what should I do?

[MacW]

I may be getting the wrong end of the stick here but here`s my tuppence worth - In my experience the weight of the boat on the trailer should be taken by the KEEL on a row of rollers on the spine of the trailer. The side rollers are there to hold the hull level and in line. If the hull is hitting the trailer then you need a rope between the car and the trailer to stop the car getting wet, yet enabling the boat to float over whole trailer then settle down as the whole lot is pulled up the slip. These roller coaster trailers are really designed for deep vee hulls with no real keel, which can simply `flow` off the trailer into the water and vice versa. Its the keel thats causing your problems and needs a particular technique and set up of the trailer for successful transfer in and out of the water. As has been said it looks like your trailer has been set up as a crane on and off trolley. Without centre line rollers taking the weight your keel is going to take a pounding from road surface vibrations or worse, when towing.
All IMHO of course, but with many years experience, the last one being a Sea Ray 240, towed for 500 miles !
Pete

 

[Major Catastrophe]

Seaboots, I have checked and the boat and trailer are design NOT to take the weight on the keel. Weight is carried by the side rollers which are intended to self level the boat during recovery.

Have been specifically told that if I fit rollers to protect the keel during recovery, they must not be touching the keel during transit.

 

[MacW]

If that`s the way it is, then you are left with using the rope between the car and the trailer to get the trailer much deeper. If she`s on the trailer now maybe paint a mark on the trailer directly below the peak of the bow with the boat in its correctly loaded position,then when recovering float the boat right over the trailer till in the right position and slowly tow up slip till boat settles on trailer in correct position. ( needs helpers at boats sides ). This is more like vertical lifting on (and off ) than roller recovering.Need to watch out for nose of trailer pivoting up in the air ( no car attached ) if boat tends to settle stern first.
All IMHO of course, but looking at your pics your boat seems to have a substantial keel ,which would likely be the strongest part of your hull.After all if you beach the boat its weight is going to be taken on the keel and it will be built to take that,and it would seem logical for it to simply roll up the trailer on a series of keel rollers. Take a look at other boats on their trailers, or watch them being recovered. I can`t help thinking there`s something not right where the dealer promoted set up is damaging the boat. Maybe phoning a different dealer for another opinion or maybe better still ask your existing dealer to demonstrate his set up by recovering the boat from the water in your presence.
Cheers
Pete.

 

[Chris771]

Firstly, apologies for taking a few days to reply. I am presently on a drilling rig that has just towed from Trinidad to Nigeria, we lost satellite comms whilst just wallowing about waiting for tugs to run anchors. Till I get home on broadband in December I cannot offer to send you any photographs.

I did actually mean what I said about only having a 6 to 8, or maybe max 10" gap between the innermost points of the rear roller sets. I did start out a long way apart then gradually realised that it was only necessary to clear the skeg or keel by about 2" on either side. Measure the width of the keel at it's widest part and allow 3" either side to put your your mind at rest. If very widely spaced as at present the bow having a high angle of deadrise will fall or jam between them causing damage either way. The idea is to get the roller sets as close together as possible without the possibility of scraping the sides of the keel. It will self centre because of the deep Vee, that is how these trailers are designed, the roller sets are like a funnel, gravity is going to take it to the lowest point, as long as both sets are equally offset from the centre line and at the same height it can go nowhere else other than dead centre and level. My last Roller Coaster trailer (the biggest at the time for 25ft boat) had four sets of 4 wide rollers on each side of the rear swing beam, that is spreading the load onto 32 rollers and the front set had a much weaker arrangement with 8 rollers on each side. With 48 rollers and a 2 tonne boat, each roller was only bearing a load of about 40Kg The forward set of rollers were not designed to lift the boat from the water, just to bear the load as it was wound the last few feet onto the bow catcher.
I cannot agree with Colin that keel rollers are a good idea. The point loading on them is tremendous, rollers quickly break up with a heavy boat and cause keel damage. Provided they are well lubricated, the point loading on individual rollers is so low that one can usually rotate a single roller by hand when you have just recovered the boat onto the trailer and it is still wet, try it! This is the whole concept of having a lot of Rollers, very light hull loading and no damage.
To answer the point about shallow slipways and the stern scraping the concrete, that will only happen if the rear rollers are set too high.
Roller Coaster type trailers are a relatively modern concept, and their theory of operation tends to go against the grain of people who have been weaned on more traditional keel roller and light side supports, they do exactly the opposite, no keel loading and very light loading spread throughout the hull. I always go round with the oil can and lubricate every roller & pivot point on the trailer the day before recovering or launching the boat, then everything is lubricated and friction is low making it all so much easier. I cringe when I see people trying to drag boats onto dry rusty and seized trailers. causing unnecessary damage.
My consideration of reduced stability in having the rollers closer together is that, if one has any sense you never corner a laden boat trailer at anywhere near the type of speed that is likely to induce excessive side loadings. I would never dream of towing a boat secured to the trailer purely by the winching hook. If that parts then one launches one's pride and joy onto the motorway at 45mph, which will not do it, or your nerves much good. I always use a continuous lorry cargo strap passed right round the hull and threaded through the trailer side rails just aft of the cockpit (the wide 5 tonne flat straps without hooks, which will damage the galvanising on the trailer, the end of the strap is simply passed back through the ratchet handle). When bought from trucking specialists these straps are available with sleeves. I use a sleeved strap over the top of the hull and fibreglass plus a piece of old soft carpet , woolly side to the hull, over all points of contact. This ensures that the hull is not marked or scratched. I do not advise the narrow wimpy straps sold at boat chandlers as they are only rated to a couple of tonnes and being narrower induce greater loadings at points of contact.
The boat then cannot roll rearwards if the towing eye parts and cannot fall off the trailer, the trailer will fall over first.
Towing is a different subject. I am just trying help you get it on the trailer without damage.
The way I learned to tow a trailer was to spend a Sunday afternoon learning to reverse it around a supermarket carpark. Initially I had little control, now I can put my 43ft long x 10ft wide rig within about 4 inches without trouble. It is much easier to practice with an empty trailer, being in a 4WD vehicle from which you have good all round visibility and large mirrors helps too. I find it easier to reverse the boat and trailer with the truck than I do to park my Mazda 323, which has smoked windows and tiny door mirrors, in Paphos.
If you want any photos of my previous set ups I will happily send them to you when I get back to UK.

Chris

 

[BrendanS]

Totally agree with all points.

I have a similar roller set up for my 21, though my rollers are set quite wide at rear of trailer as I have a stepped hull which though very deep v at front has flat rear pads, and also use ratchet straps front and back, though rear straps are hooked, tho have never had a problem with trailer galvanisation on the hook contact points.

I also use clean carpet offcuts on all points of contact - replace regularly, once they are dirty, they can also scratch hull, but are easy to come by.

 

[Major Catastrophe]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Just to put your mind at rest, the boat is towed with it fulltied down with proper straps which all hook into eyes mounted on the trailer and positioned to go across desidnated points on the boat, and my comment about cornering was a stability point as I have a high wheelhouse (Antares) giving me a higher centre of gravity.

I have no intention of allowing the dealers to raise the two rear sets of rollers as I can foresee the grounding problem.

To solve the problem of the keel damage I will not be putting so much of the trailer into the water, so that the rear rollers actually lift the boat and the engines will keep the boat off the axles until it is taken up by the front rollers. But I have emailed SBS trailers for details of two single rollers to mount on the axles to stop a hit, but not carry the boat when on the trailer. That will stop any further damage and the need to do another repair.

Whilst in Nigeria, if you bump into Freddie can you ask him to stop emailing me as I don't want the $36,000,000