Help with bow roller setup

[MBAKER]

Needing some advice. I know in general you want to bow eye to sit just below the bow roller and the winch strap to be level. I am replacing the bow roller and trying to adjust the current setup.
I have the boat positioned front to back where it needs to be and slid the winch post away to let the bunks carry all of the weight. I then tried a few different rollers and always come up with same conclusion. If I lower the winch to put the roller above the bow eye then the strap runs uphill from thw winch to the boat. If I leave the strap level then I’m am 2-3 inches above the bow eye.

With the bracket geometry as is I don’t see any way to accomplish both. I do have room I could either drill new holes in the bracket and move the winch upslope on the bracket or drill new holes to move the roller down on the bracket but that is the only way I see to get this closer.

For reference the way it was setup seemed like the bow roller was carrying a lot of weight, it was always tough getting it pulled up on top the roller and the roller would get smashed. Also had bent the bracket where the roller mounts and skewed it off to the side. I have it pretty well straightened out now and decided to reset everything while I was at it. From memory after sliding the post away the bow probably settled 1-2” as an indication of how much weight was in it. But I think that was from trying to pull up to the eye every time. You can see in the picture it would have to raise vertically 1” or more to get the eye to the roller.

 

[Lou C]

I agree I don't think you can get it any better than it is given the bracket you have but as it is, it looks fine to me...

 

[youmansjason]

It looks pretty good in your current setup. If anything, you could lower the winch bracket just slightly so that the strap just barely touches the bottom of the bow roller. That way, in a collision or even at high speeds on rough roads, it will keep the bow of the boat from bouncing up and down.

 

[MBAKER]

So I tried lowering the bracket to place the roller just above the winch line. It doesn’t look to bad but the strap does run uphill to the boat a little bit. I may split the difference and call it good.

Now to figure out a bow roller. I can’t seem to find anything that fits very well. I have black rubber and a poly setup on hand. The black rubber with small end bells probably fits best but have heard they might leave black streaks. The poly one with tapered bells isn’t really close at all. Honestly I considered putting 2 end bells with a spacer in the middle. That seems fit the angle of the bow the best.

 

[youmansjason]

The roller position in the first picture looks good. But, I see what you mean with the bow roller not matching the V shape of the hull. Is that a 3" or 4" wide roller? It looks like 3" from the picture, but I could be wrong.

If it's 3", have you tried something like this that has not so much of a deep V shape to it?

Sites-WestMarine-Site

West Marine

www.westmarine.com

 

[MBAKER]

It is 3" roller. I havent tried that one yet, I picked up a few different ones locally and none seem to really fit that well. I have a couple more coming tomorrow that I came across on Amazon and will see about those.

 

[airshot]

Having the winch strap level is only a guide, not critical. The safety chain should prevent the bow eye from rising above the bow stop ( roller in your case) in case of an emergency stop. If your concerned about the bow stop matching the hull, look at the Y shaped non roller stops. Whether they are rollers or not make no difference.

 

[dingbat]

Now to figure out a bow roller. I can’t seem to find anything that fits very well. I have black rubber and a poly setup on hand.

My last three trailers utilized bow stops.

Given the design of the mounting bracket, I wouldn’t be surprised if the trailer originally had a Y-bow stop instead of a roller.

 

[MBAKER]

I found a roller on Amazon from Tiedown engineering that seems to fit pretty well compared to the others I picked up. I did notice it is considerably more pliable that the others which helps, or is that a bad thing. I would say its closer to the black rubber that the other yellow rollers I tried. It helps form to the bow a little better but I dont know if it will hold up or just deform once and be done. For reference the one I took off was a blue hard plastic. It worked ok but once deformed it cracked and held that shape.

 

[airshot]

No requirement that the bow stop has to match the hull shape, just personal preference only.

 

[JimS123]

No requirement that the bow stop has to match the hull shape, just personal preference only.

That's the answer.

Other than a little jetski or an old woodie, I haven't cranked a boat winch in years. My current two boats had the winches removed and the winch stands modified to accept a Powerwinch. In both cases I used a poly roller setup because of their non-marking qualities as well as their long service life.

One boat has a pointed stem, the other rounded. The rollers work well in both cases.

Of course, I also won't trail a boat unless it has a steel bow tie down.