Camming roller at back - ?

[orlandoclippertim]

My traileris the oregional the boat came with in 1956. The trailer is made of round
tube. On the very rear of it there is a tube which runs left-right and it rotates in
steel bushings. In the middle -where the keel slides - they have a V-roller mounted on
this tube in some stand-offs about 8 inches long. Out at the extreme ends of this
shaft -that is just outboard of the hull - this pivioting tube has a "lever" which sticks
up about 2 feet. On one side it has a 2 inch ring at the end. The other side has no
ring. It appears that if you push foreward on this "lever" it rotates the shaft and tries
to make the rubber roller lift the back of the boat up off the bunks. It appears that this device is designed to lift the hull a few inches off the bunks while it is comming onto the trailer and then pivot down and let the hull bear on the bunks. But what I don't get is what controls the position of this device while the boat is comming on board ........
Are you supposed to tie the lever with the ring into the "up" position untill its all the way
on ????? and then get out and untie the rope ???? Or does the friction and foreward push from the hull keep it in the up position untill the hull stops moving - and then the
device knuckles backwards and down out of the way ....???????????
I remember seeing other old trailers made this way but I never saw one work.
I will be sandblasting and overhauling the trailer soon.
( 56 orlando clipper )

My first boat ! :facepalm: Sorry if this is a really obvious question !

Thanks in advance for tollerating a FNG !
Tim in Orlando

 

[mkling]

Re: Camming roller at back - ?

Hey orlandoclippertim,

I was talking to an old friend of mine about my trailer, 1966 murray "shallow water tip trailer", at least that is what he called mine. I remembered reading you're post earlier on another thread and asked him. He stated it sounded like the type used for "single person easy launch" he said when headed down the lauch ramp ensure to tie off a line for boat not to float off, raise motor all the way then when boat is in position for normal launch just pull the lever and it free's the boat to launch without you in it, then you pull the boat with the line and tie off then move you car and traier clear of launch ramp. I am not sure if he really knows what he is talking about but that is what he told me.

 

[orlandoclippertim]

Re: Camming roller at back - ?

Neat ! That makes a lot of sense ! For some reason I was thinking it was for going on - not off. When you pull the lever - the rear roller is raised which lifts the back of the boat off the bunks under the rear. I guess the it is free to roll on the rollers with no drag from anything (bunks) Your frends explanation explains why the long levers have rings on the tips. I could see it was for a rope- but I just couldn't see what for !
Thanks a lot !
Tim

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Camming roller at back - ?

Gator trailers used something very simular back in the late 50s, early 60s with their tilt trailers. Only with theirs the stern roller was fixed and the bunks would rotate down while launching and retrieving when the trailer was tilted.

I just sold one of those and replaced it with a newer full roller trailer. They actually worked very nicely with lighter boats.