Roller trailer,boat loading problem.

bigeasy1 · #1 06-09-2009, 01:07 PM

I have a terrible time trying to get my 23 Tsunami loaded properly on the trailer.
It's a galvanized roller trailer made by Shoreline,(out of business),and is in perfect condition.

The problem is that the boat looks like it is coming up perfectly straight on line with the winch stand,but it is way off.
What I mean,is that it's tilted severely to the starboard side.It's similar to the way it would look in the water,if there was a bunch of people on one side of the boat.

As far as it being parallel to the trailer,thats ok,it's just tilted to starboard.

Now,I'm thinking that it may be the kicker motor(105 lbs)that is mounted back on a bracket on the starboard side,that is causing the problem.
The strange thing is,that it lists only a tiny bit on that side when it's floating,so it seems weird that it would cause such problems.

I have to repeat ,and repeat the loading several times to get it right,which is kind of embarassing,not to mention the slew of four letter words coming out of my mouth.

It's not like I'm inexperienced,I've had lots of boats with roller trailers,and could load them on in an instant.It also has a power winch on it.

I've measured all the roller spacings,all the bracket spacings,and everything else on both sides of the trailer,and they are all identical to each other.

Maybe next time,I'll have someone stand in the boat on the port side to see if it balances out the load when putting it on the trailer.

Any Ideas,???????????????

Rhody · #2 06-09-2009, 03:53 PM

Are you using Guide-Ons? Are the rollers set just outside of the bottom chines to prevent lateral movement?

htillman · #3 06-09-2009, 04:49 PM

I had the same problem with a 23 Sceptre and a roller trailer, for me the problems was I was backing the trailer to far in the water and not letting the rollers guide the boat up on the trailer with the electric winch. With the same boat on a bed trailer it is easier to load it by backing the trailer way far back in the water.
ET

KenB · #4 06-09-2009, 05:11 PM

Yup. What ET said.

I have tried the version where you just dunk the whole thing in again (i.e. leave the winch alone). That fixes it sometimes, with minimal pain.

Are you power loading? If so, then you should have no issues pulling the truck up a foot or two.

How far in the drink do other folks go? For a while I was trying to keep my trailer hubs out of the water, but that lead to a lot of hand winching. Now I go in to about the top of the wheels, but below the top of the tire.

Bushwacker · #5 06-09-2009, 05:22 PM

John, is your trailer the type that has a whole bunch of small rollers? I had the same problem with my Seafari on an EZ Loader single axle all-roller trailer which I suspect is a similar configuration to yours . . . it has 24 5" diameter rollers on 1" aluminum shafts, plus a center keel roller I added on aft X-member. I'm sure yours is a tandem and probably has even more rollers. Those trailers have so many degrees of freedom in the roller system that if the boat is not level side-to-side, it'll tend to come on the trailer the same way, so that may be part of your problem. I tried the heavy duty side rollers shown in this picture.

They were damaging the gel coat, so I had them raised so they contacted the rub rail. However I finally removed them because I discovered I didn't need them.

What I discovered was that the way I had the outer bank of rollers on rear X-member aligned relative to outer step of hull caused those rollers to properly align the boat before the side rollers even made contact with the rub rail! The trick is to set the rollers up so the outer group of rollers on aft x-member is lined up with the outer step on the hull, i.e., the inside edge of the outer rollers is just outboard of the outer step. As boat is coming on trailer, loading with a powerwinch, there is a pop as each of the outer rollers drops over the outer edge of the step. Once that happens, the boat comes on the trailer perfectly straight every time, regardless of cross winds, cross currents.

In this picture with boat a little further up the trailer, you can see that all 4 outer rollers on port side have already dropped over the step up to outer panel, so boat is now "locked in" and there is no way it can't come on the trailer straight. Notice that the side roller is not even making contact!

Haven't tried it with extreme imbalance on one side but I suspect it would still work. I have loaded it with port-side 15 gal baitwell full and it still loaded ok.

If you're able to move your rollers enough to get them lined up with the hull like I have, it should work. However I still have those side rollers, so let me know if you want to try them. Denny

bigeasy1 · #6 06-09-2009, 11:08 PM

Thanks for the quick replies guys,
Denny,thanks for the picture and detailed info.I'll have to digest all that info, and give it a try.
And yes it has a lot of rollers,all 5" (#530R Yates).

I seem to remember however, that when I backed the trailer in,it had to be way back,because if it wasn't,the front part of the keel at the bow,rubbed on the rear x member.I had to get that low in the water,so the bow would float over it.

I'm wondering if i move the rollers out further,that the keel would be even lower.
Unfortunately,the boat is six hours away,so I can't just mess around with it when I want.I'll have to take some good photos of the trailer when I go back up to the boat at the end of the month.

