trailer setup for fibreglass boat

 

I was wondering if anyone could help me with the setup of my trailer. I find that when I retrieve my boat it can be a bit of a bitch to get it square on the trailer and sometimes it don't sit right. I don't know if the cotton reel rollers are right or the skids. I have 4 cotton reel rollers in the middle and the hull sits on 3 of them. At the rear there is a skid each side and some wobbles.

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carnarvonite's picture

Posts: 8672

Date Joined: 24/07/07

Position

Sat, 2011-01-15 17:00

One of the likely causes is that the trailer is too far in the water when you go to retrieve.

The centre rear roller should be at or just below water level to allow it to centre properly, too deep and the boat can float off centre.

Posts: 9358

Date Joined: 21/02/08

Have you had the boat

Sat, 2011-01-15 17:02

Have you had the boat long?

Its usually just the matter of having the right amount of water on the trailer. Too little, you're practically at the winch post and its not on rollers, too little water and its hard to pull up.

I used to aim for the water over the guard, and that was just perfect, some people use a v roller on the end to help locate the nose and run it home from there.

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axl100's picture

Posts: 112

Date Joined: 06/11/10

The last cotton reel that the

Sun, 2011-01-16 09:45

The last cotton reel that the hull sits on. the keel doesn't sit in it proply. it sits on the outside of the roller. if it don't make sense I will take a pic of it in the morning. hey till had it for about 8 months, but i work away alot.

axl100's picture

Posts: 112

Date Joined: 06/11/10

I have uploaded the pic i was

Sun, 2011-01-16 09:50

I have uploaded the pic i was talking about. its the last pic of them. this is  the roller at the end were the hull sits on. notice were the keel is sitting on the roller.

carnarvonite's picture

Posts: 8672

Date Joined: 24/07/07

Guide

Sat, 2011-01-15 17:57

The last 0ne is a guide roller to centre the bow of the boat as you start to wind it on. If its too far under water it cannot do its intended purpose.

Posts: 4578

Date Joined: 01/02/10

The keel is designed to take

Sat, 2011-01-15 18:09

The keel is designed to take the most weight. Skids and wobble rollers just hold it there. I would move those back wobble rollers out a bit more to allow the hull to sit lower on the trailer. Unfortunately this is going to mean virtually every single roller on that trailer is going to have to be adjusted.

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Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 18035

Date Joined: 11/03/08

 one thing you could look at

Sat, 2011-01-15 18:22

 one thing you could look at is getting the last roller which is the first it should hit moved back so the front of the keel is hitting that so it will then ride straight up. the first 2 wabble rollers seem to be too far back on the trailer but if you move the first one back about 30cm it might allow the whole keel to run up right. if you know what i mean

another option would be to raise the first roller to the height of where the outside ones are

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RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

Posts: 48

Date Joined: 19/02/09

Black Art

Sat, 2011-01-15 22:51

Axl100,

setting up trailers is a bit of a black art and it could be a whole range of factors twisting your boat. The idea  for a keel trailer is that the boat should sit on the keel rollers and the wobbles and the sides are merely to keep it level on the trailer.

Working from the back, the first roller is not adjustable and this is for a reason. Its the starting point. as the boat comes up the rollers from the water they should all be on the hull. The boat will generally be stable as it will still have the back half in the water. As it gets pulled up the rollers it will settle on the forward most roller on the trailer and this puts the nose into a V or a roller depending on your winch setup. The front roller height dictates how high this should be. Once the front roller is set you can then bring the rollers starting from the rear up to the keel. Your boat should be sitting on all the rollers at once. This spreads all the weight over the entire trailer and allows it to come on and off easily. The only factor that may change this is the hull hits your mudguards which is what you dont want. If it does then raise the front roller up and then adjust the winch up or down accordingly 

Once the keel is done then lift up the skids so the boat stops tipping over and that they are about an inch inside the chines. The location of these could also be causing a twist on retreival as they may make contact with a chine when the boat starts to come up. Have a look as you try to retreive it one day. Do they touch an angled bit anywhere and grab? If not then these should be ok. The next bit is the wobbles. These wobbles are to add a bit of extra support for the weight of the motor. They look to be in a pretty good spot but i think you might have a half chine up the front. Make sure they straddle that chine and dont come into contact with it in the early stages of winching.

Once the trailer is set find a nice quiet ramp and go down and try it up and down. Dont even unhook the cable but winch it out. It allows you to watch whats going on. Take a jack down to the ramp and make adjustments as you need to. A trolley jack is ideal as the RHS will sit in the cup. If you find the rollers dont spin freely then replace the shafts with stainless steel units. This will drastically improve the situation and the boat should slide on and off with ease. The thing that twists a boat is drag. As long as the keel is supported and the rest doesnt foul then you should be fine.

The other thing to watch is how deep that back roller is. Put it about 6 inches under the water to start with . You really need the boat to stay in contact with this roller at all times. This keeps the whole thing square and centred and allows you to watch all the other rollers and see how they touch the hull. Once the trailer works better try a few different depths and you will work out what suits your rig. PM me if your north and I might be able to drop over

 

Scott

Posts: 4578

Date Joined: 01/02/10

Jeez, I dont like the look of

Sun, 2011-01-16 12:09

Jeez, I dont like the look of that. Needs to have the wider style of rollers to support that keel a bit better instead of just on the shoulders of that keel plank. Is that the trailer the dealer sold with the boat? Looks like a whole lot of work to get it all working properly.

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axl100's picture

Posts: 112

Date Joined: 06/11/10

yeah mate i bought it second

Sun, 2011-01-16 12:16

yeah mate i bought it second and goes great. but im not sure of the set up on the trailer.

just dhu it's picture

Posts: 1081

Date Joined: 14/05/09

more rollers

Sun, 2011-01-16 16:07

Loking at the pictures , yes the front keel roolers need to be wider to suit the keel, the other thing i would do is install two more set of side wobble rollers as you only have one set right on the transom and the next two croos members dont appear to have anything, the second bar up from the transom , if rollers were installed would give a lot more direct to the hull when winching on , the slide skids i think are to short and prbably only help with stability when the boat is fully up

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Date Joined: 08/01/09

That last photo of the roller looks like

Sun, 2011-01-16 18:38

it has to much weight on it. It dosent match the hull shape either!

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