Long before we had aluminum drive on boat trailers we had galvanized break back set up’s. I distinctly remember many times my father asking us to stand clear as he launched and retrieved our boat at the local landings. He would back down the at the time gravel ramp to where the water level just barely touched the galvanized trailer tire rim. He would then pull a pin and lift up on the bow of the boat; the trailer would hinge and he would push the boat into the water. Retrieval was done by leaving the boat trailer in the hinged position and manually winching the boat back on. The good news was since spring, axles and majority of the frame of the trailer was kept out of the salt water the components and hardware lasted significantly longer; the bad news was loading and unloading entailed some back breaking hard work.
As the years went on and technology advanced most everyone moved from the break back to a fully rollered trailer requiring far less effort to launch and retrieve. With resistance cut significantly these trailers utilized smaller winches and many moved to electric winches as well. Fully rollered trailers presented two major problems; however, first off maintenance was a nightmare. This style trailer had to be submerged further into the saltwater and with tons rollers, hardware and working components the salt water really took its toll. Also with the elimination of the trailer bunks the rollers were now holding the boat weight over a smaller surface area of the hull and this caused gelcoat delamination on some boats.
Over time along came the modern aluminum drive on trailer. With mostly aluminum and stainless steel components these trailers can be fully submerged with only a handful of parts affected by the salt water. Obviously this method of launching in retrieving has made handling even a large boat practically a one-man operation. We have become so accustomed to simply powering the boat onto the trailer most of us only take one or two rotations of the winch handle to draw everything tight f