Roller trailer tips needed.

[109jb]

Re: Roller trailer tips needed.

Well, I got the boat off the trailer and I think I'm going to go with the partial bunk idea. Attached are some pictures of the trailer and boat. In the last picture I have a 2x4 laying across the inboard rollers. What I plan to do is remove all of the inboard rollers and make brackets to mount 2x4 bunks at the same height as the rollers were. The 2x4 in the picture shows about how long they would be and sort of how they would be placed. As pointed out before, I will make some stops so that the pivot brackets can't swing to the outside so that I don't puncture my boat (thanks for pointing that out). What do you guys think of this idea?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Roller trailer tips needed.

it looks like that trailer has no adjustment on it at all. just the side to side wobble.

 

[NolaZach]

Re: Roller trailer tips needed.

From what I understand, roller trailers cost more, maybe you could sell that one and buy a bunk trailer.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Roller trailer tips needed.

It is a little different to my EZ Loader. Mine has adjustment and keel rollers.

 

[109jb]

Re: Roller trailer tips needed.

Yeah, no keel rollers. The boat is a 1988 Sea Ray Seville and the keel starts sharp at the bow down to where it flattens out under the boat. By the time it gets to the transom there is about an 8" wide flat bottom on the boat. In other words it doesn't have a keel that runs full length like other boats.

As far as swapping this roller trailer for another bunk trailer, I thought about that. The problem is that I had to pull this one out to fix a cracked crossmember anyway and I want to get the boat/trailer ready for the water by Saturday. Since I have it out, I figured I'd try the bunk idea. I'm sure I can fix the cracked crossmember and make the bunk brackets like I talked about because that only depends on me. however, I doubt that I could find a suitable bunk trailer let alone get it set up by Saturday. I'll keep the rollers and what I plan to do won't mess anything up that can't be reversed later. So, when I sell this boat, the next owner will have the option of changing it back to full roller.

That's the plan anyway.

 

[109jb]

Re: Roller trailer tips needed.(Converted to bunks)

Re: Roller trailer tips needed.(Converted to bunks)

I figured I would give an update since it has been a couple months and I found a solution and have had time enough to test it. I tried my original idea of just 2 short bunks on the inboard rear pair of rollers. It worked, but still didn't provide enough friction to prevent the boat from sliding off the back. I then decided to just go ahead and convert to full bunks. What I wound up with is four 8' bunks. They are attached to brackets that are in turn attached to the axles where rollers were. Works great. So good in fact that my brother in law wanted his EZ loader converted the same way. On mine I used cotter pins through holes I drilled to retain the brackets. On the BIL's trailer we re-used the clips that held on the rollers. The brackets are made from 1/8" x 2" x 3-1/2" plate steel welded to short pieces of 1" black iron pipe. In the end, the bunks work out much better than the rollers. I can coast on to the bunks and just the forward momentum gets me far enough to "stick" the boat to the trailer. One other thing I noticed in relation to the rollers was that the hull of my boat has slight depressions at each roller position from sitting on the rollers for years. Now with the bunks, that load is much more spread out and I won't have all the black marks from the rollers. At least I won't after I clean off the ones that are already there. Here are some picture of how mine turned out and the brackets.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Roller trailer tips needed.

I suppose you could also just attach the bunks to the arms by just drilling a through hole vertically and using a recessed bolt right through the bunk board.
It wouldn't be as removable but it would be easier and cheaper for those without welding skills or a welder.

I like the idea of using the pivot brackets from the rollers, it maintains the ride height which it had with the rollers and gives a good second row of bunk boards it may not normally have gotten with conventional brackets.

 

[109jb]

Re: Roller trailer tips needed.

I suppose you could also just attach the bunks to the arms by just drilling a through hole vertically and using a recessed bolt right through the bunk board.
It wouldn't be as removable but it would be easier and cheaper for those without welding skills or a welder.

I like the idea of using the pivot brackets from the rollers, it maintains the ride height which it had with the rollers and gives a good second row of bunk boards it may not normally have gotten with conventional brackets.

I thought about that, but decided brackets would be better. The top of the pivot brackets isn't flat and it would only have one lag screw per location. A through bolt like you suggest would work, but would require lifting the boat pretty high off the trailer to install, or taking it off completely. When I put them in on mine I just raised the boat by tightening the bow strap nice and tight and then jacking up the stern with a floor jack, I raised it just high enough to clear one line of rollers, removed them, installed the brackets, set the bunk on top and then lowered the boat so that the bunk had weight on it. Then I just put the lag screws in from below and repeated for the othe three bunks.

You are right though that nothing changed regarding ride height. The height of the top of the bunk turns out to be exactly the same height as the top of the rollers. This made the setup really easy.