Replacement trailer for 5.6m Quintrex (sliders or rollers)

[PixieAU]

I have searched these forums fairly well and many others across the net and just looking to get a refresh on opinions/experience if I can.

I am currently looking at replacing my trailer. Boat is 2001 Quinnie Classic 560 runabout (90hp 4-stroke) currently sitting on a Tinka MT170-MO. The Tinka is stamped as 2001 so I reckon it's had a pretty good life. The age of the trailer matches the hull but I cannot be 100% certain they have been together since new. I've had the boat & trailer for at least 4 years. Whilst still serviceable the Tinka is due for some repairs and I think $500 investment in a new trailer might be money better spent as the trailer probably doesn't have much life left overall. So, I'm happy with Redco/Tinka trailers and just trying to decide which model.

Either this style (MT170 again)
mt170a_resized.jpg
or this (RS560)
RS510MO.jpg


Most (but not all) opinions seem to be that pressed aluminium boats go on sliders and fibreglass on rollers and that some plates may be OK on rollers also. This is due to the lack of support across multiple ribs in a tinny where the fibreglass construction will bear the weight but not the abrasiveness of sliders. I read an old post from Chimo that explains his experience as similar to mine. Plus I have read about the US trailers all being bunk-style (noting that bunk seems to be for floating on/off rather than sliders for sliding on/off).

Mine has been on rollers for at least 4 years (and perhaps its whole life) with no obvious detrimental affects such as cracked ribs or deflection in the hull (there's just some polishing of the aluminium where it sits on the rollers). I have it set up so that most weight is taken on the keel rollers and the wobble rollers simply support the boat upright. Perhaps I have been lucky or perhaps the boat is solid enough for the set-up.

The beauty of this trailer, for me, is that I launch and retrieve the boat by myself and in many cases I can actually drag the bow of the boat a fair way into the 'cradle' before I hook the winch cable on. This stops the back of the boat drifting around while I'm at the winch (especially on a breezy day or in a strong current). Plus, it is really easy for push off launch and drive-on retrieval.

When I have watched tinnies go on to sliders it seems that, to get the keel over that very rear roller, the trailer either has to be well under the water or the bow goes up real high in the air and the boat can flay around, sometimes even coming off the roller. I wonder how good it is for the hull to effectively pivot the whole hull over one roller to bring the bow down. For smaller tinnies it might be okay. I had a look around some boat ramps yesterday and that rear roller seems to take a hammering on some set-ups. Perhaps that is drive-on attempts causing that. I'm not certain how easy they are for single person retrievals and whether there really is a risk with tinnies on multi-roller set-ups.

In fact, until I started looking at trailers, I didn't even know the "rule" about tinnies and sliders but it seems to be fairly accepted.

I guess what I am asking is whether people have first hand experience of this "rule" or perhaps it is more relevant to newer pressed tinnies or it's just personal preference. Happy to hear thoughts on this.

[Chimo]

People on here say certain things about rollers and pressed tinnys.

I must confess I listened to the man who made my old 5.6 tinny when he told me how to set the trailer up. We had the same boat at work (Fisheries) and did the same with it. My old Mackay had 29 rollers on it and I was told to sit the boat on the trailer, tie it down as for travel and then get under it with a jack and adjust every roller so they could be turned with the same resistance as all the rest. He said the entire boat needs to evenly supported not just the keel. It rolled on and off very easily.

Apart from beach launching when the trailer got rolled into the sea on a rope all the rest off ramps the boat never got dunked.

Worked a treat, no deformation of the hull and was as good as new when it was sold 9 years later.

If it were me I think I would go for the trailer with the most rollers that were evenly spread under the entire boat that you could adjust as required.

Cheers
Chimo

[Chimo]

Or what about one like this with mudguards?

https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9e2_1485555491 from THT

[PixieAU]

Thanks for your response Chimo. I thought i might have got some more input but I'll be happy with just yours.

[ranmar850]

I'll just weigh in to back Chimo. It's more about spreading the load evenly so you are not hammering a roller into a bit of relatively thin sheet where it will cause possible cracking/deformation over time. And if you are running on relatively smooth bitumen, it shouldn't ever really be a problem after initially setting it up as Chimo explains. I would consider poor quality dirt roads with potholes,outcrops and corrugations,as an entirely different story though. I built a trailer myself for such roads,for a 600 Quinnie. After seeing wobble rollers come off on the road which is my main area of concern, and punch holes through a tinnie,I stuck with bunks and never had a problem .

For ease of alignment, which you mention as a concern, have you ever looked at something like this? There are a few different brands, all work on the same principle. The video shows it being used for drive-on--it works equally well for winch on. Work out what length you need to lock the winch rope at with the ratchet so that the bow is inside the vee of the mechanism,and, once you have the hook on the tow point, it doesn't matter if the boat gets blown sideways. You just start winching and the boat will come around straight. Makes retrieval by yourself, which I did a lot, a simple affair.


My current boat is 5.65 m glass, with a fully rollered double tilt cradle type trailer. I just can't fit the device to this type of trailer,which is a pity. But it certainly launches and retrieves easily, if you get the trailer the right depth in the water. Too easy to launch, really--- break the towing eye and the boat will be on the road in moments. One leg of the eye was broken when I bought the boat from the original owner . I've since fitted a second tow eye just for the security chain.

If you go roller, and it is set up well, you can experience a problem launching at ramps with any sort of slope. The boat will just want to take off when you take the winch off the ratchet ,and drag the rope out with it, complete with madly spinning winch handle. My trailer has a short length of 6mm braided line attached to the winch post,with a jam cleat--you need to run the 6mm line through the tow eye,back into the jam cleat, then release the ratchet and remove the tow hook. Then just pull the 6mm line out of the cleat,and she self-launches. Just make sure someone is holding the bow line at the time...

[Chimo]

2008_381Eighfor launching.jpg
Part of the fun of a well set up roller trailer is that the boat falls off with no effort on your part.

The rope shown above is hooked onto the tow bar and the loop goes over the bow bollard and then runs through the climbing "8".

My 2 tonne plus boat can be held and lowered into the water at whatever speed you wish.

As the boat goes down the rollers into the water it stays attached to the winch pulley block and as it rolls down it pulls the winch cable out ready for retrieve. Its too hard to do by hand so this works a treat.

All in all the rope and "8" make it a breeze with no dramas and the brakes continue to stay dry and salt water free.

Cheers
Chimo

[Chimo]

Thanks PixieAU.

Buy yourself an "8" and some climbing or yacht type rope / cordage and your set.

[ranmar850]

You must have deep water straight off the bottom of the ramps you use if you can keep your brakes dry on launch and retrieve. I'd be dropping the arse of the boat into very shallow water if I tried that here on anything but a very low tide. My brakes are now 10 years old and in perfect working nick--plenty of freshwater washing and an annual maintenance.

[jackson4300]

Our 7m platey came on a fully rollered trailer, it was terrible for retrieving the boat both drive on and winch on, rollers that would pop off which is difficult thing to fix at the time. That trailer is what came with the boat brand new.
We have since built a new trailer, completely of our own design. It is now a heavier trailer but sits closer to the ground and is the same principle as the slider design. All the centre rollers are fixed and cannot be moved, then slides and a couple of rollers up higher on the sides just for added support. We designed the trailer so we could use an Ezi Guide and that thing is amazing. Once the nose of the boat is in it, it just pushes the boat so its sitting straight. With the aid of a quick release catch, I can launch and retrieve the boat on my own.
I haven’t owned or had much to do with boats other than alloy, but my preference definitely sits with the slider style trailer.