I just bought this boat a week ago, and noticed the bow rail was damaged. I thought they had hit something, but the seller said you had to watch the winch roller when putting in. Not knowing what he was talking about we launched the boat, and low and behold the bow rail caught on the winch roller, stopping the boat from moving backward and doing the same thing that had damaged it in the first place. The bow at this point of launching is quite heavy, and it seems like the stern when it starts floating lowers the bow. It also had too much tongue weight. I moved the winch rearward about 2" before putting the boat back on, and it still hit when retrieving the boat.
When I got home I tried to lower the winch, but it was already bottomed out on the post on the trailer that holds it. So I cut the post off 4" and lowered the winch assembly that same amount, which now is as low as it can go. I thought I had solved the problem until we took it out yesterday, and nothing had changed that much, except now with the bow eye above the roller, hits on it-and then the bow hits the roller.
Getting on and reading posts on this forum, I see that the bow eye needs to be under the roller to stop the boat from moving forward in a panic stop. This would require putting everything back around where it was before I did all my work, but the problem of hitting the roller with the bow would still be there.
The only thing I can think of is to raise the bunks on the front, but that would make the boat unlevel when on the trailer. I can't believe that lowering the winch assembly 4" didn't stop the roller from hitting the bow. I also saw that the bunks need to be spread around an inch when I took these pictures, as one of the rails is hitting the side of the bunk, but that can't affect the problem I have.
Any ideas?
When I got home I tried to lower the winch, but it was already bottomed out on the post on the trailer that holds it. So I cut the post off 4" and lowered the winch assembly that same amount, which now is as low as it can go. I thought I had solved the problem until we took it out yesterday, and nothing had changed that much, except now with the bow eye above the roller, hits on it-and then the bow hits the roller.
Getting on and reading posts on this forum, I see that the bow eye needs to be under the roller to stop the boat from moving forward in a panic stop. This would require putting everything back around where it was before I did all my work, but the problem of hitting the roller with the bow would still be there.
The only thing I can think of is to raise the bunks on the front, but that would make the boat unlevel when on the trailer. I can't believe that lowering the winch assembly 4" didn't stop the roller from hitting the bow. I also saw that the bunks need to be spread around an inch when I took these pictures, as one of the rails is hitting the side of the bunk, but that can't affect the problem I have.
Any ideas?