These pictures are lousy and don't clearly show the rollers,but maybe you can get an idea.They are from different stages of the restore

Fr. Frank · #7 06-10-2009, 09:24 AM

John,

I used to use an EZloader trailer just like your and Denny's. The way Denny has his set up is right.

When I got mine it was set up so that the outer-most rollers were were on the middle planing surface, and the inner rollers on the inner planing surface. The boat never sat level on the trailer. Oh, sometimes I would get it nearly level, but not quite. As we don't see roller-type trailers that much in Florida, I wasn't sure what to do.

A friend of mine who has a Seafari (a former co-worker of Denny's, too, btw), told me to move the hull supports outward until the outer rollers were just outboard enough to sit on the outboard planing surface. Using a shop hoist, I picked up and blocked the boat about 2 inches higher than it normally sat on the trailer, and then crawled under it and moved the hull support arms outward on the crossmembers until the outboard roller sat about 2" outside of the hard chine on the outboard planing surface. The boat also sat lower on the trailer than before by a couple of inches when I was done.

After that, the boat loaded straight and level every time.

When that trailer needed replacing, I got a drive-on type.

Bushwacker · #8 06-10-2009, 07:15 PM

Quote:

I seem to remember however, that when I backed the trailer in,it had to be way back,because if it wasn't,the front part of the keel at the bow,rubbed on the rear x member.I had to get that low in the water,so the bow would float over it.

John, sinking the trailer too deep may be part of the problem, since those aft rollers are so deep that they may not have much chance to help aligning the hull until it's pretty far up on the trailer. Even if you have the rollers adjusted like I suggested, that might not work if trailer is too deep in the water. They need to contact the hull as early as possible while you're winching boat on trailer so they can guide it properly.

The first thing I did when I got my trailer was to add a keel roller to center of aft X-member to prevent keel from hitting it before the small rollers contacted hull. That way I don't have to dunk the trailer. If you'll notice in 1st picture of my previous post, I only have to back the trailer in till the tires are wet, which is one big advantage of roller trailers (mine is over 25 years old and still going strong!) This puts the center roller about 6" above the water, just below the bow eye. If you get a roller with a groove in center of it, it will keep the boat centered until the other rollers start making contact with the flatter sections of the hull. At that point they will lift it up off that center roller, which only helps for the first few feet. Once it's off the center roller, the outer rollers should be "locked in" on outer step, which will continue to keep boat centered on trailer. Here's a low angle transom shot showing how the rollers are located on my 20 relative to hull steps.

The hull is very stiff at those steps so that's a good spot for the rollers to support it. Spreading the rollers that far out may lower the hull a bit, but that's a good thing (makes for more stable trailering!) just as long as the chines clear the fenders. I have only an inch of clearance there, but it's never hit, since the boat loads the same way every time.

Suggest you try these changes and let us know how it works out! Denny

bigeasy1 · #9 06-10-2009, 09:07 PM

Thanks Denny and Fr.Frank.
As usual this is a great site for help.It is greatly appreciated.
Funny ,I had just ordered the same keel roller that you have on yours,just before I read your reply.
If you notice the rollers in my pics,they are not spread as wide as yours are.

I'm going to try the same with mine,as you suggested,I not sure if I can get that much width on mine,but maybe it's because I'm trying to picture it in my mind,and I'm not near the boat.
The only advantage,is that the launch is only about 1/4 mile from where I store the boat.

Once I get up there,(end of month)I'll try your recommendations,and let you know how it worked out.Thanks again guys,and if anyone else has any advice,feel free to chime in.

Fr. Frank · #10 06-11-2009, 03:19 PM

Quote:

{John said}...it had to be way back,because if it wasn't,the front part of the keel at the bow,rubbed on the rear x member.

{Denny said} The first thing I did when I got my trailer was to add a keel roller to center of aft X-member to prevent keel from hitting it before the small rollers contacted hull.

John & Denny, I didn't have a keel roller, but after adjustment, my hull cleared the aft crossmember by about an inch, even with the trailer backed down only to the point where the tires and not the wheels we wet. Like you, John, my support arms weren't as wide as Denny's. As originally set up, they had about 4" between the inboard rollers on the right and left support arms. They supported the hull almost right on the keel line. After I moved them they were about 10"-12" apart, or 5"-6" outboard of the center line on each side. The hull still cleared the crossmember.

On my 1978 EZloader, the axle broke due to corrosion as well as the aftermost spring mounts and frame tubing where they were mounted, all at once. Fortunately, I was maneuvering the trailer in the yard when it happened. It was a single-axle trailer with a 5K weight rating, including surge brakes (non-functional).