Bow roller contact?

[john zampini]

Hey guys, can anyone tell me if the bow of the boat should be tight against the bow roller when fully winched in and towing? Mine seems to hit the roller when the boat is floating onto the trailer. Then when the boat settles onto the trailer after I pull off the ramp, the bow of the boat moves away from the roller a few inches. At that point the winch strap hook will not go any further into the the roller bracket. I think it's due to the angle of the boat on the trailer but not sure.
Pretty new at this, any help would be appreciated.

 

[tractoman]

Re: Bow roller contact?

It should be in contact with the roller. If you winch it tight to the roller when it's floating, how's it moving bacK? You really don't want the boat sliding forward on the trailer in a panic stop.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Bow roller contact?

I get that same problem if my trailer is backed in too deep, the transom settles in and bow comes up off the stop, the boat is then too heavy to pull up with the winch alone, I learned in just a few times out exactly the depth the trailer needs to be, I learned a tad too shallow is ok but too deep and the boats ends up back too far and away from the stop.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Bow roller contact?

It should be in contact with the roller. If you winch it tight to the roller when it's floating, how's it moving bacK? You really don't want the boat sliding forward on the trailer in a panic stop.

Thats a good question, I don't have the answer but my one boat will do that same thing.

 

[john zampini]

Re: Bow roller contact?

Part 2 of same question. It "looks" like the winch hook can only go so far into the bracket and doesn't pull the bow up tight to the roller when the boat is off the ramp. Like I said earlier, when the boat is still floating it "is" tight to the roller, again it seems like the angle changes when I pull the boat off the ramp and it settles onto the trailer. This very well could be a depth of trailer issue like you said. I will have to experiment some I guess.

Thanks for the input so far.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Bow roller contact?

Can you get us a picture?

Just trying to visualize: is your winch on the boat side of the pulpit or the car side? Usually the winch will be on the car side and the strap runs over the pulpit and under the bow stop so you should be able to hit the bow stop before running into the winch. If the winch is on the other side, which I have seen on occasion, you might be able to move the winch lower on the pulpit.

{Edit} I meant to add, the bow is against the stop on the ramp because the back of your boat is still floating and tilting the bow forward. Mine tends to do this if I back in a little deeper than usual.

 

[john zampini]

Re: Bow roller contact?

That's the second response about being too deep. I will try to get a picture up so you can see.
Thanks.

 

[john zampini]

Re: Bow roller contact?





These are the pics of where the bow sits in relation to the roller. How do I get them to meet? Is the bow too high? If so, how can I lower it before taking boat out of water?

Thanks.

 

[itsaboattime]

Re: Bow roller contact?

First, did this trailer come with this boat from the manufacturer??

Second, I would slide the entire pulpit back on the tongue of the trailer a couple inches and then raise the winch arm up on the stand until the bow roller touches the hull. You may have to fiddle with both adjustments to get it right. You can't just raise the winch up because that would draw the boat farther onto the trailer. Sliding the pulpit back keeps the boat in the same position on the trailer and allows you to raise the winch to get the bow roller to contact the hull.

Third, Is this a new problem? If so, I would be checking to see how this happened.

 

[john zampini]

Re: Bow roller contact?

Yes, the boat and trailer were a package. I recently bought the boat (it's a 2004) and don't recall the seller having the problem.
Is it possible I'm just winching the boat too far onto the trailer? If you look at the pic, there are some marks on the hull above where the roller is currently, possibly the point where the roller "should" be making contact? I really just noticed that now that I'm focusing on the problem.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Bow roller contact?

OK, john, I see the problem. I'm just not real clear at this point how to fix it.

Basically, your bow stop is too low relative to the winch position. It looks to me that if you could raise the angle of the pulpit relative to the tongue (tilt it more forward), you might be able to solve this. Or raise the height of the pulpit. That said, I'm not sure if that's doable with your trailer.

I have a Shoreland'r trailer and the pulpit has 4 possible vertical positions. You could just undo four bolts that attach the pulpit to the tongue and raise the pulpit to the next verticle position. Do you have that kind of that adjustment available?

What's happening is that the bow ring on the boat (there's an official term for this but I ca't remember it) is coming slightly above the bow stop and if should come in a just below it. Raising the pulpit should solve this.

