Keel bumpers?

[spiderjohn59]

Hello all, I am just looking at what will probably become our first boat. It's a 1991 Regal 195XL Cuddy. While looking at the boat I noticed that the boat rests on just the two bunks. There are several black cusiony looking bumpers just below the keel but the boat is not touching there. Is this normal? Also can I somehow convert from bunks to rollers?
Thanks in advance for your response,
John

 

[reddogg]

Re: Keel bumpers?

Sounds like the trailer needs to be adjusted for the boat. On a bunk system the boat should rest on 2 bunks, one port side and one stbd side as well as a smaler pair up towards the front that cradle the forward v of the hull.

red

 

[spiderjohn59]

Re: Keel bumpers?

Thanks Reddog

 

[gozierdt]

Re: Keel bumpers?

Can you get a picture(s) so we can see the problem better? And are the bumpers you're talking about just plastic/rubber pads, or are they rollers? If they are rollers, it's best to get at least some of the weight on them IMHO. If they're just bumpers, you wouldn't want the keel to rest on them because of the drag when moving the boat on/off the trailer- unless you back in real deep. With a boat that big, you do want good support up 60-70% of the boat length. My 20' bowrider has two 4' bunks at the chines, plus 2 10' bunks about 15" out from the keel, plus two front support rollers. That may be overkill, but the boat rides easily on the trailer, so I'm happy.

 

[weareallnuts]

Re: Keel bumpers?

with bunk trailers designed for "drive on," the keel rollers are for alignment as you start up the trailer. Once the boat is on the trailer, it should sit on the bunks, not the keel rollers. I like to double up on the bunks and make them as long as possible to provide the most possible support to the hull. Just be careful locating them if you extend them beyond the transom (which I like to do), so that speedo pitot or depth sounder transducer doesn't hit the bunk when you put the boat on the trailer.