roller trailer vs bunk

i just bought a new alumacraft 175 tiller with a shorland’r roller trailer. i have been told by several individuals that the rollers do not support the hull very well and will eventually leave “dimples” or “dents” in the aluminum hull and/or possibly pop some rivets. all my boats to this point have had float on bunks and i could easily unload and load by my self in very quick order. now i have to back down get out of the truck un-hook the boat and wench it into the water get back into the truck, etc, etc, same with loading, very tedious and time consuming when you are at a busy ramp. so would you change out the rollers just for the hull support or is that an ol’wives tale or change out the rollers just for ease of one man operation unloading and loading? thanks in advance for any info.

i prefer a bunk trailer just for ease of loading and unloading. i have no idea whether the roller trailer is harder on the hull.

I’ve come to like my Shorelander roller trailer. I’m pretty quick loading and unloading by myself, so that’s not a big deal to me. The thing I really like is that I don’t have to put the trailer very far in the water to load and unload. This is very nice on shallow ramps and in the case where there is a big washout hole at the end of the ramp (no worries about dropping the trailer tires off the back of the concrete ramp). I’m found that my boat loads best if I just have the back rollers submerged, so that doens’t put it very far in the water.

I can’t attest to the effects on the boat, but mine is an ’87 Sylvan, and it’s been sitting on that roller trailer it’s whole life. I haven’t had any problems.

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I’ve come to like my Shorelander roller trailer. I’m pretty quick loading and unloading by myself, so that’s not a big deal to me. The thing I really like is that I don’t have to put the trailer very far in the water to load and unload. This is very nice on shallow ramps and in the case where there is a big washout hole at the end of the ramp (no worries about dropping the trailer tires off the back of the concrete ramp). I’m found that my boat loads best if I just have the back rollers submerged, so that doens’t put it very far in the water.

I can’t attest to the effects on the boat, but mine is an ’87 Sylvan, and it’s been sitting on that roller trailer it’s whole life. I haven’t had any problems.

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Ill second that opinion. I could see how the rollers MIGHT cause more wear than a bunk but I have not heard of it ever being an issue. My girlfriend who has never loaded a boat put it on her very first try with the rollers, I think they are great!

I have a ’04 Alumacraft Trophy 175 and Shorelandr roller trailer. No one has ever mentioned the rollers being hard on the boat. So that would be news to me.

I would not go out and buy a new trailer, you’ll learn to love the rollers loading ability over time and I do it by myself with no issues.

First of all, congrats on the new rig! I have the same boat, mine is an ’04 and I love the wide open layout. My boat is on a roller trailer and I have not had any issues with rivets nor have I seen any dents in the hull. That boat should have the full length double hull so it would take a lot to cause any real damage. I love the roller trailer and just like Ralph said, you do not need to back down nearly as far with the rollers that you do with the bunks which helps if you encounter shallow ramps.

I usually just back the boat down into the water and hook a launch rope to the bow eye and push it off from there. I can push mine off very easily even if the back end is not in the water completely.

The only experience I have with bunks is on glass bass boats except for a buddy of mine that picked up a Lund 2025 with bunks – he is still not sure that was the best but he is still getting used to them…

Good luck and enjoy the new ride

I realize that you’ve got a shiny brand new trailer, but I converted my roller trailer to bunks, just on the rear carriage. This way, when I’m by myself, it goes up on the trailer, and stays there. No sliding off by itself.
HRG

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I realize that you’ve got a shiny brand new trailer, but I converted my roller trailer to bunks, just on the rear carriage. This way, when I’m by myself, it goes up on the trailer, and stays there. No sliding off by itself.
HRG

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That’s pretty slick. I have not seen that before!

-J.

Thats a great idea HRG!!

Jami

Alumacrafts are pretty light, comparatively to other manufactures of aluminum boats. I have the 165 model with rollers and have no “dents” or premature stress points. There’s thousands of boat going down the road every day that have sat on rollers for years and they float and operate just fine. Don’t worry about it, it’s much more of a concern in glass boat, or possibly really heavy aluminum boats. Besides, nobody on this site keeps their boats longer than maybe 5 years anyways….except that old curmudgeon Rootski!

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I realize that you’ve got a shiny brand new trailer, but I converted my roller trailer to bunks, just on the rear carriage. This way, when I’m by myself, it goes up on the trailer, and stays there. No sliding off by itself.
HRG

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That’s pretty slick. I have not seen that before!

-J.

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No kidding, I think a patent is in order on that cool idea!

I have heard of being able to order combo bunk / roller trailers but I had not seen one. This looks like a great set up

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I’ve come to like my Shorelander roller trailer. I’m pretty quick loading and unloading by myself, so that’s not a big deal to me. The thing I really like is that I don’t have to put the trailer very far in the water to load and unload. This is very nice on shallow ramps and in the case where there is a big washout hole at the end of the ramp (no worries about dropping the trailer tires off the back of the concrete ramp). I’m found that my boat loads best if I just have the back rollers submerged, so that doens’t put it very far in the water.

