self centering keel roller?

[jtexas]

In BassPro the other day, made an impulse purchase, one of these self-centering keel rollers :<br /><br />

<br /><br />Now I'm having second thoughts about whether it'll be effective or not. <br /><br />I been having trouble centering the boat lately, it's a 15ft tri-hull design, the trailer has two bunks and three keel rollers. right now it has the "V" keel rollers like this: <br />

<br /><br />The trailer has guide-on's & side bunks too, I'm just not sure why I'm having this much trouble.<br /><br />I've been missing the the bow end roller, jumping out onto the ramp, pushing it back & centering by hand, getting back in & powering on. (Powering on is normal, even expected at all the ramps I use, so no need to discuss the practice here.)<br /><br />I thought maybe put the self-centering one in the middle. Haven't installed it yet so I can still return it...any experience with these you'd care to share? Opinions on whether it'll work?<br /><br />thanks,<br />john

 

[CATransplant]

Re: self centering keel roller?

I'd think both rollers would work OK. Are you sure you're not backing in too deep for retrieval. I know my trihull is really sensitive to how deep the trailer is. I was having a heck of a time with it until I started retrieving with the trailer more shallow. <br /><br />I don't drive on, though, so that might make a difference. It just seems that I have to have at least two or three rollers engaged if I expect it to load straight.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: self centering keel roller?

I'd think both rollers would work OK. Are you sure you're not backing in too deep for retrieval. I know my trihull is really sensitive to how deep the trailer is. I was having a heck of a time with it until I started retrieving with the trailer more shallow. <br /><br />I don't drive on, though, so that might make a difference. It just seems that I have to have at least two or three rollers engaged if I expect it to load straight.

 

[islandboat]

Re: self centering keel roller?

I bought one of those rollers. It looks real strong. Didn't need a self centering roller but it looked like it was the best quality of all the rollers that I looked at. It lasted 2 trips. My boat bent it when unloading. Had it under the bow and it was just there to help support the bow when offloading or loading and make sure the bow didn't contact a trailer crossmember. The crossmembers had hard nylon pads on them from the factory so the installation of the roller was not necasary anyway, just thought I could improve the trailer. <br />Roller seems like a good idea and it should work O.K. on smaller boats.