Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

[jthor3277]

Good Day -
Last year, I bought a 1994 Sea Ray 230 DA that came with an EZ Loader dual axle trailer. The previous owner said that the trailer fit the boat well at that he never had any issues. The boat/trailer combo has always looked funny to me and it's time I ask the forum peeps their opinion. I did a quick overhaul of some of the trailer components such as a new winch, rollers, u-bolts, bearings\seals, lights, etc. I took the boat out yesterday and had no problems until I went to load it. the boat lines up high on the bow guides and we couldn't get it over the the bow ring. My brand new heavy duty Fulton winch handle stripped over the cam while I was reeling it up on the rollers. This was before it got to the bow ring. The trailer was in the water past the top rollers. Now I did notice that I wound the cable upside down and I need to flip it but that wasn't the issue. I had to use some red neck ingenuity to get it on the trailer for a quick ride home. Can I fix the positioning of the trailer bow stop or do I need another trailer? Thanks for your time.

 

[Snowfish]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

The winch post looks very adjustable. See the U-Bolts holding it? Should be able to slide it, up or down, to what ever position that you want. Maybe I'm not understanding,:indecisiveness: but you want the bow eye Under the winch stop rollers. Not over. Being under, the bow rollers, helps the boat from landing in the back of your tow vehicle in the event of a disaster on the road. I actually think it looks pretty fair. :behindsofa: A minor adjustment, to fit your taste, and you should be good to go. Nice boat!:yo:

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

Thanks for the response. Sorry if I wasn't clear enough. When the boat comes into the launch, the lower bow stop is above the bow eye. I'm under the assumption that it should be between the upper and lower stops when cranking it on. My old boat had just one bow stop so I've never ran into this. I saw the u-bolts and I'll adjust them to see if I can get it right. The launch was shallow and this Sea Ray is one heavy boat! Thanks for the compliments on the boat...took me a year to restore her!

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

On my 250 I had the same problem unless I went in REALLY deep and then the pulpit wanted to hit the minch. - I ended up modigying it to only have one roller that ends up above the bow ring, Now it works as it should and have not had ANY problems loading or unloading. You need to get that bottom roller out of the way if it is giving you issues.

if it were me I would try to take that complete bracket that holds the 2 rollers off and just put one where the bracket bolts and re-adjust the winch position.

My 86 210 Seville mid cabin I had prior to this had the two rollers and it worked great, Some boats just don't like it.

LK

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

So you are saying to remove the bracket all together and install a bow stop where the bracket attaches to and lower the winch?

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

So you are saying to remove the bracket all together and install a bow stop where the bracket attaches to and lower the winch?

Yes but you will need to raise the winch a little to get the roller over the bow eye, You can thank me later.

LK

 

[JimS123]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

The cable and/or the winch is too low. It should come off the top of the spool. Fix the winch and it'll work fine. That IS the issue.

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

The cable and/or the winch is too low. It should come off the top of the spool. Fix the winch and it'll work fine. That IS the issue.

The problem on mine was that the bow eye would come in under the lower roller and then you have to try and winch OVER the bottom roller and the bow eye does not like to do that thus creating a lot of resistance while winching. The OP can try that and I also believe the cable should come from the top but it might not fix the problem. At least he has some options to try.

LK

 

[hungupthespikes]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

The two rollers should pivot on the bolt that holds them to the stop. Push the top roller toward the boat when you load, that should let the bottom roller clear the bow eye. Then the top roller hits first and the lower roller will pivot out to the bow when you tighten up the cable.

huts

 

[gdeangel]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

Lots of good advice so far. I'd add that if you stripped the winch out before you even got to the bow eye, there is a problem with the rollers. If when you changed them out, you may have shifted the location? Did you change out the whole assembly (e.g., Single Wobble Roller Assembly - Ve-Ve T-980 - iboats), or just the wobble rollers themselves? (as in, SeaSense Poly Vinyl Wobbler Roller - iboats). If your rollers are trying to roll over the hull strakes on the way up, then you might such a hard time on the winch... or if they are canted to the hull in a poor fit that "pinches" the hull.

As for your bow eye problem, I notice in your first picture two very faint rust lines that look to me to be where the brackets for the bow stop must have been at some point, about 4" further toward the tongue than the current location. I'd move it back to that position (will put the bow rollers higher on the hull), and then get the winch cable coming off the top (pulling the bow eye higher). The two things may just cancel out, but the extra distance you get may give the bow eye more distance to clear the lower bow rollers (and do what huts said about pivoting the rollers assembly).