The other possibility is lowering the front keel roller. Is that doable?

Keep us posted on what happens.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Bow roller contact?

Yes, the boat and trailer were a package. I recently bought the boat (it's a 2004) and don't recall the seller having the problem.
Is it possible I'm just winching the boat too far onto the trailer? If you look at the pic, there are some marks on the hull above where the roller is currently, possibly the point where the roller "should" be making contact? I really just noticed that now that I'm focusing on the problem.

John, I didn't read this before my last post.

I'm going to say no, you can't winch the boat on too far if the bow stop is set up right. The fact is, the bow stop is NOT set up right, we're just not sure why at this point.

Let me know if my previous post gives you any ideas.

 

[ajgraz]

Re: Bow roller contact?

Dunno how practical this is, but if the bow eye were maybe 3 or 4 inches lower that would fix you up...although then the entire winch post might need to be moved back a few inches to maintain same tongue weight.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Bow roller contact?

Agree with all the above except for one thing, not a pulpit, it's a winch post, a pulpit is mounted to the boats bow to aid pulling up and storing the anchor.
Still think you may have trailered to deep and boat is too far up, how does the transom orient with the bunks thae way it is right now, if it were back just a little then the roller may be on the upper part where the angle changes on the bow.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Bow roller contact?

Yeah, winch post. Must have been way past my bed time. Winch post. Winch post.

I am linking the Shorelandr Owner's Guide. Scroll down to page 6 where they discuss Proper Winch Post Adjustment. It has an illustration of how the bow eye should be positioned relative to the bow stop and instructions on how to accomplish. I don't know if you have those adjustments available on your trailer, but maybe this will help.

http://www.midwestindustries.com/documents/manuals/SL Trailer Owners Guide.pdf

 

[bassman284]

Re: Bow roller contact?

OK, me again.

I took another look at your pictures and in the 2nd one I see 2 U bolts that appear to attach the winch/bow stop assembly to the post. Looks to me like you could loosen those and raise the bow stop to where it needs to be. Loosen them, raise the bow stop and crank the winch so the bow eye nestles under the bow stop then tighten. Does this make sense guys?

 

[msojjo]

Re: Bow roller contact?

Just going to put this out there, let me know if i'm wrong. On both of the boats that i have owned the strap was always on the underside of the winch when cranking up the boat. On your pictures that i have looked at it looks like it's on the top side. If it's a new strap, maybe the previous owner replaced it and put it back on wrong. That would solve your 2 to 3 inches of difference in height? Right?

 

[ajgraz]

Re: Bow roller contact?

OK, me again.

I took another look at your pictures and in the 2nd one I see 2 U bolts that appear to attach the winch/bow stop assembly to the post. Looks to me like you could loosen those and raise the bow stop to where it needs to be. Loosen them, raise the bow stop and crank the winch so the bow eye nestles under the bow stop then tighten. Does this make sense guys?

Agreed with this ^^^

If loosening the u-bolts (marked with green arrows) allows the winch "arm" to be raised a few inches up the post (blue arrow) so that the roller stop clears the bow eye, then do that.

But note that doing that alone will push the boat a few inches rearward on the trailer, due to the angle of the prow. So the entire winch post will have to be scooted forward a few inches (purple arrow) by loosening the u-bolts (red arrow; surely there's another I can't see) in order to keep the boat's position on the trailer (and thus tongue weight) the same.

 

[gozierdt]

Re: Bow roller contact?

I agree with itsaboattime, you should loosen the winch post and move it back a couple of inches, then loosen the winch support arm and raise it about 2 inches, then slide the post back until the bow roller contacts the bow an inch or two above the bow eye. That's basically what's in the Shoreland'r manual as well. That way the angle on the winch strap will be slightly down, pulling the bow down against the bow roller. Before you do these adjustments, make sure the transom of the boat is correctly positioned fore and aft. Then play with how deep you put your trailer in the water. I find for my boat that if the boat hits the bunks about 3' out from the bow eye, and I use the winch to pull the boat up on the bunks until the bow is snug against the roller, the boat only settles a couple of inches as I pull the trailer out, and the bow stays snug against the roller.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Bow roller contact?

Oh no not that again lol! Just had a pretty heated discussion about winches top bottom backwards and upside down, I have no certification in boat trailer set up so I'm out on this one.