Front roller on trailer

[Craiger]

On my recently purchased Catalina 22, I noticed that the roller on the front of the trailer was deformed and almost cut in half, so I replaced it. After a couple of month of trailering, the new one started to deform as well. So I tried to loosen the bolt that holds it up against the hull to lower it a little bit. The bolt snapped very easily. After a little work with an EZ Out (that also snapped) I sawed the nut off to remove the rest of the bolt.

So here is my question: How much weight should rest on this roller? Once I re-weld a nut on, how do I determine the proper height for this roller? Is is really supposed to hold any weight at all?

 

[KingAirDriver]

Curious of this myself, as my trailer no longer has one. The old socket for the vertical long since rotted off, and when I re-welded the new steel for the tongue, I left it off. Should I have not left it off? opps!

 

[Chris Patterson]

The distance in the picture is about right. The roller carries no weight, it's for launching, and retrieving the boat, to sort of "guide" it back to the V-rubber,(or whatever the piece is called), and to keep the hull from scraping on the steel of the trailer.

 

[StanFM]

Great topic! I have the same issue with my trailer.

The roller is mashed, and chafing on the hull as it will not rotate. So guys, this should not carry any weight at all? The boat slides off with a little tug now. What if I replaced the roller with a just wooden bunk piece and carpet? Or do we even need the thing? The PO installed two gigantic pvc tubes to guide the keel I'm guessing, but I think I'll remove them as I can't see that they do anything useful-- in a high cross wind maybe?

Hope I am not messing up your post KingAirDriver.

Stan

 

[Chris Patterson]

No, that thing shouldn't be touching the boat. If the angle of the trailer is low when launching/retrieving, like I said, the bow kinda bumps it, as apposed to the frame of the trailer. And then when the boat is pulled out of the water, and the angle of boat and trailer diminishes, it will come off of the roller. I doubt it's really hurting anything much, that is a significant piece of glass in that section, but...

Yep, the pipes are keel guides. Here in these ocean currents, rivers, etc, the boat will have a tendency to drift off to the side. In calm waters, it would be a moot point.

 

[watercolors II]

Roller and guides

Look at your bunks, they span almost 1/2 the length of the hull and carry 80 percent of the hull weight, so a bow roller is not needed for support. Also notice that the bunks and the hull are not flat and straight, the hull sits down into the bunks, so the boat will not slide off these bunks as you haul it down the highway.

What the boat will do is bounce and walk from the road imperfections and also from the twisting and flexing of the trailer.

Securing the bow and strapping the stern to the trailer will eliminate this hull bouncing and walking. As someone else has said it’s there for helping to load the boat only and letting about 3/4 inch between the hull and roller will allow the trailer to flex, the hull will not be grinding away on the roller surface.

When loading, your boat will be perfectly level floating on the water, the roller being in front of the bunks will be much higher because of the angled ramp. With a roller the bow will start to lift higher as it rolls up this roller thus reducing some of the friction created as the hull slides up the front of the bunks. When the hull is in it’s final resting position at the ramp, the stern will settle down on the back of the bunks and lift the bow off this roller as you pull everything out of the water.

For keel guides to work they need to be strong and as high as possible and as far forward as possible. Again because of the angled ramp the keel will float above and not come into contact with them until the hull is almost in it’s final resting place ABOVE the trailer.

 

[StanFM]

Wow, great advice guys-- thank you! I haven't tried any distance towing yet, as my boat is kept on the trailer at the lake. For now, just in and out of the water behind my Mustang! Ha!

Stan

 

[Craiger]

Thanks

Thank you all for the advice. We decided to leave the roller in the down position during one launch and retrieval just to see where the bow and keel go. That should help us decide how high to place the roller. It will be real easy just to leave it where it is at.

 

[Craiger]

Launch and retrieval

So we launched this weekend with the roller in the down position as seen in the picture at the start of this string. The bow floated up to the roller, rolled right over it to the bow V on the trailer. I attached the bow hook and cranked it the last 2 inches. The hull rose up off of the roller about an inch. When I drove up the ramp the bow came away from the V about an inch as it settled onto the bunks. That means all of the weight was resting on the bunks and the keel rested on the trailer. Is that the preferred weight distribution?

 

[watercolors II]

Your recovery sounds perfect!

The bow doesn’t have to be up tight to the V chock unless that distance un-weights the trailer tongue, 1 to 2 inches can make a big difference. If the trailer winch is slightly higher than the bow eye, that will help lift the bow higher and sink the stern thus mirroring the angled trailer in the water, this will help in keeping the stern from settling and the bow up against the V chock.

The keel should not make contact with the trailer when cranked all the way up, you don’t want the weight of the hull sitting on the keel. When the boat is hauled out of the water the back end of the keel should be above the keel support on the the trailer. After you pull the rigging up the ramp then let the keel down on to the trailer, that way only the weight of the keel is supported by the trailer.

 

[CaptGregg]

That was my problem. The bow not seated in the bow chock threw off the trailer balance making hitch connection and towing difficult.

As long as the bow is up tight, my trailer is closer to being balanced and towing is faster with less hassle.