Tips wanted for lawn launching

[CptnNate]

I had some issues lawn-launching my DSII to remove the centerboard. I tied the boat to a fence post, hitched up, and slowly pulled the trailer out from under the boat.
1) The bow dragged along the metal beam the front roller is on and left a trail of gelcoat dust.
2) When the bow got past the metal it broke the wooden centerboard support cross bar. It was only a 2x2 with a notch cut in it so not very substantial in the first place.
3) When I was winching it back on (still hitched to the car) the autobailer drug a trench in the grass and in the process knocked itself loose. It's still attached and appears undamaged, but it's loose and can twist.

Would preventing the tilt trailer from tilting, or unhitching make things go smoother?
When I have to do this again to put the centerboard back I'm thinking of cutting a board to fit from the front roller to the aft roller to give the bow something to ride on. I'll replace the centerboard support after the boat is back on the trailer. I'm not sure what to do about the autobailer. Maybe put down a couple of 2x4s for the hull to ride on instead of the autobailer.

This image shows in progress of winching it back on. I've added a couple additional boards to try to prevent dragging the bow up the metal beam. The centerboard support broke when I off-loaded.

[GreenLake]

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles in lawn launching your boat.

The issues are different for each type of trailer.



As you can see from the image, my trailer is equipped with central rollers. That makes it easier to launch the boat when the hull is not supported by water. I can "roll" off my boat instead of being limited to floating it off.

A centerline carpeted board like a third bunk could be used instead, if it is possible to mount it on the trailer.

For launching all I have to do is to add a bit of carpet under the stern and then pull out the trailer while tilted.

For retrieval, I have found that I need to limit the tilt to an intermediate setting. The trailer came with a loop of rope of the correct size courtesy of a previous owner.

To lower the rear of the trailer enough to get the bow started, I usually unhitch it as well.