Keel roller wear

[Scott M]

Seems like I replaced the rollers 4-5 years ago. I think I bought the run of the mill hard rubber ones. It's not just routine wear and tear, it's downright destruction and breaking of the rollers.

My question is, should I buy the polyurethane hard rollers or go back to the rubber ones? Or is my problem the pin selection/alignment on the roller holders? If so, can a marine mechanic properly align those so I get less wear and tear on keel rollers? I'm not tough on those rollers, I rarely power load and mostly crank...I think the problem is all the highway miles and bouncing on the rollers.

[CAMAN]

When resting and level there should be hardly any weight, if any, on the center rollers, they are just there to protect the keel and provide a little more guidance when loading/unloading. Sounds like you need a little adjustment made to your trailer.

[Valv]

As he said above. Looks like most of the boat weight lays on the center roller and it's not supposed to. You have some adjustment to do.

[BoxMN]

You'd be surprised at how much those rollers are used even when cranking up, as they roll under the boat before it gets to it's resting position. Our boat sits on pads up front when in place, but the center rollers roll under the keel as it is cranked up.

We went to the good poly/yellow/clear ones a few years ago and have not seen the wear we used to see with the black ones. We won't go back to the black ones, but so far might never have to change again. Good luck.