[Bushwacker]

Which type of trailer is best for your situation depends on a lot factors, like how you use the boat, how far and fast you tow, what the ramps are like where you use it, what's the tidal range, is power loading allowed, etc. Bunk/Float-on type trailers are popular around here where tidal range is only 2-3' and most ramps have pavement extending several feet into water below normal low tide level. (May need 4WD truck to pull it out on a steep ramp at low tide!) They work great if you always have a buddy who can handle truck while you drive boat off and on trailer. Advantages are light weight if it's aluminum and low CG if it uses small tires. With small tires, it'll have to be a tandem, which is a little more stable when towing, but has 2x more tires, bearings and springs to maintain. Compared to a roller trailer you don't have to dunk, the trade off is higher maintenance on all the stuff that gets dunked in saltwater, like wheels, springs, axles, bearings and lights, along with short life of the small tires (=high rpm) and bearings. Some places don't allow power loading, and if tidal range is 6'+, you may not be able to dunk the trailer deep enough at low tide to get the boat on it, so then you'd need a roller trailer. Also should have brakes if you tow on interstate; if bunk trailer, will need all SS brakes. Don't need SS brakes on a roller type if you don't dunk it. I used drum brakes for years till I started towing a lot and got tired of trying to keep 'em adjusted; switched to Kodiak disks with SS calipers but conventional steel rotors.

I personally prefer a GOOD ALL-roller type where you can launch anywhere, anytime, and only get the tires wet, which eliminates all of the maintenance noted above. If it's a cheap one with only a few rollers with steel shafts on the keel and it still has the small bunks at the back, you'll probably still have to dunk it, so you'll still have all the corrosion issues of bunk trailer PLUS the additional headache of keeping the rollers greased and rolling! A cheap roller trailer will cost MORE in the long run in terms of time and maintenance!

EZ Loader makes a good stout roller type which I like because it has lots of large diameter rollers, with aluminum shafts and nylon bushings so they don't corrode or need any lube, although the OEM washers will eventually rust unless you replace them with stainless. I also replaced all the black rubber OEM rollers with the yellow polyurethane type because the black ones were leaving marks on the boat. I also added a couple of keel rollers on the aft cross member because the SeaCraft deadrise up front is so steep that the keel will hit cross member before the side rollers are engaged, as you'll see in photos below. (Notice that how aft X-member tilts and only the TIRES are in the water!)

EZ Loader has a clever arrangement of articulating arms and pivoting cross members where each pair of rollers are balanced against another pair so as to spread the load and keep any one roller from being overloaded. This can be a problem with a series of keel rollers mounted on cross members, as one roller can put a lot more load on the boat than the others if it's too high or if the stiffness of each cross member isn't identical. The only drawbacks to the roller type I can see is weight (haven't seen any with aluminum frames) and the fact that you need to add a Powerwinch for single handing if you're old and lazy like me! The EZ-Loader rollers have so many degrees of freedom that if you don't have it adjusted right and the boat lists to one side, it'll come on the trailer the same way! Once you get it adjusted right however, it will load perfectly straight regardless of cross wind or current, which can be a problem with the float-on/drive on type.

Bought current trailer new over 25 years ago and I think I've repacked the wheel bearings 2-3 times when adding/changing brakes; springs, axle and wheels are all original (6000lb axle w/HD 6 lug 16.5" wheels w/BIG slow turning tires.) Used in salt water year round about 1x/mo. Recently replaced aft X-member due to rust for a little over $200; it wasn't sagging but had lost ~50% of original thickness and I didn't trust it any more! Rust was from salt water dripping off boat, not from dunking. Aft X-member on previous el-cheapo Rocket non-galvanized roller/bunk trailer rusted out in about 5 years!