Bow roller on trailer chipping gelcoat

[Chica]

Has anyone had a problem with the bow roller on your trailer chipping the gelcoat off the bow of your boat? I replaced the black rubber one with a yellow PVC roller and I also cinched the bow down to the trailer tongue with a strap like one uses to secure a four-wheeler to a trailer. Any suggestions? Chica

[Sea Wolf]

Chica- What part of the roller is chipping the gel coat? Usually the roller protects the bow very well. The only metal that could do it that usually on the bow roller would be the bolt head on one side of the roller or the bolt shaft and nut on the other side, unless the metal bracket for the roller is grossly oversize for the roller and extends out beyond the roller's sides. Is the strut that holds the bow roller loose or allowed to wobble from side to side? If you need to laterally strengthen the bow strut, it can be done with metal channel rail fairly easily. I'd suggest you look in some of the trailers in the EZ Loader, King, and other trailer manufacturers to see how the front bow roller is supported and compare them to yours to see if and how your bow roller could be reinforced. It couldn't be the winch handle that's scratching the boat, could it? How about a loose anchor? Do you have a secondary safety tie down chain or cable besides the winch cable? How tight are you making turns? Could it be the tailgate or something else on the rear of the tow vehicle that's causing it? Hmmmmmmmmmm?????Joe.



I have a doubled pair of rollers mounted on either end of a 1 foot or so length of U-shaped channel with a hole in the center that fits into the hole the single roller would go in and allows the double roller to pivot and adapt to the shape of the bow. This is on a 4500 lb EZ Loader tandem trailer that is about 18 years old, but I've seen the set up on later boats.

[Chica]

My trailer is a tandem wheeled EZ Loader. The center roller is the culprit. The supports of the roller are secure and no bolt head or safety chain problems. I'm wondering if I my have cinched the bow to tightly into the roller with the winch and my tie down from the bow eye to the tongue of the trailer. Both rollers, the black rubber one and the yellow PCV one have worn areas in the center. Do any of you put anything between the bow and the roller?
Testing the boat tomorrow for the cavitation problem. Raised both transducers.
Chica

[Pat Anderson]

We had the same problem on Daydream - the change to the yellow roller stopped the problem,C-Dory repaired the gelcoat.

[New Hampshire Guy]

Is this a mod required for the bigger, 22' EZ Loader trailers or for all of them?

[UncleRichie]

Hi,
I had the same problem switched to yellow one and the problem went away. I always snug mine up tight the black one had to much give and alowed the nose to pound chiping the gell coat.

Richard ( uncle richie)