2020 FSH Shore Land’r Trailer loading issues

[DStinson]

My new 210 FSH won’t center either. One side or other is almost on the fender. Other side will have 1/2” clearance. Once leveled by attaching one rear strap and hitting a few bumps will provide 1/8” off the fender — I am thinking this is totally unacceptable!
What should clearance be?

I’m not sure what is acceptable but I’ve never seen boats sit this close to the fenders or have to be so perfectly centered to have clearance. I now have an inch on the left and probably 1.5” on the right.

 

[Ericd]

Pictures…after slight travel correction.

 

[DStinson]

Pictures…after slight travel correction. View attachment 149456View attachment 149457View attachment 149458

That’s the same as mine would look prior to lifting the trailer.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

The one thing I haven't tried, which seems obvious, is filling up the livewell to balance out the weight of the batteries. There's so many variables with different ramps, current, winds, fender height above water, etc that i haven't been able to get my head wrapped around it. And its not consistent either. I do think it has something to do with the weight of the batteries though. Ive thought of the livewell before but too close to the ramp that i didnt feel like waiting on it. I'm average size running about 180 lbs and close to the center, the batteries are obviously farther out on port side so probably contribute more. I have put my boys on the starboard side, they weigh a combined 150 lbs with inconclusive results.

One of the first things I do when I get on the water is to fill the live well so the boat doesn’t list to port while I’m on the water. I can tell you that the boat sits perfectly level on the water is the live well. Is full. That’s 215# pounds of water in there. I also leave the live well full while retrieving.

I back my trailer in pretty deep unless its windy. This way I get the bow eye up to the roller with very little winching then, tighten the winch strap so the hook is under the bow roller.

Before I pull out of the water, I center the boat above the trailer, as I pull out of the water, I just go very slowly and let the boat center the best it can. Once out of the water I get going about 15 mph and brake hard to a stop, I can hear the boat move on the trailer. I will do this a second time to make sure I don’t hear it move, then put the transom straps on.

I remember driving home from the dealer, for 600 + miles I kept looking at the clearance on the port side, stopped and checked it more than once! I’ve never seen it touch the fenders once, it’s just really close.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I have fought the left fender issue since day one with my boat. I did reach the point of being able to keep it off of it but it was still a little too close for comfort. There were times it took multiple attempts having to back in the water to adjust position and then if I wasn’t careful I could even go too far and be on the right fender. The margin for error was way too tight in my opinion. Even perfectly level there was very little clearance over the fenders on both sides. I recently added a trolling motor which made this problem even worse. I can still use my same old techniques of filling the live well and not walking down the port side to keep off the fender but after trailering it always shifts and ends up on it anyways. I have tried keeping the starboard strap tighter and pretty much everything else others have suggested and it hasn’t changed a thing. If I was the only one struggling with this then I would say it’s simply error on my part but in my opinion there just isn’t enough clearance provided for these boats and it needs to be addressed by Yamaha. Early on I tried to adjust the fenders to gain some clearance but they are essentially fixed with no adjustment. After looking at the trailer construction recently I realized that lifting the entire trailer off of the axle assembly would give me the clearance I needed. I bought some longer u-bolts and two pieces of 1 x 3 x 72 aluminum bar and lifted my trailer 1”. I now have plenty of clearance on both sides. It still needs to be tested for loading which I hope to get done this weekend but I see no reason this isn’t going to work out perfectly. View attachment 149180View attachment 149181View attachment 149182View attachment 149183

Awesome solution!!!

How’d you get those bolts out while the boat is on the trailer? From the pics it looks really close.

 

[MajorBummer210]

I’m guessing the fender clearance is par for the course. 2017 AR210 on my trailer. Never had a problem.

