BOAT TRAILER
Nylon Rollers
I
am very happy with the swinging cradle trailer of my Coaster. It has enabled me
to launch and recover the boat single handed in cross currents, choppy water,
shallow slips, steep slips, a nearly level beach and all sorts of impossible
situations - all without getting the brakes wet. I can even put the boat down
and leave it on the grass where it is stored in order to take the trailer home
to service it. Then I can bring the trailer back and pick the boat up. As a
trailer sailor I use my trailer for every trip so the trailer is very important
to me.
Unfortunately,
after a while the keel rollers started to deteriorate, the centre roller in
particular. I replaced them but over the winter they developed a big “flat” on
top and were soon deteriorating again. This made launching hard work as it was
necessary to “back winch” every time in order to get the boat off the trailer.
I believe that this was exacerbated firstly by the heavy kit I carry on board
and secondly because instead of the rollers being an
interference fit on the axles so that the axles turned in their
brackets, the rollers were turning on their axles. I heard about nylon rollers
and wondered if this would be a solution. They have in fact proved to be an
excellent solution but in the event quite an expensive one. They also required
additional work to protect the wooden keel from the hardness of the nylon.
First the rollers themselves. The original
rollers tapered down to a small central flat section. They are large and
described as “Jumbo” rollers. There were no nylon direct replacements available
so I sent a drawing to Crayside marine who quoted me
for nylon replacements. The price was several times the price of their standard
rollers. They later said that I could only have untapered
“cotton reel” section rollers for the quoted price. I fitted these and soon had
launch and recovery experience that was remarkably joyful. I then looked for a
firm that would make the proper tapered ones. I eventually found a small
engineering works that would do the job. The price was very very
high even though I ordered some for a couple of friends at the same time. Note
that because of the strength of these rollers it is not necessary for them to
be supported by an interference fit on their axles.
One
of my friends reported that the hard rollers were doing his keel no good at
all. The other friend reported all well – but he had a metal rubbing strip
under the keel. My keel was OK but after a another
year I started to notice that it was developing a dent where the central roller
bore on it. Because the trailer is designed to flex, a lot of weight is born by
the central roller. So to improve matters I first purchased another roller
bracket to fit a second central roller and thus halve the pressure on the keel.
The
following year I put metal rubbing strips under the keel in way of the
centreplate slot where the central roller bears, where there are no keel
fixings and the width of the wood is reduced by the slot.
This seems to
be working fine and launch and recovery remains a pleasure. However, a
different launching technique is required. Instead of wanting to stay, the boat
is now quite anxious to leave the trailer. If the winch is used to let the boat
down there is a strong danger that, depending upon the steepness of the
slipway, the boat will take control, the winch handle will be pulled out of
your hand and will flail around dangerously as the winch strap unwinds. At each
end of Appuskidu I have two warps. One breast rope about
three quarters of a boat length long and one spring about one and three quarter
boat lengths long. Both ropes have their bitter ends permanently
attached to the relevant cleats. My launching technique has always been to tie
the free end of the bow spring to the winch post on the trailer to act as a
long stop if the boat gets away when launching. Now, I still tie it to the
winch post but first pull it taut off the bow and take a turn around one of the
bar handles at the side of the winch post. Then I flake the remaining loose
rope on the ground. Once I have the turn around the bar on the trailer I disconnect
the winch strap and pay out the warp using tension on the round turn on the
trailer to control the descent in the knowledge that the end tied to the
trailer will bring her up if things were to get out of hand. It is important to
avoid a riding turn and very important not to stand in a loop of the flaked
warp. Apart from hiccoughs when a misaligned side roller was catching on a
bilge runner and the first launch of the season when a nudge is sometimes
required, this technique seems to work fine.
Overall
the result is much easier
launching and recovery and no more back winching. A shove is sometimes needed
at the first launch after the winter but otherwise the priority is on holding
her back for a controlled launch rather than getting her going. At recovery
time, as personal fitness grows during the season, low gear can often be
dispensed with for winding her onto the trailer – even allowing for up to 350Kg
of gear that I often still have on board before unloading to tow home.