Keel roller

[steveo32]

My keel roller has split in half, so I have ordered a new one. I was just wondering if I should adjust the placement of the keel roller from it's current position so this doesn't happen again. The boat is a 15' Ebbtide Tri Hull, I will try to get a picture posted tomorrow. The splitting of the Keel roller has caused some rubbing and damage to my keel, so I would like to prevent this from happening again.

 

[rndn]

Re: Keel roller

These things do wear out after a while so the placement may be fine.

 

[Expidia]

Re: Keel roller

That roller in my opinion should only press on the bottom of the hull. The boat should be cradled and supported by the bunks (if you have bunks). The keel rollers should not be supporting the full weight of the boat.

As the other poster said, they do wear out especially if the sun has been hitting them while the trailer is parked or layed up. When you mount the new one don't have a lot of pressure on it from the boat or you might wear out the new one too.

There should be bolts that you can move it up or down.

I just ordered new ones for my 2007 15 foot, but not because the roller is wearing, I just wanted the self centering type.

Here is an excepted quote from a poster on another boating site that echoes what I said above:

"A keel roller is not designed to support weight. It is designed to guide your boat into place on the bunks. If you tried to support weight with it you would just bend it. Bunks distribute weight over a large area. A roller would concentrate all the weight in one little spot.
The boat needs to sit flat on the rear bunks then everything should be adjusted to meet the hull from there."


The rubber ones wear faster. Get the poly type since you need to change the one that's on there now.

There are other threads that you can search for discussing how the rollers are only to help guide and support the keel, but not be supporting the "full" weight of the boat.

 

[steveo32]

Re: Keel roller

Thanks for the replies, I think the keel roller is probably in the right spot then. When i took it off there wasn't that much pressure on it, I think it scraped my keel while loading because the keel split the roller apart. I do not have bunks, I have all rollers and they all look good except the keel roller. It may be the original, since the guy I bought the boat from didn't even have a cover on it during winter in Michigan, so I had to replace the side pads because the wood had rotted. I think the only thing he ever did was fog the motor, cause the lower unit oil looked old and of course there was fish line wrapped around the shaft or spline of the prop. Well that concludes my rant for the day.

Thanks

 

[JUSTINTIME]

Re: Keel roller

the keel rollers should have a slight drag on them when boat is on the trailer