keel rollers are being trashed

[rando]

Hi guys
I need some advice.
After refurbing my trailer with new keel rollers and skid supports I find the second and third roller( to a lesser degree ) from the back is being chewed to bits by the keel.
Its a Clarke 4.5 metre CC with 35 merc on the back.
The new rollers have only had a dozen or so launch/retrieves, and already they are trashed.
There is obviously something wrong with my set-up !!!
Any suggestions ????

[Wahoo]

hi Rando, what color rollers are they?

Daz

[finga]

How much 'wobble' does the boat have without the tie down strap on?
Slides or rollers on the sides?

[dnej]

Rando, blue rollers for aluminium, red for fibre glass.
As Daz asks, what colour do you have, and can you post a pic or two
David

[coucho]

you sure they aren't jamming?

[tunaticer]

Is the roller being chewed out suffering during the launch and retrieve or whilst underway on the trailer?
Often the middle set of keel rollers does get chopped if you launch at a ramp with side currents like most rivers have. The stern of the boat catches the water and the boat pivots on the rear roller and rides the edges of the 2nd and 3rd rollers until they take enough weight to centre them properly in the channels.

If the damage is happening during transit it will be likely there is either too much weight on the keel rollers or too little. My boat is set up with about 50kgs supported on the runners and the rest on the keel and i get no transit damages to the rollers.

[wags on the water]

Robert, make sure there's no weld spatter on the keel. The weld spatter will chew the rollers away like it did on my Stacer in the first few months of it's life.

Cheers,

Wags

[madman1]

Mine were damaged and getting worse till i took the boat off the trailer and greases the internal of the rollers with marine grease. No problens yet.

Will keep you posted


Cheers


Mark

[White Pointer]

G'day,

Barring crap keel roller quality, it sounds as though the hull support rollers (i.e. wobbles) are set too low. So the weight of the boat is sitting on the keel rollers and the hull supports are just preventing it from falling over and not bearing the load.

You risk damage to your hull if you leave it like this - even at rest. Get it fixed, quickly.

Regards,

White Pointer

[Hornet Rider]

G'day,

Barring crap keel roller quality, it sounds as though the hull support rollers (i.e. wobbles) are set too low. So the weight of the boat is sitting on the keel rollers and the hull supports are just preventing it from falling over and not bearing the load.

You risk damage to your hull if you leave it like this - even at rest. Get it fixed, quickly.

Regards,

White Pointer

White Pointer,

Does that apply to an tinny? I thought it was best to keep the weight of the boat through the keel & on to the center rollers, & adjust the skids so the keep the boat from tipping over, but without any excess weight bearing?

cheers, HR

[Chimo]

Said it before and I'll say it again, all rollers under the boat keel and sides should be supporting even weight.

You should have them adjusted evenly so you can turn each one with equal effort.

Skids need to support evenly as per rollers but harder to judge weight on them. Try dragging braid (attached to a handle with loops) along them to get an idea. Use a handle to keep your hand on!

If you cannot turn any of them odds are that there is not enough rollers to give support under the hull and there is potential to damage the hull especially if you travel on rough roads or country roads with a shoulder.

Easier to launch and retrieve too if set up this way.

Cheers
Chimo

[rando]

Sorry guys been away for a bit.
OK, 1. the rollers are black
2. They are well greased
3. To the best of my ability the weight distribution is even between the rollers and the slide supports
4. The ramp is 500 metres from our holiday van,,, virtually no travelling.
5. launching in the river or at woody head mostly , so some current.


It seems that I might need some extra support to stop the hull rolling sideways as she is coming up but the slide supports have not yet met the hull.
What is the best way to do that??
A set of wobble rollers,or some short slides set in closer to the centre.

Sorry I cant put up a picture. the boats at Iluka, Im in Brisbane

thanks for all the input so far.

rando

[Chimo]

Hi rando

From memory black rollers are very soft and are really meant for glass or wood boats.

If you drag a hacksaw across the edge of your black roller I think you find the blade cuts in easily.

If you have the high density blue ones (not the softer rubber blue ones that I have on my Tinka for the Vag) you would find they are much harder and dont easily get damaged by the saw blade.

You still need to have enough rollers to give support and make it easy to get the boat on and off easily.


