CONTINUOUSWAVE

Q1: how much assistance in orienting the boat onto the trailer center line during loading do the higher ridges on the outer ends of keel rollers create?

Q2: when replacing the keel rollers, should I duplicate the original rollers or can I use ridge-less rollers with a slight V-shape that reduces diameter in the center?

Q3: will the V-shape rollers also assist in centering the boat during loading (as I think the original ridged rollers were doing)?

BACKSTORY
My 1989 SUPER SPORT 17 (unfortunately) spends most of its life on its trailer. After all these [38] years, the need for replacement of the trailer keel rollers has become apparent.

The trailer has the typical black rubber keel rollers consisting of three 5-inch wide rollers and one 12-inch wide at the aft end of the trailer, and at least one roller has begin to develop at split; the other look like they are on the verge of splitting. I am thinking that when replacing these rollers I will change the three to be 8-inch wide rollers.

Right now I am looking at 8-inch wide rollers that do not have a ridge at the at their outer ends (like the 5-inch rollers), but do have a V-shape [narrowing in the center].

The yellow or orange polyurethane keel rollers seem to last very long, and they do not tend to put black marks onto the boat hull.

As for the boat self-centering as it moves forward onto the trailer, all the keel rollers I am using decrease in diameter toward the center and then have a slight depression in dead center. I am sure this does help somewhat when loading the boat on the trailer to tend to move the boat keel toward the center of the keel roller.



A very useful aid in getting the boat centered during loading is having to tall plastic-tube guide posts fixed onto the trailer at the far aft end. Then control the side-to-side orientation of the hull as it is pulled forward by the winch strap. Also, if the boat ends up slightly ajar from perfectly level on the trailer frame, by the time I tow in ten miles on bumpy roads it always ends up perfectly centered.

The type shown in Figure 1 that has end caps is useful for the most forward roller as the bow stem might approach the roller at an angle and hit part of the mounting bracket.

You can buy a whole assembly of the roller and bracket, for example, from

https://www.trailerpartsdepot.com/shop/6077-03ps-13555