Rebuild flat bottom trailer, must be made easier to push boat off, more rollers???

[poida]

Trailer bunks x2 are $682 delivered to Australia which will do 10-11ft of the hull. $15 x 24 rollers to do 12ft of the hull will be $360 plus postage.
I might be presuming incorrectly here but surely it's a case of welding 12 roller brackets to 2 lengths of 50x50 metal? Then adjusting the keel rollers to suit?
I'm am not sure but those bunks could easily be more than 4" that would prevent them running between the chimes.

 

[smokeonthewater]

well then there is a decent price diff and yeah just attach to some steel... MAYBE though you should consider channel steel instead of tube and brackets... that would allow the rollers to be a few inches lower thus less keel roller adjustment needed and boat closer to the water for launching/loading.... OR if you DO use tube and brackets you could mount the tube UNDER the trailer frame and then simply space the rollers up as needed....

IF you do choose to use brackets you could possibly save even more money by making them yourself... either slices of steel channel w drilled holes, bent sections of flat bar with holes drilled, OR straight pieces of flat bar (two per roller) welded to the outside edges of your tube runner and of course holes drilled for the axle bolts.

That said I think you need end caps on the roller axle bolts to keep the strakes (pretty sure that's what you are calling chimes) from being gouged up by the brackets and bolts.

If roller width is an issue you MIGHT be able to use keel rollers like the red ones in your pics and straddle the strakes.

Last I'm sending you a pm with another option.... similar product... a little cheaper and a LOT more information (overall width 4 3/4") 6 sets of rollers 5' long so two sets would do 11' of trailer.

 

[poida]

Thanks. I've had a search for the roller bunks but can't find them here in australia. The postage cost is the problem otherwise.
Love the idea of the steel channel. Is your idea 12ft of steel channel or with 24 holes and 12 rollers down it? Making my own roller bunks the easy way???

 

[smokeonthewater]

ur welcome,

well if I'm understanding the question then yes that was one of the suggestions I made.

 

[poida]

Another idea. If I was to add 2 more keel rollers then this will remove some weight from the skids. I was thinking of making the keel rollers a bit higher to help also. Does anyone know how much weight the keel rollers should support on a flat bottom? Could I do any damage by putting more weight on the keel and less on the skids? If this fails then I have no choice but to replace the skids with roller bunks.

 

[poida]

I am thinking, add 2 keel rollers and cut out rust. Try it out, if its still to hard to push then swap out the skids for rollers.

 

[Lou C]

There are 2 domestic manufacturers of roller trailers that I know of in Austrailer, Dunbier and Rolla, try contacting both and see if the sell rollers.


http://store.hamiltonmarine.com/brow...FTFp7AodPykAUg
how about something like this, they could fit where you have the skids and would not raise the boat up as much as regular roller bars do....
Tie Down in the US makes these.....They are available in 4 and 5 foot lengths and probably would work perfectly on the trailer you have.
If possible, you could fit a longer tongue or an extension that would also help with launching.