Bunks or Rollers

[DRIFTER_016]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

In Michigan it's illegal and a $500 fine if anyone is caught power loading. It (power loading) destroys the launch. Ruining it for everyone. Still every once in a while I see some idiot or brave or inconsiderate soul do it.

Not much of an issue here as all our popular launches are concrete.
And the ones that aren't are small lakes only good for a canoe or tinny.

 

[cbavier]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

Not much of an issue here as all our popular launches are concrete.
And the ones that aren't are small lakes only good for a canoe or tinny.

Ours are concrete too but power Loading washes the sand away from the concrete at the end of the ramp and the concrete either breaks off or when somone backs their trailer in. It drops off the end of the ramp because all the sand has been washed away. I have seen some people ease their boats onto their trailer real slow and others goose it. It's the guy that gooses it that really does the damage. nevertheless it's still illegal.

 

[dbkerley]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

It's the guy that gooses it that really does the damage.

We power load all the time. The water levels fluctuate so much that the guy that gooses it may run aground in the submerged parking lot for the low water launch.

I can't power load my bass boat because by the time I trim it up enough to keep the prop off the ramp, it presses the boat down into the trailer instead of pushing it forward.

I've had both and generally prefer bunks.

 

[JoLin]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

The only time I?ve ever had that happen to me was when I was in a hurry and forgot to remove the safety chain before letting line off the winch.

This procedure will eliminate the need for a lot of line off the winch when launching:
? Remove safety chain from boat.
? Attach rope to bow cleat and wrap around winch post.
? Back trailer into water.
? Run winch (@ 24?) until the slack in the rope is taken out
? Remove winch cable.
? Rope is then unwound from winch post and boat is free to roll back into the water.

Exactly. In my case I mounted a galvanized cleat to the winch post and I tie the rope to that. Same result. When retrieving I drag the boat up the trailer with the rope, tie it off on the cleat, then walk down with the winch strap and clip it to the bow eye. Piece of cake.

 

[rbmille]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

wow. here i was thinking this would be the year i was gonna get rollers. now i think i'll stick with my bunk trailer.

i'm kinda a novice to working on my boat. but give me credit i'm trying to learn.with this great web-site it shouldnt take long.

 

[hwkypuck]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

My rule is Bunks for 16ft or smaller, and rollers for 16ft and bigger

 

[skargo]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

My rule is Bunks for 16ft or smaller, and rollers for 16ft and bigger

How come?

 

[Tafflad]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

my first 18ft cuddy had rollers, my current has bunk, makes not diff , except that its easier to level the boat on the rollers of course if I miss load. but guide ons took care of that, I wouldnt spend money for rollers as a premium. Slickers on bunks do the trick.

By "slickers" do you mean the screw on bunk rollers ?
The type that are rollers in a frame.
The problem with ones I looked at were that they were fitted with csk screws ... is a screw came loose (quite likely) it would put a hell of a scratch in the hull.

Keen to know if there is something better - I currently just spray with silicon every 1/2 dozen launches.

 

[Floatsum]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

Tried a roller trailer once before a long time ago. It was horrible loading a semi-V on at the time. I need to admit, I was younger and even more stupider and probably clueless as to what I should of been doing.
That being said,,, since then I've had several bunk trailers and thought they were the best.
I do notice that most seem to be ill-adjusted. Seems like everyone I've ever had (even dealer prepped) was miss matched for optimal support. Often the hull would be resting on the inside /outside edge of the bunk. not hitting full length / width, etc. Easily fixed, but still you needed to position properly and the flatter the hull the easier this seemed to be.

Last winter I picked up a Parker, relatively deep V with a roller. What a BEAST to launch / load. Quickly discovered the trailer was in need of major maint.
Replaced all the rollers, disassembled and greased everything. When I reassembled I noticed the rollers were not in the best of position, so we relocated them. Everything was left "floppy" loose (not rattly).
After $500 and a total rebuild I had to try it out. AWSOME!
With the deep V and the way it's now set, the boat tries to get to the lowest point between the rollers. This makes it almost perfectly self centering even in wind and tide. After several launches I've not been loaded more than 1" off center,,, yet.
Launching is a snap. Crank out, start and warm engine, forward gear @ idle, unhook and away I go.
Loading, idle in between rollers, increase rpm to move S-l-o-w-l-y on, snap on hook, shut it down, 4-5 cranks, safety chain and drive out.
Either way, less than 5 minutes and no strain.

Conclusion (MHO);
Depending largely on the ramps you use, I think I'd lean towards a roller trailer for heavier, deeper V style hulls. However, on a flatter lighter(?) hull bottom I think I'd still go with a bunk as long as it was really low.
I feel the flatter the bottom the less self centering the hull would be with the rollers. Flat bottom, bunk w/ guide-ons. Deep V / heavy, roller with more detailed maintenance.
All my boats on the most part have been trailer queens. Winters (off seasons) they get blocked to take the stress off the trailer and such. I do think the trailer (roller or bunk) offers more support than block. But boats have been blocked since time began and I've seen no issues with the minimal support by this in any of the yards. So I feel that's a moot point anyways.

