll see what I can do. Cheers Mark

[@rhyskleinekathoefer8611]

Some drawing would be great, thanks Mark. electrical conduit would be more robust than the traditional aluminium foils

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

The aluminium foil put me off for the chance of bending and difficulty of setting up for a trailer boat. The conduit has enough torsional strength for the reefing. I will try do some drawings in the next week or so and email them to you, cant attach them here so send me an email to [e-mail] and I will see what I can do. Cheers Mark

[@TonyKeyes]

G'day Mark. Love your work, keep it up. I'm interested in your trailer, which seems very well set up. If you look at my channel you'll see I've got a Welsford 6-metre Whaler, obviously smaller than Neringa, but an unusual shape (particularly the canoe-stern) that most trailer manufacturers don't seem to cater for. The trailer it came with is diabolical and retrieval is a real handful, and impossible single-handed. What make is yours, what if anything did you have to do to customise it? Cheers!

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

G'day Tony, My trailer is a Swifto 7.2m trailer and really is just a power boat trailer and except for the frame which seems decent most other parts on the trailer have been upgraded due to the poor quality of what it came with. Having said that, looking at your boat you should be able to set up any power boat trailer to load your boat pretty easily. Things I have added that I think would work just as well for your whale boat are: - Vertical guide posts that savage trailers sell for about $200 a set. I would attach them further forward for your boat than mine but you might need to play around to get the best spot. They push the boat into the center and really help on windy days by guiding the boat on. - slider bars (4 on my trailer towards the rear) slope into the middle and are set just wider than the widest part of the keel at that level. If off center the keel slides over these and as more weight goes on the keel slides to the middle of the trailer. I think savage sell them too. - Ladder keel rollers, not essential but more rollers and more support. - Self centering roller (red roller at the front of my main keel rollers) keeps pushing the front of the boat towards the center as it rolls forward. - cheap 4wd winch with remote to winch the boat on, not essential but lets you walk around checking and adjusting whilst the winch pulls the boat on. So really any trailer with enough adjustments to fit the keel shape with the above added will make loading a breeze. I just bring the boat roughly onto the middle of the trailer with the guide posts holding it there, hook up the winch rope and press the remote until the bow rests on the winch post. I would say 99% of the time it loads perfectly without anything else needing to be done even when windy. Hope this helps. Cheers Mark

[@TonyKeyes]

@@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES Thanks Mark, that's very helpful. Give us a shout next time you're up this way en route to the Whitsundays! Cheers, Tony

[@davidhawkins27]

Hey mate - do you still have this yacht?

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Yes we still have the yacht and sail her regularly.

[@GodCoastQLD]

Hey mate. Any chance that you want to sell this? My dad wants it and he would make a generous offer God bless you

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

Thankyou for the offer but there are still a few adventures I want to take Neringa on so not quite ready to let her go yet. Cheers Mark

[@harrydraude7683]

At this point would u consider selling her

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

I suspect Neringa will be in the family quite some time into the future. Still have many plans and adventures that will involve her.

[@GodCoastQLD]

Sell it for 45 to me?

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

My time with Neringa is not over yet. Thanks for the offer but I am not ready to sell her yet, still a few years of sailing adventures to share. Cheers Mark

[@GodCoastQLD]

@@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES thanks legend. Please show some clips of the shower section. Also is that offer a decent one? What similar and better trailer sailer should I look for? Bless you mate

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

@@GodCoastQLD Yes the offer was a good one and you should get a great RL 28 for that. Having said that, Neringa has had that sort of money put into her since I bought her back in 2016. I am told that I have made it hard to buy and RL28 with my videos these days, not many sold and any good ones go very quickly. Having said that there are other TS's that are excellent boats but like all boats they are all compromises. Slightly newer and very seaworthy are Farr 30 or Nolex 30. Both are great boats but are heavy to tow and are oversized for the road so require permits and day time towing in some states. It really depends on what sort of sailing you want to do. If you intend to do some of the more adventurous trips that involve open ocean then the above boats or maybe something like a sunbird 25 would be my choices other than RL28. The sunbirds are mid 80's boats and have an inboard diesel. Finding one with a good motor can be a challenge given their age, but they are very seaworthy and solidly built. All of the above boats have standing headroom down below. Some would consider a nolex 25 a good boat but no standing headroom and a very lightweight mast. If you are sailing lakes and bays then most TS's are possible candidates. Macgregor 28 is a hybrid water ballast sail/power boat with standing headroom. They sail Ok but many would question this. They are newer boats but are reasonably lightly built. Designed to have a 50hp motor they can be planed. They are flat bottomed and I suspect would be uncomfortable in a heavy sea but there are many that swear by them as being great boats. I cant post pictures on KZbin but if you email may channel email.. [e-mail] I will email some pictures of the shower compartment back to you. As I said the shower is really a compartment that can get wet with a hand shower. Cheers Mark

[@COLINJELY]

Sailing. Standing under a cold shower, ripping up $50 notes 🙂

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

And loving every minute for the joy my boat brings! Better than standing under a cold shower ripping up $50 notes for booze, smokes or drugs, and the high I get lasts and doesn't wreck my health. Have you ever tried ripping up our plastic notes? Probably would need waterproof scissors in the shower with you too :) :)

[@COLINJELY]

@@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES there is nothing, absolutely nothing, half as much fun doing, as simply messing about with boats. Water Rat, The Wind in the Willows

[@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES]

@@COLINJELY Used to keep rats, very intelligent animals, Ratty just proves it by his opinion on boats :)