Trailer Advice Anyone ??

[broken line]

Hey folks, I'm looking for some of your expertise. This is my second year with my boat. Nothing fancy, 16.5 ft, 60 hp tiller, roller trailer. My question is...it seems only about half the time the boat loads back on straight. The other half it is crooked and way to one side. Am I pilling into the water too far, not far enough ??. I thought I had it solved by keeping the rollers just out of the water, but that failed me yesterday. Any advice would be great.

[magnumthunder]

might be to far in. mine works best just backing in till the water comes to the top of the fenders then i hand crank mine in. That what works best for me but might not be the case with you.

[JohnMickish]

Unless it's really off don't worry to much about it. You can always install a set of guide ons to hold the boat fairly straight when loading if it bothers you.

[Prior Laker]

I have a roller trailer as well and had the same problem. Even after installing wide factory guide ons I can get it on really crooked if the trailer is in the water too far. I now have only the back rollers in the water and drive on if the water's deep enough or just winch it on. Always goes on straight that way.

[Surface Tension]

BF, your probably backed in too far.

As a rule you want your rear rollers just under water.

[krats]

I have the same size boat and motor. I have an "EZ loader" trailer with rollers and what I do is back it in just until the front edge of the fender just touches the water. Then it cranks on like a breeze.

One other thing...If you try to drive the boat on instead of cranking it on, you will just make your prop really shiney or worse. That is my experience.

[EYEHUNTER10]

Carpeted bunks grab the tiller handle giver the wood jump up and down latch her down check for weedss and Haul A** home probably dont want to try that your boats alot nicer than mine.

[Jaypo]

I had the same problem and it was the back of the boat not being able to "float" into alignment because the rollers would get caught up on the lengthward hull ridges. Followed the advice that others have shared in getting carpeted guides and not going in as deep and have not had a problem since. It was a pain to have the back of the boat moving around on you on a windy day, deep landing, and a line of people trying to launch. Pull out and it was very crooked. In again deep enough so the back was floating and pull it out quick so it would align with the rollers...NOT! I ended up going back and forth into the water 6 times and never got it straight!

No problems now with guides and knowledge.

[EYEHUNTER10]

I like my carpeted bunks because I can literally land my boat in a matter of seconds why the guy on the next ramp over seems to take 30 minutes before hes out of there. But then again I have a 15 foot boat without all the weight issues so who knows my buddy has a 18.5 crestliner with a counsle and all that extra weight on one side including him 200 pounds i'm sure plus the counsle makes the boat lopsided and i dont think anything would solve it other than for him to get a tru walleye boat (TILLER)

[broken line]

Thanks to all of you for the advice. I do have the guides on the sides, but they don't seem to do much. I see a lot of you crank the boat on rather than drive it on. That will be my next adventure and we'll see how it goes. Thanks again.

[1DIRTBALL]

Go to Cabela's and buy one of the self centering rollers. About $18.00-$20.00. Money well spent. Since I installed one on my trailer I haven't had any problems loading my boat or getting it centered properly. 1DIRTBALL