Rasing trailer bunk height

[vanamp]

I feel like my trailer bunks need to be higher in front.  Getting the boat on the trailer is always a pain because I either have to power load a couple of feet or tug it on with winch (on my 2nd winch already) because if the boat is floating, it comes under the bow roller.  I am sure there some engineering science to how high they should be but how does one know if they are at the proper height?   I mentioned it to my dealer a couple times but they did not seem to interested. 

Today my wife backed in a little too deep and I put a nice dent in my rub rail.  See photo below (circled the spot the boat hit).  Boat was full of people all in the back and additional lead was moved to the back too. 

 

Also how do you fix this piece of the rub rail?  Do you just get the right length and bend it around the bow?

 

[formulaben]

14 hours ago, vanamp said:

Getting the boat on the trailer is always a pain because I either have to power load a couple of feet or tug it on with winch (on my 2nd winch already) because if the boat is floating, it comes under the bow roller.

I think this simply comes down to a combination of ramp angle and how deep you put the trailer in.  You can only control the 2nd item.  I use the wheel fenders on my trailer as gauge, but this only works at the same boat ramp; if the angle is different then it's not accurate.  Worst case, go shallower and have your wife slowly back up on your signal after you get onto the bunks while you simultaneously idle forward.  You could also add some Liquid Rollers to the forward bunks to help.

If the ramp isn't busy then another option is to keep some aft ballast loaded and then empty after securing to the trailer.

[vanamp]

1 hour ago, formulaben said:

I think this simply comes down to a combination of ramp angle and how deep you put the trailer in.  You can only control the 2nd item.  I use the wheel fenders on my trailer as gauge, but this only works at the same boat ramp; if the angle is different then it's not accurate.  Worst case, go shallower and have your wife slowly back up on your signal after you get onto the bunks while you simultaneously idle forward.  You could also add some Liquid Rollers to the forward bunks to help.

If the ramp isn't busy then another option is to keep some aft ballast loaded and then empty after securing to the trailer.

Slowly backing up sort of what we do ( wife just went a little too far this time) but you have to keep the bow above the roller so we back up to that point and i have to crank the boat up the roller with brute force.  Its a bit easier on flatter ramps but when I hear people talking about "floating it on" it has me wondering about bunk height since no matter how flat the ramp is that would never work with our boat. 

I was thanking if the front part of the bunks were higher they would catch and lift the bow but a trailer engineer I am not.  

Luckily It was very slow speed so gel and everything looks fine just need to replace the stainless and polish out a scuff on the black part. 

 

[Eagleboy99]

9 hours ago, formulaben said:

Worst case, go shallower and have your wife slowly back up on your signal after you get onto the bunks while you simultaneously idle forward.  You could also add some Liquid Rollers to the forward bunks to help.

If the ramp isn't busy then another option is to keep some aft ballast loaded and then empty after securing to the trailer.

Honestly, I would not do any of these things.

1) Two moving vehicles is a recipe for disaster (a la The Qualified Captain).  

2) Forget Liquid Rollers - just totally dunk the trailer to wet the bunks.  And once that is done, I often splash water on the nose snubber. 

3) Loading a loaded boat is asking for home video.

But I do like the idea of going to a quiet ramp and, like Dr. Ruth used to say, "practice, praxctice, practice, then get a partner".

 

[formulaben]

32 minutes ago, Eagleboy99 said:

Loading a loaded boat is asking for home video.

How so?

[dhcomp]

The issues with the bow being low are from loading with trailer too deep. 
 

seems counter intuitive, but it’s true. 
 

 

[vanamp]

Yeah no doubt we were too deep this time, just a mistake this time.  Only ask the question because this boat takes soo much more cranking force then my old boat but it was also a pickle fork and lighter so that may have helped. I upgraded to the geared fulton winch after first one bent and that helps.