 

[SS Flasher]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

I have had both rollers and bunks. I thought rollers were the easiest to load until I bought my new 4700 lb trailer with bunks. Wow, I love the bunks. My 22 foot boat loads level every time and with just as much ease. Another consideration is that there is more support on the hull. I travel on some gravel roads which can mean a lot of stress on the hull when I accidentally hit a rough spot. I saw one boat with a hole right through the hull after a rubber roller split and the metal arm penetrated the hull. I heard of another that received a lot of damage after he launched his boat and it sunk (enough to submerge the starter) with a hole in it from a roller that split and fell off. Point is if you use rollers ? keep them in good shape and have lots of rollers to support the boat.

 

[Tafflad]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

I have seen damge from roller trailers, when recoverring in heavy surf, the rollers were on 4 'swinging bogeys', the waves flipped on of the roller bogeys, abd the hull hit the support frame hard ... long ugly gash in hull.

 

[STARCRAFT16SS]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

Rollers with tilt trailer side bunks and rear guide tubes...
Trailer 1971? Spartan....replaced lights with l.e.d.

 

[DocShock]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

My trailer has 5 keel rollers and two bunks positioned under the stringers. the rollers really only help in loading, as most of the weight while trailered is on the bunks. And I only use polyurethane rollers, as the rubber ones crack/break and mark up the hull. My trailer is also a tilt trailer, so skinny water loading/unloading made easy...

 

[dpoff]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

I prefer a roller trailer because I use my boat in saltwater. I can launch/ retreive without getting my brakes, rollers, frame in the salt water(much) which means less corrosion. For freshwater, I guess it`s your personal preference.

Dean

 

[Knightgang]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

Take a very thin piece of metal, say 1/32? thick x 1? long. Try to slide it between the bunk and trailer the entire length and width of the bunk. You?ll be very surprised how little surface contact there really is.


His recommendations was if you wanted a bunk trailer was to go with a split, type bunk trailer.

The top of my bunks are angled with the hull angle. I cannot get that little piece of metal between the hull and bunk on mine. There is almost full contact all the way down...

Question, what do you consider a split type bunk trailer???

 

[Knightgang]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

With all of this talk about Bunks vs Rollers, I think there i ssomething about bunks that need to be considered...

There are several setups of bunk trailers. Here are a few...

1. Bunk Boards (2x4, 2x6 types) with keel rollers down the center.
2. Bunk Boards only with a bow roller.
3. Bunk Boards and Bow Bunk Boards.
4. Bass Boat Style with Forward Bunks Boards and Double Rear Bunk Boards.

5. Bunk Trailers with 4x8 Beams for bunks with Bow support...

I have the Bunk Trailer with the 4x8 beams. Great support all along the hull. Bow support up front. Self centering with rear trailer guides. Glides on easy, self centers and easiest trailer I have ever loaded, unloaded. Almost Maint free as well...

 

[relstabw]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

Bottom line here is that if it's a PIA to load or launch change it till it works! I switched from rollers to bunks recently for that reason. Boating/fishing is supposed to be fun but if you dread that trip back to the ramp it takes the fun out of going especially if you load and launch alone. A properly set up trailer must be easy to launch and load,properly support the boat and require minimum maintenance IMO.

 

[wizbang 13]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

I like to have the bunks sticking out back a little to support the TRANSOM! Beyond gouges, rollers can cause cupping in the hull,resulting in undesirable charistics. A little silly-cone spray on the carpet makes the winching easier.

 

[oomfh]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

I have a 4,800 lb sailboat - fiberglass. The roller trains on my trailer cover a much larger area than do bunks - spreading the weight even more. On difficult ramps I can winch the boat forward into the v-blocks after the boat is one level ground. If the boat isn't winched into the v-block - then the trailing characteriscs of the trailer are changed . I always use the safety chain as a back-up to the strap. When I sand/paint the bottom, I can lower one roller train at a time. But, this is just my opinion on my boat.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Bunks or Rollers

Going down the road and winch strap breaks??????????? If that's all that's securing your boat to the trailer you deserve to lose your boat. A safety chain is there for a purpose. Stern tie downs are also required. Roller trailer or not, an emergency maneuver without stern tie downs will put any boat off the trailer.

Take a gander at the following picture. This is what happens when stern tie downs are not used, and apparently neither is a bow safety chain. Note that the truck is not damaged so this was simply a quick stop. As one learns (or should have learned) in high school physics class -- "an object in motion tends to stay in motion!"