Bunks or rollers

[Peter T]

Hi Ozzie. You make a lot of sense mate.
It's sensible to use the tilt function on the trailer as that is what it was designed for.
Same for only using bunks or rollers for steadying and not taking the weight of the boat.
Same for using the strongest part of the boat for taking its weight on the trailer, the keel., on the centre rollers.
Also sensible to lower the bunks on launch and retrieve as well as a trailer wash down asap after immersion in salt water.
On that, can you believe that our local council have removed the top off the tap at the boat ramp so it can not be used. Anyway, I take a tap handle and a hose with me.
Anyway,I will certainly be protecting my investment of money and hard work by doing all of these things and I can only encourage all to do the same. Cheers and happy launching

[Ozzie]

Ta Peter. I thank Ian B for making me aware of this .
Just wondering after mentioning the bow pull ring, has anyone ever checked or replaced this ring bolt. When you think about this, it’s the one piece of gear that is under enormous strain during retrieving the boat. We replace rudder fittings and shroud fittings but they are only under a fraction of the strain. Also it’s buried in the hull so hard to check.

I always put a damper over the cable. Last year I bought a 4wd winch cable damper and keep it with my handle to remind me. A disconnected cable can be very bad if under load. Previous post on this.

I wonder if the original ring is high tensile? This is something you would not want to replace with a cheap knock off.

[Andrew]

Thanks for your thoughts on this issue, Ozzie.
I notice in the photos that your bunks are short while Peter's are full length between supports. Is either better than the other in your opinion.
Eximea

Gday Eximea, Teria's trailer has 4 bunks each around 2 ft long, theyre 4x2 pine with carpet (original trailer). They pivot in the middle and are shaped to the hull curve. While rebuilding the trailer frame (original rusted insideout), changed single rollers to two rollers on swivel mounts on each cross beam. So most of the weight is spread out on the keel and the bunks just keep hull upright.

In my new trailer design i extended the drawbar a few feet. So at the ramp the trailer can submerge deeper, so the boat floats over the aft bunks now (dont have to lower). I didnt have to use tilt either. The boat was floating about half way down the trailer. But the downside is I have to be more aware of where the ramp drop off is and what the tide level is. At lower tides i check for the ramp end with a boat hook. and bearing buddies on the wheel bearings are used to pump grease in before each outing and after retreival before a long run home. The deep water trailer also puts far less pressure on the winching system perhaps about 50% less (hope the old bow ring bolts good for awile, never thought about that one ozzie!)

Retained my tilt function but now hardly need to use it at ramp. It's still good for unloading hull on dry land though.

The long draw bar tows like an arrow, only downside is increased turning circle, At home i drive in headfirst then turn around at back yard, it's a bit tighter doing a u-turn and back up manoevers with longer draw bar.

Re towing i keep weight out of the ends of hull and low over the axle (eg water tanks). and some weight forward in the ute tray (eg motor/fuel) for increased towing stability.

Heres a link to my blog with "Trailer" tag http://teria563.blogspot.com/search/label/trailer

[Eximea]

Thanks for your reply Andrew. But by the time I saw it , I have built my bunks towed to the Kimberley and am back again . The bunks I made were much shorter, only about 400 long, pivoting in the centre and topped with marine carpet. As mentioned, I have just towed Bella Rose 8000 ks to the Kimberley and back and am pleased with the result. The last time I did the same journey with rollers not bunks and the rollers wore into the hull through the gelcoat so for me the bunks are a much better option.

[Andrew]

David advises me that he used to lower the rear of the bunksby about 25 mm but didnt think it was needed if he used his extendable tow bar or on steeper ramps.
Screenshot_20230407_151950_Gallery.jpg

Hi Peter and all, i can confirm this is good. My extended draw bar (with or without tilt ) allows the aft hull to float a bit and its not neccessary to lower Teria trailers bunks now.

The Kimberly wouldve been a real adventure Exmea, both on the road and at sea. For me i
n the past only 300km round trip was a major event , ha. Still got the previous wheel bearings, which i guess/hope someone replaced at some stage, they're not showing any signs of wear tear yet.(and are bearing buddy protected) .put new wheel rims and tyres on. Single axle.

Planning on putting my old carpeted aft bunks back on too. Replaced them with slippery skid bunks due to the stuck problem. But this problem was solved (including double pivoting keel rollers), so the aft bunks are not a "sticking point" now.

[Peter T]

Hi Andrew, Glad it's all worked out for you. Am sure you can never go wrong with the extended draw bar. Just makes it so much easier, even if you could manage without it, it's comforting to know you won't be putting the car in the drink and it does not matter how shallow the ramp you might be using is. With mine, swing it into position or dont swing it into position. It would be a great choice to have if you needed it and didn't have it, that's for sure.
Cheers and happy boating

[Peter T]

Hi all. I thought I would update this post with how I improved on my bunks.
I used thin 3 ply builders bracing ply.
I bent up 6 pieces of steel 20mm x 5 mm to fit the hull at equal distances along the length of the bunk.
Covered the hull with hot house plastic for protection.
Adjusted the original bunk away from the hull far enough so I could jamb 1 thickness of ply against the hull by using wedges while I welded brackets on to the steel pieces so they could be screwed on to the old bunk.
Once the whole 6 of them were done, I ended up with a former so I could laminate 4 thicknesses of the ply which ended up being the same complex curve as the hull. I used Tightbond 3 to laminate. Once the laminated plank was fully set I shaped a new beam to attach the plank to. Used Bugle screws and epoxy to put it together and then saturated all the timber with an epoxy wood sealer before painting with the same 2 pack paint I used on the boat. See below.
Sorry that some photos are in wrong order.
Old poor fitting bunk below

Now just have to trim the carpet around the edge of the bunk and then turn the boat around in the shed and do it all over again on the other side.
All in all, it's about 2 weeks work per bunk but I am happy with the result
Cheers

[Ozzie]

Very nice job mate. With launching I assume you will just lower the rear end as previously discussed.

I removed the duplicate pic with my mods menus . It all makes sense I won’t reorder the rest. Nice tutorial.

[Peter T]

Thanks Ozzie, yes I will have to lower at least the back of the bunks if not both front and back as there is not much " swivel " in them but that should not be too much of a hassle.
cheers