Teria's "Hull side supports" needed to be redesigned and built.
These are pieces of wood held up by steel posts off the trailer. The wood which can be carpet covered, rests under the bilge of the hull to hold the boat level on the trailer - important items of gear. (some boats use wobble-roller clusters in leiu of wood pieces)
The wood parts and the steel yolks that held them were re-used. But below that everything was changed.
The support posts went from 15x15mm soilid square bars to 40x40x3mm SHS (square hollow section) allot stronger looking.
The attachment or mounts to the trailer had to be changed too. The original mounts were welded on 20x20mm SHS with a lock bolt which were discarded in favor of U-bolts and plates to grip the trailer frame.
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| Dismantled original hull side supports |
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| New and old support posts and yolks - note angle of yolks |
Before cutting off the old yolks, the angle was measured and transferred to the new steel posts.
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| Old yolks cut off and cleaned up a bit |
As well as the tops being angled, some holes were made to allow for hot dip galvanizing process in future.
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| Tops of 40x40mm posts prepared - note galvanizing holes cut in before assembly |
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| Yolks welded to posts |
The support posts were attached to the trailer frame by U-bolts and plates. No such plates were available in all the marine stores or even a trailer manufacturers. so had to design and build my own ones.
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| I563 trailer - Dimensions of plates for U-bolts holding hull side support posts. |
I took the design to a local steel engineering workshop
(Les Wells steel) and had the plates made up for $17 each. The service is great. My original plan didn't make the holes large enough, so had to round file the holes larger at my workshop. The revised plan above specifies 15mm diameter holes (to take 12.5mm U-bolt stems after galvanizing of plates)
The system bolted together OK. The U-bolts are made of heavy duty 12mm rod , are about 5" long and 40mm wide inside. (some i looked at were far lighter). Ny-lock style nuts are used.
New galvanized bolts were fitted to the yolks, through the wood hull support.
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| Forward Hull side support, loosely fitted. |
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| Four hull side supports |
The length of the 4 posts is a bit long for now. Once the boat is on trailer then can cut off the excess post below the frame if required.
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| Aft Hull side supports |
I'd like to thank the investigator owners on the I563 forum for the discussion about how to build such devices, many if not all the ideas for these hull supports (also known as 'Bunks") came from Investigator 563 forum members.
One reason for this choice of design is that they can be moved about on the frame (as well as critical height adjustment) and also removed easily for maintenance. Another is they're far stronger.
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