roller troubles

[scottscotty]

I have thought about doing away with the 3 rollers in the center of my trailer and replacing them with salt treated boards with a 1/4"thick skid plate of (HDPE) covering the wood. The rollers are getting cracked and are not really rolling anymore. That makes getting the boat on the trailer more of a pain than it should be. trailer is in good shape. The "bunks" are still good. Just toying around with the idea giving the keel more surface area than just 3 rollers to load and set on. Pros, Cons.......?

 

[sail sfbay]

If it was my boat trailer I would replace the tired rollers, assuming I was happy with its new performance, and avoid the cost of additional bunks.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Alot depends on the sailboat trailer. Which boat and year? Side view of hull and trailer. Former dealer who also designed sailboat trailers now retired

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Generally I saw most roller style trailers sometimes seriously indent the hull and in some cases, my company repaired those damaged hulls due to the lack of or not enough rollers to distribute the load.

For that reason, many of the dealers would go with bunk boards of course contouring with the hull for better distribution of the load. There are safety issues but releasing the winch, one may not be able too hold onto the winch handle on an angled ramp if on rollers sometimes coming off the trailer sideway or float away. I have seen wrists broken and the handle hit someone in the face being cold cocked and in one case hospitalized over a week. The bigger the boat is concerning which is why we need to know which boat.

I could go on. I learned from Ron Frisosky about trailer design who was considered the best sailboat trailer designer in the country

 

[scottscotty]

It is an older trailer that has the ability tilt ( I just don't use it because the ramp I use is perfect to simply float it off. The trailer has rollers (3) for the keel to set on. 2 bunks set on edge down beside the rollers to "guide" the keel onto and over the rollers, and 2 bunks that are raised to help support the boat from tipping off the trailer (up high and running parallel to the spine of the boat) near the waters edge mark, but still located under the boat. there are no rollers to support the boat except under the keel. I just need an opinion if replacing the rollers is the best way to go, or should i put the boat in the water, and take off the rollers and replace all of them with a "solid bunk" the entire length of the keel?

 

[LloydB]

My Mac trailer did not come with rollers but only side bunks and I float it off and on. To load the boat back onto the trailer I lift the swing keel all the way up and position the boat on the trailer. I don't relax the keel back down to the trailer keel bunk until the boat is back up off the ramp so a slippery bunk or roller is unnecessary. Before the Mac I owned a ski boat with a tilt trailer and I had to change the process cranking the boat onto the trailer for the Mac.