keel board vs rollers

[wroundey]

My CP16 trailer currently has rollers for the keel but the keel actually only sits on two of the three rollers. I am thinking about taking the rollers off and replacing them with a carpeted keel board. Any pros or cons on this swap?

[nies]

With rollers it is not necessary to have the entire hull floating to get boat on and off trailer easily, with a keel board you will have more trouble, I actually installed more rollers for ease of getting my CP16 on and off the trailer and has made the operation a snap..............nies

[skip1930]

My CP-19 sits on either the first three of four or the last three of four rollers depending if the winch is pulling tightly for road travel or relaxed when not being pulled,
'Ain't no big deal' since the keel doesn't bend, it matters not which rollers it sits on.

If you look at the trailer and where the tabs for the rollers are welded to you'll see that the trailer was designed this way.
Personally I don't care for a solid board.

The trailer is fitted with a factory extending hitch.
I put a little cushion on it's end so when retracted it won't chip-a-way at the keel's leading edge when retracted 100%.

I have been thinking about taking a small piece of brass sheet used on the bottom of house doors and my rawhide hammer and cutting and forming a leading edge protection cover that I could wrap around the leading edge of the keel and glue on above my KEEL BOOT.

skip.

[Pacman]

I removed the rollers on my C-16 trailer and replaced them with a bare pressure treated 2X6.

When it is dry the board provides friction that I think must help keep the boat in place (fore and aft) when braking and accelerating on the road.  With rollers, all that stress is on the bow eye.

When it is wet the board is slippery and the boat glides off easily.  I just splash some water on it a few minutes before launching and retrieving to be sure it will be slippery.

My main reason for going with a board is that it spreads the load over the whole bottom of the keel instead on concentrating the load on a few square inches of contact area with the rollers.

I know that there are others who swear by rollers and I am not saying they are wrong.  However, I made my decision to change for the reasons stated above and I am satisfied with the results.

[skip1930]

" ...help keep the boat in place (fore and aft) when braking and accelerating on the road.  With rollers, all that stress is on the bow eye. "

Well, hummm, I wonder. The curve of the hull bunks that the hull nests down in cradles the boat so it resists sliding.

The vee block that the bow rests in stops it from sliding forward. True the bow eye when cranked in stops the hull from traveling astern plus the curve of the hull bunks.
The hull is going to resist climbing up out of the curve on acceleration or deceleration.

When launching I have never seen a boat slide out of the curve of the hull bunks. But rather it floats up and out.

"...  a board is that it spreads the load over the whole bottom of the keel instead on concentrating the load on a few square inches of contact area with the rollers. "

O.K., I'll buy that. But cement turned into concrete and incased in fiberglass is pretty darn hard and sitting on shock absorbing rubber rollers is a good thing even though I agree that spreading out the weight relieves stress. And not all of the boat's weight is suppose to be sitting on the rollers or on a board. But I think the stress is not there to to worry about. I lift my CP-19 off the trailer with a 20" long 2 x 4 and a floor jack. Nothing busted through the keel yet. And that was before I glued on with Marine-Tex my 6mm aluminum KEEL BOOT so I could glide over the rocks where I sail and water becomes thin.

Just a passing thought.

skip.

[MacGyver]

The only issue I see with a keel board is that they hold water against the keel. The rollers allow it to dry out.

I pondered the same thoughts last year and due to working at a marina, really paid attention to boat we launched on trailers (they all get launched in our lift.....so easy to see anything I want) and the boards always seemed to be damaged, starting to rot, wet all the time with a nice wet spot on the keel, etc.

The roller boats weren't that way..........

So my decision is to get some more rollers for the trailer. My cp19 has 3 currently. I plan to add 2 more to the front section. That will support the weight up forward since that is where it all is, and will help with pull and launch.

Adding carpet to the board seemed to further complicate things......although nice looking, those trailers had the rotted wood mostly, and you couldn't necessarily tell when the boat was on it..........

If you do rollers, get the good ones.........well worth the 20 bucks or so each.

Mac

[skip1930]

Could those plastic ground up milk bottle 2 x 4's used for decks be used?
Now that's something slippery!
But these have no strength and would need to be supported on very close centers or be used as an overlay on top of a 'real' 2 x 4.
Not subject to rot.

skip.

[wroundey]

Skip,
I was thinking the same thing about using the synthetic deck boards.... nice a slippery, do not rot, and since the boat currently only sits on two rollers anyway, the board would have contact at two, maybe three crosspieces on the trailer with contact but no weight in between.

[kickingbug1]

    i installed two boards made of treated decking covered in carpet, between the rollers. it is slightly lower than the rollers and still enables the bottom of the keel to dry. what it does do is prevent the front of the keel from getting caught between the rollers during retrieval, a problem i was having for a while. now it is easy on easy off.

[Pacman]

The only issue I see with a keel board is that they hold water against the keel. The rollers allow it to dry out. ......

Adding carpet to the board seemed to further complicate things......although nice looking, those trailers had the rotted wood mostly, and you couldn't necessarily tell when the boat was on it..........

Mac

I was worried about that but I found that pressure treated wood dries out fairly quickly. 

That might be due to the salt water so I can't say what will happen in fresh water. 

If that ever does become a problem I will seal the wood with a sealer for wood decks like Thompson's Water Seal.

Carpet holds water like a sponge and even pressure treated wood will rot if carpeted.

[Pacman]

Skip,
I was thinking the same thing about using the synthetic deck boards.... nice a slippery, do not rot, and since the boat currently only sits on two rollers anyway, the board would have contact at two, maybe three crosspieces on the trailer with contact but no weight in between.

When I was considering synthetic lumber for the keel rest I was thinking of a single plank lengthwise like I did with pressure treated lumber and, positioned that way, the synthetic lumber seemed like it would be too flexible.

However, I failed to consider placing the synthetic boards crosswise on top of the crossmembers.

I really like that idea.  

It would allow the boat to dry out easily, it would provide greater contact area for support than rollers, and it should let the boat slide off nicely when wet for easy launching.

Thanks for that interesting idea.