Re: New boat has arived! & my day after thoughts...
There seems to be some misconceptions about roller trailers and tin boats. First, the keel is the strongest part of the boat and is not just riveted onto the aluminum sheet. Tin boats have lateral ribs as well as longitudinal stringers inside the hull that keeps all of these pieces in alignment. Yes, the keel is just riveted on but it is an integral part of the boats rib/strake/stringer/keel structure. So a properly adjusted roller trailer can be used with a tin boat. If that were not the case, there would be an abundance of bad boats in the northwoods as the vast majority of tin boats ride on roller trailers including my own. And it travels thousands of miles a year on less than ideal roads. Now then, in this case, the keel isn't even touching the keel rollers. The wobble rollers are also sitting under a strake which is a definite no-no. I'm also guessing the bow in the bottom of the boat was caused by retrieving the boat from shallow water. With the trailer not deep enough, the tendency is to get the bow on the trailer and then winch the boat up. However, once the boat gets to the center of the rear keel roller, the winch now begins a downward pull on the bow which puts tremendous stress on the keel and it bends. Remember, all the weight is at the back of the boat so this "see-saw" situation can easily crack or bend a keel.
