First trailer

[Phil Grande]

My winter storage marina was sold this spring. I picked up a used power boat trailer. Put 21in extensions on, to raise the rollers to accommodate the shoal keel.
I will only travel >2mi to my son's nursery for winter keeping.
My question is;
Will the 16 rollers, (that flex to the shape of the hull) need to be replaced with pads or should I pickup 4 or5 stands and support the keel relieving the weight off the trailer. I store the kicker in my shed.
My concern is the misshaping of the hull of my 1976 O'Day 25.


Phil Grande

 

[Joe11688]

My winter storage marina was sold this spring. I picked up a used power boat trailer. Put 21in extensions on, to raise the rollers to accommodate the shoal keel.
I will only travel >2mi to my son's nursery for winter keeping.
My question is;
Will the 16 rollers, (that flex to the shape of the hull) need to be replaced with pads or should I pickup 4 or5 stands and support the keel relieving the weight off the trailer. I store the kicker in my shed.
My concern is the misshaping of the hull of my 1976 O'Day 25.


Phil Grande

Phil,
The O'Days, including your 25 are built for roller trailers as well as flat bunk trailers, provided some of that weight is on the keel as well as the hull. What I would do is jack the boat up just enough to shore up under the keel with wood blocks to get most of the boat's weight on the keel, while attaining the stability of the hull rollers. I've been able to raise my boat by putting four sailboat stands close together on each side of the stern section of the boat and using a hydraulic jack under the bow section just forward of the keel. You could also jack the boat from under the keel. We're only talking about relieving the strain from the rollers. So we're not jacking it up off the trailer. You need to shore up under the keel from the trailer somehow with wood blocks. For instance, if the trailer has a keel board, block it up on that. Then, the next thing that you should do is jack up the trailer so that the wheels are off the ground for the winter. This will keep the tires from cracking and rotting. Your tires won't rot over one winter if you don't do this, but they would rot after a period of winter seasons if allowed to sit on the ground. Some guys remove the wheels, but I really don't think that it's necessary to remove them. I've never done it. Even if you decide to put your boat on stands, you should jack the trailer's wheels up off the ground for the winter. I just jacked mine up today and put wood blocks under it. My boat is on stands next to my house and it's ready for the cover, which I'll put on next month.
Joe

 

[Phil Grande]

Joe ,
Thank you. youv'e boosted my confidence.
Phil

 

[Joe11688]

Joe ,
Thank you. youv'e boosted my confidence.
Phil

Phil,
I bought my O'Day 222 in the Boston Boat Show back in 1986 and the 192, 222, and the 240s came with Load-Rite single axle roller trailers that were designed for these boats in the Massachusetts area. The keels of these boats rested on a rack of four 12" rollers with 22"X 5/8" pins. I don't know much about the other boats with this set up, but my boat would almost fly right off my trailer when I let the winch off after backing down the ramp, and I never had to swamp the trailer. I'd tie a 60' line on to the bow cleat, and the boat would slide off the trailer and float almost down to the end of our dock. The wheels were 15," and I only needed to back down the ramp until the water was up to the hubs. The only problem that I ran into was, the pins on the keel rollers would either bend or sieze up after a while. It was hard to keep them lubed, and I was always careful not to go over bumps too fast while trailering, to keep my pins from getting bent. As the trailer got old, it began to nickle and dime me to death, replacing square stock, rollers, springs, and Etc. Now that I have a mooring, and I'm only trailering to the club and back home at the end of the season, I've gone to a tandem Aluminum flat bunk trailer made by Long, and I love it. The only drawback to a bunk trailer is that it takes me all day to take my boat off the trailer and put it on boat stands. It would take me about an hour to do it with the roller trailer and about 15 minutes to load my boat back on to the trailer.
Joe