posted 11-20-2013 11:27 AM ET (US)        

Out of nowhere, a local person appeared with 18 barely used 2013 Shorelanders that are galvanized galvanized Shorelanders for sale for a good price. He is down to his last one in a single week. Very suprising.

They were bought by Lake Powel for a rental fleet that came with Champion boats on them and they aren't needed so they went up for sale and this local person bought all of them

I have reserved one to fit to my boat. I have checked with Shorelander to be sure it will fit my boat and it appears its a perfect match.

I will use a local boat shop to make the switch.

There are no keel rollers on this trailer except for the very back and the very front. Its the style where the entire boat is supported by 4 bunks

The local boat shop is unsure on a Whaler where the support on the 4 bunks should rest and the position of the bunks on the transom area as Whalers are scare around here. I am unsure as well.

My two part question is on our Whalers with the UniBond construction, should the 4 carpeted bunks extend to the very edge of the rear transom or extend beyond the transom edge so they are showing or not reach it and stay further underneath for support reasons?

I am also unsure as to how to direct them to position the bunks in the flat areas with emphasis to position them more out the edges of the sides or further in.

Thanks for any feedback

posted 11-20-2013 11:45 AM ET (US)            

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/andygere/EZ%20Loader%20Trailer/ IMG_1569_zps5951a237.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/andygere/EZ%20Loader%20Trailer/ IMG_1566_zps6f77f280.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/andygere/EZ%20Loader%20Trailer/ IMG_1565_zps1cd92e6b.jpg

posted 11-20-2013 01:52 PM ET (US)            

When the boat is in its normal position on the trailer, the ends of the bunks are coincident with the end of the boat transom, that is, the transom is completely resting on the bunks. There is no reason why one ought to let the transom extend rearward on the trailer beyond the bunks, nor is there any advantage in particular to pulling the boat so far onto the trailer that the bunks extend beyond the transom, unless you want to use minimize the overall length of the trailer for some reason, such as to fit into a garage.

Some trailers are set up with the outer bunks positioned to rest just inside the runners. I see two problems with that configuration:

--there is usually a drain with a cover which will be located close to the runners, and if the bunk is positioned close to the runner there will be a tendency for the drain cover to become crushed by the weight of the hull pushing in onto the bunks; this also creates a pressure point if the drain cover is carrying the hull weight onto the bunk; and

--the boat must be positioned laterally on the trailer with great care or it can end up with one of the runners sitting on the bunk; that is not a stable position. It also reduces the area of the hull which is bearing the weight of the boat.

If you really want to spread the bunks to the inside width of the hull's runners, you could cut away part of the bunk that will be under the drain outlet and cover. If you create a relief in that area from the drain to the rear end of the bunk, you can prevent the drain from getting crushed. This will complicate the bunk construction slightly.

If you make the bunks fit very tightly inside the runners, it may be harder to get the boat aligned for loading on the trailer. A looser fit is probably easier to work with when loading.

I have towed my Boston Whaler boats on bunk trailers for about 80,000-miles. (This figure is based on the Odometer of my truck, which is used only for towing the boats, and has rolled up about 90,000-miles since I bought the truck used in 2002.) Based on what I have seen in 80,000-miles of towing, if the boat is loaded on the bunk trailer with a slight offset from perfectly centered, the travel over the highway with its usual bumps and motion will tend to allow the boat to center itself on the bunks by the time I arrive at my destination. I should mention that I usually drive about 250-miles at the minimum to get between a launch ramp and home. I find that if I stop on the highway at a rest area and check the tie-downs at the stern of the boat to the trailer, I will see that one has loosened a bit and one had increased in tension, due to the boat centering itself on the bunks. I should also mention that I use rope for the tie-downs, not nylon straps. I suppose that if one were to tie-down the boat with nylon straps under a lot of tension that it would limit the movement of the boat on the trailer. I prefer to use rope, which has more stretch, and this allows the boat to become more or less perfectly centered on the bunks by the end of my highway towing. I usually adjust the tension in the tie-downs when the boat has centered itself.

Many trailers have a vestigial keel roller at the rearmost crossmember. That is just to deflect the boat's keel during initial loading, should the boat trailer come into contact with the keel. Most of the time those rollers will end up far below the keel when the boat is loaded.

It is useful to have keel rollers in the forward part of the trailer. I explain:

There should be a keel roller in the very forward part of the trailer positioned near the bow so that when the boat is in its resting position on the trailer the bow will be supported by the keel roller. This is very useful when loading or launching to prevent the bow from dropping suddenly when coming out of the winch stand rests.

There should be keel rollers on the cross member at the forward end of the bunks. Usually at this station the keel will be within a reasonable distance to the crossmember so that it can be supported by keel rollers without having to elevate the keel rollers from the crossmember excessively.

The height of the fenders and the fit of the boat between them will set the overall height of the boat on the trailer. Set this height to be as low as possible for many reasons:

--a low height will make the center of gravity of the trailer and boat rig lower, which is good for stability when towing

--a low height will decrease the depth of immersion of the trailer needed to launch or load the boat, which can be very helpful if the launching ramp is short, shallow, or otherwise marginal; and

--a low height will make it easier to climb into the boat when on the trailer, something that is always necessary and, if the boat is really high, can be hard to accomplish.

posted 11-23-2013 10:54 PM ET (US)            

It worked out well I think. It will be spring before I put any miles on it, but it was a great upgrade for the cost.

It was a bit tricky with bunk spacing with the two fish box drain holes that had clam shells on the bottom and getting those between the bunks so they would not be crushed. I didn't really have to worry about that with the roller trailer with its large softer rollers before.

On that note, I noticed some slight dimpling on the running surface of the Whaler from the rollers that I was concerned in seeing. Even the larger softer rollers can dimple a Whaler I have learned and the road miles going to Lake Powell have probably contributed to it.

Thanks again

posted 12-05-2013 12:58 PM ET (US)            

On my trailer I have white tall PVC tube guide posts, and on these posts I have place a mark (with black electrical tape) that is at the same level as the boat hull's water line. When the trailer is immersed to the point that this mark is at or just below the water, then I know the weight of the hull on the aft part of the trailer has been reduced by the buoyant forces. If I stop backing the trailer at this point, the momentum of the boat moving backwards is usually sufficient for it to slide off the bunks. For this reason I usually need an assistant to stop the boat's sternway, otherwise it would float into the lake. (I have launched solo, and in that case I pre-rig the lines so the boat can only get a few feet off the ramp courtesy dock's end.