Bunk trailer o roller trailer?

[david]

Hi,
     I am new to the forum. I have sailed on the Bayraider, (Great experience accelerating to over 7 knots) and am looking to buy one shortly. A question for those of you with experience. Which trailer do you feel is better? Has anyone experienced soft spots on the hull with the roller trailer? The roller trailer is appealing to me as I can keep the hubs dry. Less replacements of bearings etc. What do you think?
Regards,
Nomad.

[Julian Swindell]

I have had no problems with the roller trailer, and you can launch and recover with your wheels barely in the water, even for my bigger Baycruiser. If you have the bunk style (I presume you mean the ones with the long carpet covered planks the hull rests on) you will have to submerse the entire trailer below the depth of the boat to get it on and off. To recover the boat you would almost certainly have to disconnect the trailer from the car and try and to pull it up with a rope if you have a long enough one. I have seen some nightmare scenarios of this type at the very shallow public slip in Poole. Even there I only have to get the trailer tyres wet. Recovery over the tilting cradle is usually no problem.

[Colin Morley]

Hi, I hope you get your Bayraider 20 soon. I bought one this time last year and love sailing it.
As for your question I have the roller trailer recommended and supplied by Matt. I have trailed the boat from Cambridge to several east coast rivers and estuaries, trailed it to Windermere, down to Southampton and Chichester harbour several times. It trails very easily and easy to launch and retrieve on my own. The boat lives on the trailer in a barn when it is not being sailed or trailed. I have had no obvious problem with soft spots - but I have not looked for them. I have two small bits of experience / advice. The rollers tend to stick if not used for a while and so it seems difficult to push off the trailer. The tip is spray them well with silicon lubricant. Dont use an oil based one it will cause the rubber to deteriorate. Secondly, yes you can keep the bearings out of the water most of the time but if you are launching into the sea when there are any sort of waves it is difficult to stop them going over the bearings.
So having said all that you will realise that I have no experience with the other trailer and am happy with what I have got.

[david]

Thank you Julian and Colin for your replies. Good tip about the silicon. Sounds like no issues to date on my concern about soft spots with the rollers on the hull.

[Craic]

Has anyone experienced soft spots on the hull with the roller trailer?

I have. On an early GRE BR. But I think the yard has thereafter corrected the problem on later production boats.

[Tony]

Me too.
Well, not exactly a soft spot.  Hull of my 6 year old CBL (epoxy-ply) slightly dished by the forward set of rollers, but this is a couple of mm movement after twelve thousand miles and more of pounding up and down Europe's toll roads. (Greece and back every year.) An extra keel roller up front  to take the weight should solve the problem – if I ever get around to it. Either that or pack less gear!
A bigger problem with GRP, perhaps, as it is probably more affected by repeated flexing?  (An engineer would know.)
Certainly, I don't consider it a big enough problem to swap to bunk bars from the excellent roller trailer she's on now.

Incidentally, fluky winds (and, it must be said, poor seamanship) caused a friend of mine to ram a wooden pontoon rather hard when coming alongside. Nasty splintering noise and crushed GRP  - expensive repair needed.  I tut-tutted smugly – until I did exactly the same thing 10 mins later and from the exact same cause (No. I was the more at fault having failed to learn by my friend's mistake!)
Insufferable smugness returned, however, as I simply bounced off with scuffed paint as the only damage. Good stuff, this 'poxy-ply, innit.

[david]

Thank you Craic and Tony for your replies. I have enjoyed reading about your exploits in Swallow.boats over the past couple of years. Please continue to share.