Moorings in Soton...

[Ianfs]

Why does my video not work?

I'm not sure Chris, it works on my phone and on my pc, no issues.

How long does the drive need to be in the trailer position to cause problems with the bellows?

I think Bruce has given a good answer to this and I am reluctant to say this and would love to be specific, but there are a lot of dependants. Although all 3 bellows are designed to be pulled to the extended towing position, for towing, they are at full stretch however. The main UJ bellows has a metal spring inside it which will help keep the rubber away from the spinning UJ's when its in the down or trimmed position and this will be stretched as well, although it does spring back nicely. I've seen a few boats with their legs stored in the trailer position without an issue, but its not recommended by manufacturers for long periods.

I suppose I might be a little over dramatic and Bruce is right, if you've used manufacturers bellows and they are within the service intervals then they should be fine, but I have seen one which developed a hole in the main bellows because of this very reason when it rubbed on the UJ, let water in and it destroyed the Gimbal bearing. The UJ's were fine though and cleaned up nicely. It's sort of once bitten twice shy I suppose.

Oh by the way, nice boat and I love the way you just drive it on....very civilised.

[BruceK]

The metal spring inside is used more for keeping the tube shape than a rebound return, that is the elasticity in the rubber. Even when the bellows are fully stretched you put no where near enough tension on the spring to stretch it out of shape anyway, and if you pull the spring out of a old unit you'll see it has very weak rebound from the off reinforcing the fact it's just there to maintain shape. I'd bet that the fellow who claims the trailer position caused the UJ to rub a hole in his bellow was because that same fellow was silly enough to run the engine with the leg in trailer mode or his rubber was shot. Silly, not stupid. Done it a few times myself. Clunkety clunk clunk clunk goes the UJ

Make sure the bellows are soft pliable and in good order and you'll be fine

[ChrisH]

thanks chaps for the detailed explanation. Really helpful.
I get the leg serviced every year, and as Tompa marine is based at Kemps and actually worked on the boat when it was new I'll also get some advice form him too.
Hoping that as it sits under the swim platform it will help keep the sun off it.

So you can see the very rear of my hull is still slightly in the water and also the skeg, do I need to antifoul those, will I have a nightmare at the end of the season if I don't.

Whole point of the drive on dock was to not need to antifoul but I can't get any more buoyancy on the dock to the last bits out of the water, and if I could, I probably would struggle to drive off.

[BruceK]

It's such a small bit I'd just give it a scrub regularly to keep it fowl free. Unless you have barnacle issues where you are. They're right sods. But the only drive AF I have used that I can vouch for is Trilux. Paint on but grey. Be a shame.

[ChrisH]

Thanks Bruce

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