Making boat roll easier

[Tlawrence]

Hi all,

my Ribeye 600 is on a Bramber trailer with 20 rollers, +1 keel roller at the bow end. It doesn't move as nicely as I'd like. Do people lube the shafts of their trailers? Or do I just need more rollers?

I've ordered a new keel roller as that looks a bit manky and might be the reason it is hard to get moving when pushing off.

Thanks,

Tim

[willk]

It's certainly worth spraying some light grease into the roller centers and turning them a bit. This worked for me in similar circumstances, the difference was quite marked - from being difficult to get started rolling to free roll back.

You may also have a degree of ovality in the rollers - which isn't going to curable.

[spartacus]

As well as lubing the rollers, check the penny washers are stainless 316, including the split pins. Any signs of rust and discolouration, then swap them out. New keel rollers will undoubtedly help.

[willk]

Originally Posted by spartacus

As well as lubing the rollers, check the penny washers are stainless 316, including the split pins. Any signs of rust and discolouration, then swap them out. New keel rollers will undoubtedly help.

You're absolutely right. I had to do 136 pins on my last trailer - at least half had to be drilled out. It was a complete mare and I think I had almost managed to blank the entire episode from my memory!

[Tlawrence]

Thanks for the tips everyone!

New wheels, jockey wheel, snubbers and keel roller arrived today so time to tinker :-)

[Pikey Dave]

In addition to the good advice above. Is the trailer setup correctly? The beams/Rollers/cradles need to be set so that the boat is as low on the trailer as possible without it catching on any metalwork during launch & recovery. The bow should be higher than the stern, so that the boat is actually inclined to roll off, all this needs setting up, whilst at the same time offering the maximum support for the hull when it's on the trailer. It can take a lot of tweaking & adjustment to get it "just so", but it's time well spent imho. We use a local inland watersports centre that allows you to use their nice wide slip for a saturday morning for a donation.

[Johno99]

I had the same problem when I bought a 5m rib on a roller trailer last September. The whole set up was wrong, I moved the rollers around to give the boat a clear path. I also renewed the centre rollers and I removed every roller which was a pig as the split pins needed drilling out and greased everything up and replaced the large washers and pins with stainless. Problem now is stopping the boat coming off the trailer too quickly when launching!