I can’t attest to the effects on the boat, but mine is an ’87 Sylvan, and it’s been sitting on that roller trailer it’s whole life. I haven’t had any problems.

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Ill second that opinion. I could see how the rollers MIGHT cause more wear than a bunk but I have not heard of it ever being an issue. My girlfriend who has never loaded a boat put it on her very first try with the rollers, I think they are great!

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I’ll third that… No issue with my roller. Back rollers just in the water, winches up just fine. I put PVC guides to help center it, although probably not necessary. Takes less than a minute to unload and about 2-3 to load. Easy peasy!

After I park the truck in the lot for the day (after unloading), I will pull out my winch strap all the way to my pvc guidepost and hook it onto that. When I go to load the boat, all I have to do is back the trailer in the water and have either myself or a buddy attach the winch strap (already at the right length, ready to go) to the boat and crank. Guideposts correct any misalignment due to waves, wind, current, etc. (although there rarely is an issue unless you back the trailer in waaaay too far.)

I have pretty much the same rig, model year 2000, and on a Karavan trailer. I haven’t seen any problems with “dimpling” on my boat. One advantage is a lighter weight boat & motor with the tiller model than a console would have, so perhaps that is why I haven’t seen any problem.

One suggestion I have with the roller trailer though, is to put some side-bumpers on the trailer to help center your boat when you are putting it back on the trailer. With Bunks you don’t have to worry about the centering as much, as you point out in your question. Once I put on side-bumpers, my troubles getting the boat on the trailer went WAY down, even in a sidewind.

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Thats a great idea HRG!!

Jami

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Wish I could take credit for the idea, but my first boat (a mid 70’s Starcraft 16′ SuperSport) had a bunk/roller trailer under it. I’ve just continued to copy the idea 5 rigs later.
HRG

Mine has bunks on the front with rollers on the back. I can unhook the boat from trailer while loading the boat, back down the ramp without it rolling off

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Besides, nobody on this site keeps their boats longer than maybe 5 years anyways….except that old curmudgeon Rootski!

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thanks guys! i like the idea of the bunks up front and rollers at the back of the trailer. the brackets that hold the front rollers could easily be converted into bunks with a couple 2×4’s and carpet. i’ll definitely keep the trailer and learn to like it. glad to hear no one is having any leakage or cracking caused by the pressure points from rollers. makes me feel a whole lot better. thanks again!

I’ve defiantly heard of dimpling and leaking problems on light boats (single wall aluminum boats), but with the boats being built better and better I haven’t heard of any recent issues. My puddle jumper boat is an older 16′ Lund single thickness aluminum and it has dimples everywhere the rollers make contact.

I noticed you mentioned putting the bunks in the front. To me that wouldn’t make much sense because most of the weight is in the back of the boat. So, if you were going to do a half roller half bunk trailer, I’d defiantly consider making the back half the bunk portion due to the extra motor weight. Just like HRG did his. Good luck.

I love my Shorelander roller trailer, as EyesNDucks explained using a launch rope makes easy work of unloading. After unloading I pull out about a foot of the winch strap and lock the winch so it can’t be pulled out any further. To load, I back the trailer in to the point that the front step on the wheel fender (nearest the truck) is just touching or about to touch the water. As stated earlier, this is not a lot of the rollers in the water. I trim up, and carefully drive the boat onto the trailer, I then trim a little more and carefully “goose” the boat further onto the trailer, usually quit easily right up to the winch roller. I then leave the motor running just fast enough to prevent the trailer from rolling backwards, tighten the steering tension knob so the motor won’t turn, then walk to the bow reach over the front and hook the wench strap up, since I previously locked the wenches action I can go back shut off the motor, trim up a little more to insure the skag won’t contact the ramp, then exit by climbing over the bow onto the trailer tongue, then onto the ramp, I then make any needed adjustments (pushing the bow left or right, finish tightening the wench strap hook the safety chain and pull out and get out of the way of others. This only takes a couple of minutes.

I’m working with a Tiller motor so I’m not sure how it will work with steering console, I can easily reach the steering tension knob to tighten it, but maybe this isn’t a issue with console steering, I don’t know.

It may sound difficult to climb over the bow but it is not that bad, I have a Minkota Pro Max 80 on the bow, weigh over 250 lbs and had both knees replaced not that long ago, so I figure if I can do it just about anybody can do it.

Stick with it, you’ll learn to love it.

maybe i’m the anomaly then, cause i’ve had a roller trailer, and now that i have a bunk trailer, i’ll never go back to rollers.

i think that a bunk trailer loads easier and quicker, don’t have to worry about the boat coming off early when launching, and much quieter when traveling, as there aren’t a bunch of wheels squeaking and moving around.