Trade trailers or rollers for bunks - Page 2

Bushwacker · #11 08-16-2011, 10:43 PM

Looks like your trailer has exact same roller arrangement as mine. The EZ Loader's are great trailers and I'd keep it, especially since it has surge brakes on it! You simply need to get your rollers adjusted correctly.

On your rear rack of rollers, I'd suggest you jack up the hull (use a bottle jack on outer frame and a 2x4 under hull), loosen the small U-clamps and move the inner and outer rollers as far apart as possible. This wider "wheelbase" will make boat more stable on trailer, and may also allow it to sit a little lower on the trailer, also improving stability and reducing winch effort required to load. (Just be sure to check clearance at the fenders!) Then loosen the big U-clamps and slide the entire rack outboard so the outer rollers are just outside the outer step. Also make sure port and stbd racks are also equidistant from ends of X-member so boat is centered on trailer. When you're done, roller position relative to hull should look like this:

Here's another older shot before I repainted bottom.

Then repeat same process on front rack of rollers. On the keel rollers, I ended up putting a roller & bracket on both fwd and aft side of rear X-member; otherwise the keel can scrape the forward edge of the X-member or the mounting straps if it tilts far enough.

If you do all this, use a winch, and just put the trailer in deep enough so the aft keel roller is just below the bow eye, I think you'll find it'll load perfectly every time. One other tip: because that roller system has so many degrees of freedom, if your boat is listing to one side, it will try to come on the trailer that way. If you adjust the rollers like I did, it should prevent that, but I think it helps to shift weight from side to side as req'd to get the boat as level as possible before you try loading on trailer.

One other tip: These EZ-Loader trailers have so little friction in the roller system, that it's ESSENTIAL that boat be well secured on trailer! I have a safety chain from bow eye to winch stand, which will keep it from rolling off trailer if winch clutch/brake fails, but that's not enough! If your winch stand roller set up is like this,

notice that there is NOTHING to prevent the boat from rolling FORWARD AND UP on the winch stand rollers if you make a hard stop! Since the ramp is only a couple of blocks from my house, I often don't use my aft tiedown strap which goes over the gunnels to trailer frame. (Bad idea No. 1!) One day I made a hard stop on the way to ramp to test my new disk brakes. When I got to ramp, I discovered boat had slid forward far enough that the aft rollers had ridden back and up aft side of transom!

So it was back to house and break out floor jack and 2x4 to raise back of boat enough to let it slide back into correct position! Never had that happen when I used tie down strap, but ever since then I have added a ratchet strap from bow eye straight down around tongue of trailer to keep boat from rolling up the winch stand rollers on a hard stop. Some folks use a big turnbuckle and a hook which does the same thing, but the ratchet strap was quick and easy, and I now use the aft strap too! Denny

FishStretcher · #12 09-11-2011, 09:15 AM

Thanks very much for the pictures. I spent a Saturday with wrenches and a bottle jack and not I have mine adjusted about like yours. I put a 12" roller on the rear crossmember. I think I will put a smaller one on the forward axle as a just in case as it rolls up, before it hits the forward rollers.

Bushwacker · #13 09-11-2011, 12:15 PM

Boat should never hit the axle unless you dunk the trailer too far into the water or you're on a very steep ramp. I never put rear cross member in the water; try to put it in so keel roller is just below the towing eye. Bow rides UP on that roller and aft rack of rollers AWAY from axle as it's being winched up on trailer and then drops down as aft X-member pivots when CG moves forward of the aft rollers.

A good Powerwinch is a big help loading these trailers, preferably with a pulley and double cable. The only problem with them is they run ~50 amps of current thru the winch switch, so the switches burn out quickly! If you rig up a Ford starter solenoid to the switch so all the current goes thru that relay, the switch will last forever!

FishStretcher · #14 09-17-2011, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Boat should never hit the axle unless you dunk the trailer too far into the water or you're on a very steep ramp. I never put rear cross member in the water; try to put it in so keel roller is just below the towing eye. Bow rides UP on that roller and aft rack of rollers AWAY from axle as it's being winched up on trailer and then drops down as aft X-member pivots when CG moves forward of the aft rollers.

A good Powerwinch is a big help loading these trailers, preferably with a pulley and double cable. The only problem with them is they run ~50 amps of current thru the winch switch, so the switches burn out quickly! If you rig up a Ford starter solenoid to the switch so all the current goes thru that relay, the switch will last forever!

Well, I tried out the new trailer configuration today and it worked like a charm. As it turns out- I have a 2 speed hand winch and it worked well, self centering really well, despite the cross current from the Merrimac river.

This makes using the boat so much more enjoyable. Thanks for the help!