Posted by Sean-Montgomery 23 "Dauntless"
on 11/19/2008, 14:57:26, in reply to "Re: Launching boats with Deeper Drafts"
My wife and I routinely ramp launch a Montgomery 23. I have had her all over Southern California as well as the lakes of Arizona.
It is not as difficult of a task as some make it out to be. We have a removeable tongue on the trailer. When we launch I completely remove the towing tongue and this keeps the surge brake controller form ever getting dunked. I have a simple 12' tongue extension with it's own hitch I put in place of the towing tongue. It only takes pulling 2 quick pins and uncoupling the brake line (similar to an air line chuck fitting) to switch out the tongues. When not in use the towing tongue is stored on along the frame of the trialer. 
This is built of thick walled steel and is heavy, but needs to be so it doesn't flex from the tongue weight. I can do it myself and have on many occasions but it is easier with 2 people. As for time, well yes it does take a little more time, but you are going to find as the boat size goes up, so does the set-up time. That's the downside of upsizing and it's been discussed here at length. The smaller the boat the easier the setup and often that means more use. I love my Monty 23 but we don't launch her for an afternoon of sailing and then plan on pulling her out again the same day. Not the case with a 17, though.
As with any time you launch you should check the ramp before you back down to make sure you aren't going to drop off, but it's raely a problem, at least in my experience, and I would think that I an backing substantially further than you will have to with any of the boats you mentioned. 
We have been doing this for over three years now. I have had experiences with strap launching as described above. While it is necessary to do that for a Deep fin keel boat, you shouldn't have to do that for any of the boats you are talking about. The trade off with the strap is you can launch and retrieve much deeper, but the loss of a rigid connection with the trailer brings on its own headaches and safety issues. Ever see a Yamaha 25 do a wheelie?? It's not a pretty thing. Ask my Buddy Scott!
Good luck
Sean
M23 "Dauntless"
www.havasumontgomerys.piczo.com
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