 

[Ericd]

I have fought the left fender issue since day one with my boat. I did reach the point of being able to keep it off of it but it was still a little too close for comfort. There were times it took multiple attempts having to back in the water to adjust position and then if I wasn’t careful I could even go too far and be on the right fender. The margin for error was way too tight in my opinion. Even perfectly level there was very little clearance over the fenders on both sides. I recently added a trolling motor which made this problem even worse. I can still use my same old techniques of filling the live well and not walking down the port side to keep off the fender but after trailering it always shifts and ends up on it anyways. I have tried keeping the starboard strap tighter and pretty much everything else others have suggested and it hasn’t changed a thing. If I was the only one struggling with this then I would say it’s simply error on my part but in my opinion there just isn’t enough clearance provided for these boats and it needs to be addressed by Yamaha. Early on I tried to adjust the fenders to gain some clearance but they are essentially fixed with no adjustment. After looking at the trailer construction recently I realized that lifting the entire trailer off of the axle assembly would give me the clearance I needed. I bought some longer u-bolts and two pieces of 1 x 3 x 72 aluminum bar and lifted my trailer 1”. I now have plenty of clearance on both sides. It still needs to be tested for loading which I hope to get done this weekend but I see no reason this isn’t going to work out perfectly. View attachment 149180View attachment 149181View attachment 149182View attachment 149183

That’s a great solution. Thanks for sharing

 

[DStinson]

Awesome solution!!!

How’d you get those bolts out while the boat is on the trailer? From the pics it looks really close.

Once you pull the bolts up to clear the hole in the axle assembly they will just rotate up to come out

 

[Ericd]

Did the same u-bolts fit? Aluminum cost?
Have you ever checked hitch weight?
i would like to think the factory gets them close.

 

[DStinson]

Did the same u-bolts fit? Aluminum cost?
Have you ever checked hitch weight?
i would like to think the factory gets them close.

I had to buy longer u-bolts. At some point I may try to source some stainless bolts but ended up getting some from Advance Auto for about $25 just to be able to get it done this week. They were very long so I just cut them down to the length needed.
I spent $100 on aluminum but that was a deal through a company I used to work for. I originally priced it at MSC and it would have been about $300. I am sure you could find it much cheaper than that since they have a steep markup for small quantity cut pieces.

 

[Ericd]

Many thanks. Great solution

 

[DStinson]

Did the same u-bolts fit? Aluminum cost?
Have you ever checked hitch weight?
i would like to think the factory gets them close.

I have never checked hitch weight. It’s always pulled great behind my F350 so never had much reason to

 

[DStinson]

Many thanks. Great solution

Thanks. I am very pleased at how well it worked out and relieved I don’t have to worry about rubbing anymore. Mine has rubbed through the gelcoat which I’m going to have to repair.

 

[Ericd]

Do we know who handles the Shorelander warranty? My dealers says I have to find a Shorelander dealer.

 

[DStinson]

Do we know who handles the Shorelander warranty? My dealers says I have to find a Shorelander dealer.

I have no idea about that but I hate when dealers and others pull that. You sold the product you should stand behind it.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Do we know who handles the Shorelander warranty? My dealers says I have to find a Shorelander dealer.

Thats counter to one of Yamaha’s sales pitches which is that your Yamaha dealer is the one stop shop for maintenance or warranty work. Might want to give Yamaha corporate a call on that one.

 

[Ericd]

I went in and talked about the situation with the dealer. Seems they don’t do warranty work if something is wrong with the trailer, but they are willing to make adjustments on the trailer.
I would think the “factory setting” should be optimized for the boat, but who knows.

 

[Praud]

I’ve reached out to Shore Land’r directly. They did make the statement that these trailers are fitted to the specific boat model so there shouldn’t be any issues. They put me in touch with the guy who does set the trailers up but never returned my voicemail.

I’ve gotten push back from dealer basically saying I’m not loading the boat properly because these are self leveling trailers.

The new dealer I go to now did make ‘some adjustments’ to the trailer when it was in to get winterized so as soon I drop it in for the first time I’ll let you know if it sits any better.

We should all start calling Shore Land’r and logging our issues with them so they can see it’s more than a one off call with a trailer complaint. I’m sure when they get these calls they just think people can’t load their boats correctly.

 

[Ericd]

Who do I call?

 

[Praud]

Midwest Industries, Inc. (ShoreLand’r) 1-800-859-3028