Hi All, I'm a new member who has a question about keel rollers. If I ever have a question regarding boating or boat trailers and go to "The Google" I always get referred to you guys - the experts. So, here goes......
Recently picked up a "project" boat in the Everett, WA area. A 23' Fiberform on a Calkins trailer. It was getting late when I arrived so hurriedly hooked up the trailer to my Mazda CX-9, attached some temp lighting and away I went. 500 miles later I arrived home in the TriCities in eastern WA. The next day I took a better look at what I had. The boat was actually in great shape, some minor work but I am very happy with it. The trailer however showed some rust - a lot of rust. So, I decided I would take the boat off and rebuild the trailer. After I got the trailer out from under the boat I completely disassembled the trailer - it was all bolted together. The rust, while extensive is mainly cosmetic but the rollers (both keel and chine) were essentially welded to their shafts. The chine rollers (and keel rollers) are black rubber mounted in pairs on a swivel-like assembly and were held in place by a method I believe is called staking where the shaft is puckered-up in four spots on both side of the roller. I ground off the puckers on the outside and, with a really big hammer, drove them off. The keel rollers ( 8 of them ) were mounted in an "H" shaped assembly and no amount of beating would drive the shafts out. So I cut the horizontal part of the "H" and removed the roller and shaft together.
All going well so far. I purchased Yates chine rollers that were advertised as having 3/4" shaft holes, but were in fact 7/8". Pressed out their black nylon sheave and turned my own sheaves out of nylon with a 3/4" opening. Put lynch pins on the ends to facilitate future maintenance.
On to the keel rollers. The "H" shaped assembly is drilled for 3/4" shafts which I assume Calkins felt was required to accept the weight of the boat. My problem is, there seems to be no manufacturer of keel rollers that has an opening for a 3/4" shaft. They are all 5/8" unless I am missing something. I even sent away to an English company for one of theirs which was very nearly 3/4" but constructed so flimsy I would be hesitant to load a jet-ski on it. So back to the drawing board. I am currently awaiting delivery of a Stolz 8" roller that appears to be solid poly. It will be 5/8" of course but if solid, I will ream it out to 3/4".
At last my question - why would 5/8" be so prevalent? Even the 12" keel rollers seem to be 5/8". My boat is probably in the 3000# to 4000# range and sits on the keel rollers. The one Yates 8" keel roller I obtained was for a 5/8" shaft but that was only on the ends and by means of a plastic insert that barely extended an inch into the roller. The interior of the roller seems to be 1-1/2" thin-wall aluminum tube (think aluminum toilet-paper roll). My boat would collapse that roller and pop those plastic inserts out immediately.
Hope you guys can shed some light on this
Recently picked up a "project" boat in the Everett, WA area. A 23' Fiberform on a Calkins trailer. It was getting late when I arrived so hurriedly hooked up the trailer to my Mazda CX-9, attached some temp lighting and away I went. 500 miles later I arrived home in the TriCities in eastern WA. The next day I took a better look at what I had. The boat was actually in great shape, some minor work but I am very happy with it. The trailer however showed some rust - a lot of rust. So, I decided I would take the boat off and rebuild the trailer. After I got the trailer out from under the boat I completely disassembled the trailer - it was all bolted together. The rust, while extensive is mainly cosmetic but the rollers (both keel and chine) were essentially welded to their shafts. The chine rollers (and keel rollers) are black rubber mounted in pairs on a swivel-like assembly and were held in place by a method I believe is called staking where the shaft is puckered-up in four spots on both side of the roller. I ground off the puckers on the outside and, with a really big hammer, drove them off. The keel rollers ( 8 of them ) were mounted in an "H" shaped assembly and no amount of beating would drive the shafts out. So I cut the horizontal part of the "H" and removed the roller and shaft together.
All going well so far. I purchased Yates chine rollers that were advertised as having 3/4" shaft holes, but were in fact 7/8". Pressed out their black nylon sheave and turned my own sheaves out of nylon with a 3/4" opening. Put lynch pins on the ends to facilitate future maintenance.
On to the keel rollers. The "H" shaped assembly is drilled for 3/4" shafts which I assume Calkins felt was required to accept the weight of the boat. My problem is, there seems to be no manufacturer of keel rollers that has an opening for a 3/4" shaft. They are all 5/8" unless I am missing something. I even sent away to an English company for one of theirs which was very nearly 3/4" but constructed so flimsy I would be hesitant to load a jet-ski on it. So back to the drawing board. I am currently awaiting delivery of a Stolz 8" roller that appears to be solid poly. It will be 5/8" of course but if solid, I will ream it out to 3/4".
At last my question - why would 5/8" be so prevalent? Even the 12" keel rollers seem to be 5/8". My boat is probably in the 3000# to 4000# range and sits on the keel rollers. The one Yates 8" keel roller I obtained was for a 5/8" shaft but that was only on the ends and by means of a plastic insert that barely extended an inch into the roller. The interior of the roller seems to be 1-1/2" thin-wall aluminum tube (think aluminum toilet-paper roll). My boat would collapse that roller and pop those plastic inserts out immediately.
Hope you guys can shed some light on this