 

[Idlespeedonly]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

Rewind your winch cable like you mentioned, and move the roller assembly down to the other hole that looks to be about 2 inches away.

 

[ONEGA]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

I have the same setup on one of my trailers and I did have the same problem when once tried to winch a different boat on this trailer.
Meaning the bottom roller was in the way of the cable and the bow eye.
I did the following:
Loosened the winch post, moved bow stop roller bracket into vertical position so the bow would hit the upper roller first. Then the bow will move the pivot roller bracket until it hits the bottom roller. May take some time to adjust and play with winch stand height. But once adjusted it worked fine for me. You need as much clearance as possible between the bottom roller and the eye.
And yes, rewind your cable.

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

Lots of good advice so far. I'd add that if you stripped the winch out before you even got to the bow eye, there is a problem with the rollers. If when you changed them out, you may have shifted the location? Did you change out the whole assembly (e.g., Single Wobble Roller Assembly - Ve-Ve T-980 - iboats), or just the wobble rollers themselves? (as in, SeaSense Poly Vinyl Wobbler Roller - iboats). If your rollers are trying to roll over the hull strakes on the way up, then you might such a hard time on the winch... or if they are canted to the hull in a poor fit that "pinches" the hull.

As for your bow eye problem, I notice in your first picture two very faint rust lines that look to me to be where the brackets for the bow stop must have been at some point, about 4" further toward the tongue than the current location. I'd move it back to that position (will put the bow rollers higher on the hull), and then get the winch cable coming off the top (pulling the bow eye higher). The two things may just cancel out, but the extra distance you get may give the bow eye more distance to clear the lower bow rollers (and do what huts said about pivoting the rollers assembly).

Okay it's the weekend for me and I have some time to mess with this. I just replaced the wobble roller, spacers and hog rings. I had to replace some ubolts and nylon spacers on the roller assemblies. I have never moved the whole winch\bow stop bracket. I have always noticed that the boat rests fwd of the last rear wobble roller, probably half off it. Moving it back would rectify that as well. I'll rewind the cable and adjust the height if needed. I'll post pictures of the final rig. Thanks for the insight guys!

 

[ONEGA]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

Since PO didn't have a problem with winching the boat on the trailer you might not need to adjust the winch post height. Bow stop roller bracket was made pivoting for the purpose. Make sure the rollers spin free and so the bracket. Just put the bracket straight up and winch her up.
You definitely need to move the boat back a few inches to make sure it doesn't go past the rear roller.

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

I had to chain my boat from the bow eye to the bottom of the trailer to get it home. When I went to look at it today the chain was so tight that I had to cut it off. The boat jumped up about 4 inches from where it was. I was startled to see it bounce up and down like that. There was a lot of pressure on the forward rollers. I adjusted the height of the bow stops bracket and moved it about 2.5 inches forward. The bow eye now goes through the middle and the safety chain can be hooked up easily. I think this is a good first adjustment and I can adjust fire from here. Here's what it looks like now. The rear roller is all set now too.

 

[ONEGA]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

Next time before you launch your boat make sure you have a 3/4" wrench handy to make final adjustments while loading her back.
Also make sure your bow stop rollers spin free so you can avoid those nasty black marks on the hull.

 

[BRICH1260]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

I think you need to re assess where your saftey chain is secured. I think the lower end needs to be attached straight down to the trailer beam, not to the winch post.

 

[ONEGA]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

It's exactly where it has to be just has to be tight to prevent free movement of the boat if cable fails.

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

It's exactly where it has to be just has to be tight to prevent free movement of the boat if cable fails.

I'm not familiar with safety chains but I feel it's time to have one based on the size of my boat. I have no clue on the placement or tension. I've seen them with slack and tension so I'm not sure. Any info on the placement is well needed.

 

[ONEGA]

Re: Time to ask your opinion on this trailer

The key hole in the winch plate is designed to lock the chain in place. No slack, can be a little loose as chain is not a cable. Just keep it as short as possible. I've seen people driving a bolt through a chain link underneath the plate for extra security but I think it's an overengineering.
Somebody might post pictures, I don't have a boat on trailer right now.