Trailer Damage

[Steve]

Unfortunately when I returned home from our last sailing outing, I was inspecting the hull where the rollers on the trailer sit and noticed a bit of a depression under one of them. A firm push with my thumb convinced me I needed to get the grinder out, as soon as I removed the jell coat in the suspect spot, the damage was apparent.

I would have rather done the repair from the inside, but it would involve allot of work and better suit a winter rebuild of these sections on both sides of the hull.

I managed to get the structural csm glass work done this morning before the outside temperature got too high, now just a little more glass, some filler and gellcoat, Hopefully tomorrow morning, then it will be a good look at the trailer.

Steve

[Yara50]

This is a worry. Were they wobble rollers? I have kept the old fashioned pads on the front of the trailer, but have worried a bit about the wobble rollers at the rear.

[Steve]

Yep they are wobble rollers Ian, mid and aft.
I must confess that I do have to transport the 563 aprox 180kms to launch it, most of what is on country roads, Also there are other problems with the trailer that need addressing and I can assure you they will be, but in saying that, this particular hull damage has been manifesting for some time I would say, it just takes a little courage to plug the grinder in.
I will probably do away with the aft rollers and make pads, also build a fold out extension draw bar on the trailer so the boat literally floats on and floats off, an extra couple of feet would do it at the boat ramps I have encountered so far.
Steve

[Dr. Peter]

Is it a tilt trailer?

[Steve]

Gel on today, and a bit of a sand tomorrow and clean up. Old gelcoat a bit yellow but that's for another day. Lets just fix the trailer and go sailing now.

Dr Peter ,
The trailer isn't a break trailer, but I would say it was originally, It isn't too bad a nick but the main drawbar and winch post needs replacing, I reckon I can bowl that over in a few hours. As for the rear wobble rollers, I'm going to put support pads between them to lessen the pressure on the hull. That is, a pressure pad in amongst the rear wobble unit of 4 rollers . I will post some pictures.
Steve

[Yara50]

I should check my own set-up, but the theory is that the weight of the boat should be taken on the keel rollers, with the side pads or wobble rollers just there to steady the sideways movement. I have pads on the bow side supports, and the idea is that these are in good contact with the boat, and do the most steadying. The aft ones are wobble rollers and are there to support the boat sideways during the loading onto the trailer, (particularly during side wind conditions). Once the boat is fully onto the trailer there should be a little bit of free movement of the aft wobble rollers, and the load straps and front pads should be doing the steadying.

Thats the theory anyway, and like I said, I should check that is how my boat is set up!

[Steve]

Thats the theory anyway, and like I said, I should check that is how my boat is set up!

That would be correct Ian , I can actually turn the rollers by hand when the boat is on the trailer, all the weight is on the keel. But! the main problem and the cause of damage to the hull I would say stems from the fact that the bow support doesn't support the bow, It has slowly been bashed down and bent away by the bow as the boat rocks back and forth on the trailer (trailer flexing). This is caused because the winch and retaining chain on the winch post are not in line with the eyelet on the bow, they are lower, When the boat is winched on the trailer, the last few inches are taken up by the winch bending the trailer up to suit the boat, it is impossible for the winch to pull the boat on any more because of the angle to the eyelet.. The retaining chain is then attached at this steep angle as well. It only had a shackle and was way too loose. The boats bow bounces up and down in transit so to help stop this from happening a ratchet strap has been placed over the stern and tightened down over the rear wobble rollers (this has been used for some time) and this is what I would say has caused the roller damage, so I need to fix the trailer and get rid of that strap.
Its no big deal really, It's just a little sad when damage is inflicted from someone doing the wrong thing to solve a problem the wrong way but hey, I think we have all been guilty of that?
Steve

[Steve]

Got to chopping up the trailer . Holly **** batman and to think I may have been driving toward you at 90 - 100kmh passing within a few feet as you fly by doing your 110kmh.
A picture of the draw bar totally rusted away at the point of connection to the A Frame and on the opposite side, the winch post draw bar metal gone where it sat clamped.

New metal so lets go sailing tomorrow

[Steve]

Another problem we encountered with the trailer was with the winch clutch knob . During operation the spring, that applies pressure to the clutch, via tightening the knob, started rotating on the plastic knob creating heat and causing the brass center to melt out of the plastic clutch knob and lose pressure to the clutch. I was unable to winch the boat fully onto the trailer. We had to remove the boat and trailer from the water then physically shove it on . I machined up a new clutch knob from bronze and gave the thrust bearing under the spring a touch of grease and it now works like a champion so if you own a similar winch , keep some grease on that thrust bearing and all will be sweet. An inspection of the Plastic Knob indicated that epoxy had been used in an attempted previous repair when a touch of grease to the bearing was the key factor.

[geoffr]

Steve:

Thanks for your informative post. When I first read it I was counting my lucky stars that the damage you encountered due to dodgy rollers had not befallen my boat.

Well, as they say in the classics, I spoke too soon!

After retrieving QUMBU yesterday from a great day's sailing on Corio Bay, I began the usual wash down only to discover roller damage to the hull identical to yours under the rear starboard rollers.

The upper roller there had pushed the hull in by perhaps 5-10mm, causing some softening in the hull and cracking between where the two rollers sit against the boat.

This damage had occurred long before I bought the boat, but I only how severe it had become once I unbolted and dropped the roller support post.

So this Anzac Day weekend, I'll be cutting and glassing, instead of sailing as I had planned. What a bummer! Still, I can't afford for the hull to crack right through, and it appears soft enough as it is.

As I plan for these repairs, can you let me know what materials you used please, and any crucial steps? Did you actually grind right through the hull, or just take away the top few millimeters? I have quite a depression to fill: the area of at least one whole roller, probably about 150mm square. So apart from exposing and cutting away any 'rotten' areas beneath, I'll also need to pack it out again (rather than push it out from inside -- which would be quite a feat given that the inside area is enclosed and probably filled with foam under the starboard berth).

I'll also drop the rollers down a fraction so that there's less chance of them denting the hull again. Though who knows, the previous owner might have hit a bad bump or two on that side and shot the roller up into the hull, to commence the longer term damage.

Currently, I have aging (possibly original) soft black rubber rollers on all four posts, which mark the hull something shocking. So I'll probably replace the lot while I'm at it; any suggestions folks?

I'll take some photos and post soon too.

Cheers,