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Launching 18HPX-V


jsquared

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Recently purchased my first Maverick a couple months ago.  Went with a brand new 18HPX-V.  Love almost everything about the sled, except one major headache.  Every time I go to launch it, the bow gets stuck on the bow roller and I have to "lift" it off to get it over.  Not a huge deal, just annoying to have to do it every time.  I know the first thought is, well you have it in the water too deep.  That's what I thought.  But the last time out I played with the water depth for awhile and if I keep it out of the water more, my local ramps are not steep enough for it to go in unless I submerge it pretty deep.  I saw a post on here awhile ago about possibly putting liquid roller on the rails, but I am not big on that idea either.  I primarily solo launch and don't want to have trouble getting it back on the trailer if the rails are too slick.  

So my question is, does anyone have the same problem?  Would a different bow roller help? Or is this just the way life will be unless I put liquid roller on it or get to a steeper ramp?  Or maybe a different trailer?  Thanks for any suggestions.      

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I had the same problem with the Ameratrails for my 17MA & 18HPX. My solution included raising the height of my tow ball. Every truck has slightly different hitch height so you might have to experiment. Also, my forward trailer fender step has to be submerged for easy launch. I drive a F150 4x4 and use a 2" drop hitch turned upside down and that was same setup I used on my prior Tundra 4x4, both trucks towed my current 18HPX. 

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Do not have the same set up but this works for me especially on solo trips.  To keep from backing in too far I just put some slack in the wench line.  So when you back in the boat in and the stern starts to lift just tap the brake and off she goes but it is still hooked to the trailer. 

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Which Trailer do you have?  I recently bit the bullet and bought an Ameritrail, and it was worth every single penny.  light coat of Liquid rollers and the boat slides right off.

As said above,  ramp angle, trailer angle off your ball, and how deep you sink it.

 

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Either way will work, mine is a 17 but does the same if I don't slide the boat back ... I back it down, undo the winch and lean against the boat with just a little body weight and it will slide back enough to clear the bow roller... I would recommend lubing the bunks, it's pretty easy to work out how much of them to lube up to make launching easy... 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Like said above, adjust the hitch height and liquid rollers the back half of the bunks. You will find the sweet spot and right amount of liquid roller over time.

When you put the boat back on the trailer, leave it in gear to hold it on the trailer then walk forward and hook the strap or chain.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have the HPX V 15fter that has the same issue,   I cannot get the bow over the roller regardless of how deep or not I back down the ramp.  I am thinking to lower the bow roller  and maybe raise the height of the forward bunks.  The boat is light enough to  just lift the bow ,but it can be a pain.

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Polliwog, my 15 hpxv did the same thing. I was able to lower the bow roller by cutting off about 2 inches from the end of the brackets it was attached to and redrilling the holes lower down on the remaining bracket. I've only used the boat once since I did it, but I was able to winch the boat up to the roller like a normal boat.

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6 hours ago, polliwog said:

I have the HPX V 15fter that has the same issue,   I cannot get the bow over the roller regardless of how deep or not I back down the ramp.  I am thinking to lower the bow roller  and maybe raise the height of the forward bunks.  The boat is light enough to  just lift the bow ,but it can be a pain.

Pictures help a lot when you are looking for advise on fixing things!

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