Trailer SetUp ?
 

this trailer came with my boat many moons ago. I have done work here and there to keep the old mid 80's Rocket Trailer alive. She suits my needs - 2x a year - in and out.

However, this bow roller / winch set-up stinks ! Can anyone advise how I can make this work ? The roller is always right in the middle of the winch strap.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49...1/IMG_6559.jpg[/URL]

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lower the bracket that the winch is bolted to a couple inches and put a longer strap on the winch. Bow eye should be above the roller.

It looks like the boat is trying to lower the winch for you. I would also check the bracket for cracks. It looks bent.

Yes it's bent - been that way since I got it. No cracks though. Very thick solid stuff though.

If I trailered for long distances I would have remedied this but I trailer 2 miles a year.

This is the year it's bothering me :)

Lower the roller arm for sure and think about remounting the winch onto the vertical part of the winch stand - keeps the handle away from the hull and gives you a bit more adjustment flexibility for both of those annual trips. :)

couple problems there,the strap to the bow eye needs to be under the roller and the bow roller need to be above the bow eye.simple...fix it !this way it can't jump up on a bump,thats why its bent....hate adjusting trailers

I think you want the winch ABOVE the bow eye . . . otherwise, during the last few feet, it will be trying to pull the boat DOWN instead of lifting it up, so that would make it harder to pull boat up on trailer. That roller isn't doing anything except getting in the way of the winch cable! I'd just cut off the bracket right aft of the winch and eliminate the roller so it doesn't interfere with the cable. Of course if you just dunk the whole trailer and float the boat up to the winch, it probably doesn't matter!

Understand that these comments are from a guy that's used a roller trailer and Powerwinch so trailer NEVER gets dunked, which is why the 30 year old trailer still has it's original springs and axle! Picture below shows my winch setup; bow eye is located between the 2 rollers. I added the Rustoleum painted extensions to roller bracket to make room for the pulley that's attached to hook. (Winch cable runs thru pulley and back to winch stand to double the pulling power of the winch.) I need the roller stop to keep boat from coming too far up on trailer, which would allow aft rollers to go past transom! This setup has worked well for about 30 years with very little maintenance required.

I disagree with raising the winch. Looking at where the hook is located on the bow eye, I think that there is already a bit of weight of the bow being supported by the winch bracket and is probably why it is bent. When I look at the angle that the strap goes into the winch, I would guess that it has been shortened a good deal and by adding the proper length of strap,it would tend to get the hook off of the roller. If the bracket was straightened and moved up, then yeah the strap could go below the roller.f
I don't know how the bow is supported, but maybe it can be adjusted to line up better with the winch. It looks like the Jack handle right under the winch could be a knuckle buster.
I think Bw's winch lines up very well, but it's a little different setup.
Just my two cents from a person who hasn't had a winch on a boat trailer since 1974.

Boat winch & turnbuckle
 

My old Hitchhiker trailer utilizes a V-support, not a roller, attached to the winch stand. The cable (I'm not encouraging a debate on cables vs straps) goes under the V-support to the bow eye. Additionally I added a large aluminum turnbuckle to my trailer which attaches to the bow eye and keeps the bow loaded downward while trailering and is a backup system if there were a winch or cable failure on the road or while pulling out of the boat ramp.

Thx for the comments. The winch bracket was bent before I got the boat. The bow has never sat at home into the V roller since I've owned the boat. I add the yellow strap you see to minimize any movement.

I've made a few changes to the trailer since I got it. I raised and properly supported the bunks ( they had screws holding them in place - I through bolted all ) a few inches and added rollers to meet the bottom V of the hull. The bunks have almost all the support. For reference, I screwed fire-hose material as bunk carpet and that stuff is AWESOME. I also added (2) 8' decking boards angled just-right to mimic the V of the hull and this helped getting the boat lined-up to the bunks perfectly to load. Prior to this it was HELL to load the boat.

My thoughts:

- The winch needs to stay either in-line with the winch eye or slightly above it. Below it does create a downward pull for the last few feet - when you need the winch most to drive the bow home. Lowering the winch bracket creates the above problem and the V of the boat gets further from the bow roller as you lower it.

- If it would work, I think mounting the winch to the vertical post and lowering the bow roller a bit would be a good idea.

- Or, replacing the whole winch mount and getting one hat has an area specifically for the winch and one that sticks out for the bow roller.

As an aside - when I first bought this boat - it came from the Port Charlotte, FL area. The (2) guys who delivered it for the guy I bought it from were… uh… well, I thought of the movie, 'Deliverance'… How they got the boat to NY in one pc was a miracle. They did notice sparks one night behind the 18' box truck they were using to haul it - a tire had blown and by the time they noticed, the rim was reduced to the size of a NY bagel - darkness saved the boat !

This trailer has always looked wrong and and will never be right. It is built like a brick sh*t house though. A galvanized steal I-beam bent in a U. It works for my needs.

Looks to me like all you need to do is leave the winch right where it is and replace the roller support arms and weld longer once and perhaps slightly tilted forward towards the boat, just to raise the roller enough so that the strap and hook are under it, thus preventing the boat from bouncing up and eliminating the need of the additional strap you are using for that very same purpose.