Cheers
Chimo

[rando]

4 keel rollers in total,
skids are about 15-1600mm

[northernblue]

My understanding of alloy hulls is that the keel is surposed to take the weight and the skids are only to stop rocking.
I agree that the color of the rollers should be blue.

[dnej]

Black rollers have to go.Get the blue ones, as mentioned previously.
David
How about a pic

[White Pointer]

White Pointer,

Does that apply to an tinny? I thought it was best to keep the weight of the boat through the keel & on to the center rollers, & adjust the skids so the keep the boat from tipping over, but without any excess weight bearing?

cheers, HR

G'day,

Tinnies and plate boats belong on skids and 'glass boats belong on rollers - lots of them.

Tinnies REALLY belong on skids because rollers dent them and that reduces hull efficiency. Plate boats don't suffer so much because a 5mm hull is pretty rigid.

A single keel dual roller can help align the boat but once up on the skids it should be redundant - nothing resting on it.

I see lots of ally boats on rollers and I've had a few chats with owners about them. Most say that it makes launch and retrieve easier. The solution to this is a bit of silicone spray which makes skids as slippery as an ice rink.

Don't grease rollers. It just creates a mess and pollutes the water at the ramp.

Trailer set up is everything and its hard. I'm still working on mine.

Regards,

White Pointer

[stevej]

for a tinny rollers down the centre skids on the sides

put boat on trailer drop skids down set up the centre rollers so all in position, some boats have a keel that dips down at the end

get someone to hold boat level till while you bring the skids up till they just kiss the hull, when you strap the boat down it will pull don snug on the skids

works fine for me boat slides off with no pushing needed no dents no marks from the skids.
if you dont clean your skids or the boat is too tight on them you get a salt build up on the skids as you cant wash them properly and each time you launch retrieve you mark the bottom of the hull, some tinnys are only 1.6mm thick on the bottoms

[rando]

SteveJ

Thats pretty much the method I used to set up the trailer.and it all works sort of ok, except as the boat is coming up,it tends to lay over a bit putting the edge of the keel into the roller.
I take the point that these black rollers are the wrong type. And Ill replace them.
Im just concerned that the keel edge will stuff the blue ones as well .Or are they hard enough to take that pressure. Do i need to keep the boat flat on its keelson to prevent the damage.
as I said the rollers are only a few retrievals old.
Cheers
rando

David
Next time I get down to Iluka Ill get some pics,,, thats where i keep the boat.8-)

[Fido]

I have had quite a few aluminium boats both pressed and plate. Whilst generally red rollers are fibreglass and blue are aluminium and in a lot of circumstances the blue are fine. Years ago I had a similar issue and tried aluminium rollers. I don't like them for various reasons. In the end I got onto a company called Steadfast Marine. They are based in Sydney and you can google them for contact details. They have a grey very dense nylon keel roller which is better than the blue rollers and will last longer. Unfortuntely all rollers will with alloy boats get some common wear line where the boats rubs whilst it is travelling.

Hope I have been of assistance.

[White Pointer]

SteveJ

Thats pretty much the method I used to set up the trailer.and it all works sort of ok, except as the boat is coming up,it tends to lay over a bit putting the edge of the keel into the roller.
I take the point that these black rollers are the wrong type. And Ill replace them.
Im just concerned that the keel edge will stuff the blue ones as well .Or are they hard enough to take that pressure. Do i need to keep the boat flat on its keelson to prevent the damage.
as I said the rollers are only a few retrievals old.
Cheers
rando

David
Next time I get down to Iluka Ill get some pics,,, thats where i keep the boat.8-)

G'day,

Like I said, I'm still learning mine but at 6M long and with 400 lt of water ballast in the hull I find it still lays over a bit to Starboard driving on to the trailer. And I weigh nothing!

I've learned that not sinking the trailer too deep and letting the the boat sit against the rear-most rollers with just too little throttle to mount them tend to square it up and I'm getting better at it.

Not suggesting that this is your solution but that you should experiment with trailer depth - possibly with someone else at the wheel and you watching the roller engagement so you can see the problems.

Sometimes the trailer is impossible to adjust to the boat. I've been there.

Good luck!

White Pointer

[foxx510]

Ours uses white nylon rollers that are rock hard but work a treat and are supposedly self lubricating. I'm of the opinion that a tinny should have all it's weight supported by the keel rollers and the skids are just there to stop it tipping over. If you have too much weight supported by the skids you will dent the hull against the ribs.