seasponge Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Hi Raiders, I need some help adjusting the roller set up on my trailer. I've recently bought a second hand boat and trailer. When sitting on the trailer, the boat does not sit on all the keel rollers. The weight of the boat sits on the front keel roller and the back rocker rollers. I'm assuming this is not the ideal set up, and that all the keel rollers should be taking the weight of the boat, with the rocker rollers just holding it in position. There are signs of small damage to the front of the keel where the boat is sitting on the front keel roller. So wanting to adjust, however, the front keel roller is already at its lowest position, and the other two keel rollers are already at their highest position (200mm bracket), but still don't make contact with the boat. There is no height adjustment on the back rear rocker rollers, other than moving the whole assembly closer towards the centre of the trailer. What would be the best way to rectify? Should I look to buy new higher brackets for the keel rollers or move the rear rocker rollers in towards the centre of the trailer and hope it drops the rear enough for the boat to rest on the keel rollers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffb5.8 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Hi You do want the keel roller to be higher, 1. Replace the 200mm high brackets with 300mm high, just make sure you also buy the correct spindle and keel roller to suit, if your old ones are worn out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankS Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Personally, IF this was my trailer I would do away with the rear wobble rollers all together and make up a couple of bunks/skids that could be much lower than those wobbles. This would allow the whole boat to be lowered several inches so that the hull of the boat sits just above the mud guards. This would create a lower center of gravity better for towing and much better for launching and retrieving the boat. There would be other ways to fix your problem but the obove is by far the better solution in my opinion. Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunc333 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 franks option good but alot of work if you dont play with trailers all the time.jeffs idea the cheapest and quickest way to go in my opinion .i would start spraying those keel roller bracket bolts now and dare say you will probarbly have to use some heat to get those nuts un done. then put in new brackets chock of wood underneath and jack bracket up till roller is taking the keel weight and tighten your new bracket bolts cuase your other ones will be probarbly stuffed from getting them out cheers dunc 333 keep u s all posted how you go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowjigger Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 The bolts are in poor condition (rust) I would be replacing them if I was you. Also, rust is setting into you cross members. It can accelerate quickly from this state. You might want to spray it with lanolin or other water repelling product to slow it down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelm Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 It looks like the small wobble rollers could go down a bit, might be enough to allow the keel roller to touch? Also the V in the trailer cross beams looks shallower that the boat V, maybe you can move them out and gain clearance? That said, photos are hard to judge stuff like that. All those bolts are done for, cut them off and replace them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seasponge Posted February 7, 2023 Author Share Posted February 7, 2023 (edited) In an exercise of frustration I had a crack at it. Plan was to just replace the keel roller brackets with higher brackets, and replace out the tapered rollers. Had to go to 2 different suppliers to get brackets, rollers and spindles to suit. Got home and realised that the roller bracket is different to the current one and that the legs would not fit the slots on the trailer 😡 I thought they would have all been standard! Change of plan then. Changing the keel roller brackets not possible unless I get them custom welded. Not keen on playing around with the wobble rollers unless absolutely need to. Looking closely, I only need to come up about 15-20mm on the keel rollers. The taper on the keel rollers is about that much, so next plan is to just replace the existing tapered keel rollers with straight keel rollers which should be enough to make contact with the keel. 🤞🤞🤞 If not, I'll just have to move the wobble rollers in a bit. The only downside is that my keel rollers won't be tapered, hopefully I don't have issues with the boat sliding off the roller when getting it back on the trailer. Edited February 7, 2023 by seasponge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunc333 Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 dont you luv trailers you would think most brackets would be universal and dont you luv climbing under them when the boat is on the trailer not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_55 Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 Is it just me or is the bow sitting high causing it to not sit on the middle rollers can you get a side on pic of how the boat sits on the trailer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelm Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 (edited) I think keeping tapered roller would be optimum for ease of retrieving/centering, they look like 18mm square "posts" which should be easy to get. Are you sure you cant lower the wobble rollers and/or move them out? edit......just as a side note! The trailer looks small for the boat, the last rollers are well away from the transom (where all the weight is) it might be just the photos though, how big is the boat? Edited February 8, 2023 by noelm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seasponge Posted February 8, 2023 Author Share Posted February 8, 2023 (edited) 5 hours ago, chris_55 said: Is it just me or is the bow sitting high causing it to not sit on the middle rollers can you get a side on pic of how the boat sits on the trailer the front keel roller is sitting as low as it can go Edited February 8, 2023 by seasponge Accidentally hit send early Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seasponge Posted February 8, 2023 Author Share Posted February 8, 2023 17 hours ago, noelm said: I think keeping tapered roller would be optimum for ease of retrieving/centering, they look like 18mm square "posts" which should be easy to get. Are you sure you cant lower the wobble rollers and/or move them out? edit......just as a side note! The trailer looks small for the boat, the last rollers are well away from the transom (where all the weight is) it might be just the photos though, how big is the boat? Noel, the size of the legs on the brackets are OK, it's just that they are at smaller centres than the existing brackets and won't fit into the slots without modifying them (I can't find off the shelf brackets with the same centres). I can move the wobble rollers in towards the centre of the trailer which will lower them (not sure if it would lower it enough), but I was hoping to keep things simple by not having to start playing with wobble roller location. I agree keeping tapers would be better. I thought maybe I could keep the first and last keel rollers as tapers and go straight rollers for the intermediates? How far back from the transom would be too far for the back rollers? The boat is 5m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelm Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 The centre roller brackets are seperate each end aren't they? so as long as you get the same ones, but longer, then it's not an issue. You can also buy reasonably cheap, galvanised bolt on bracket holders to suit almost any size RHS or square tube, that will enable adjustment for width Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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