Bunks and rollers

[dude11]

I have a 14' tri-hull sitting on a "home made type" trailer.It has bunks and rollers,my question is should the rollers be touching the keel?Right now it's sitting maybe an inch off the rollers.The rollers are some what adjustable,by re-drilling holes.I've been told,that any contact on a small place could stress the keel,but the weight spread out over the bunks would much better. We think we've touched on this one before,but I can't remember,Ain't getting old great!!!thax,dude11

 

[foodfisher]

Re: Bunks and rollers

The advice in your post is correct. "spread the load"

 

[Triton II]

Re: Bunks and rollers

You haven't shown us a pic, so the following is guesswork, but may help.

In general keel rollers should take most of the weight, with the bunks adding stability and some weight bearing, plus guidance during loading and launching. Most boats' keels are designed to take the weight. With a Trihull you ideally there should be rollers for all three "keels". A compromise is to spread the weight, so set the trailer up to have the rollers and the bunks in contact with their respective areas of hull. The worst thing you can do is have a bunk contacting at one end only - this stresses the contact point. Good luck.

TII

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Bunks and rollers

Been in this debate before and you are going to get arguments both ways as to which way is correct.

1st thing you are going to have to do is figure out wether it's a bunk trailer or a keel roller trailer. There is a difference and bunk trailers can have rollers.

A Bunk trailer will support the weight on the bunk boards. A Keel Roller trailer supports the weight on the rollers. Tilt trailers are from what I've always seen Keel Rollers. Also Keel Roller trailers normally have significantly shorter bunks.

 

[dude11]

Re: Bunks and rollers

Like I said,this boy looks kinda home made to me;I guess the best thing is like Triton11 mentioned,post a pic.I'll do that.Thax so far,dude11