www.iFourWinns.com

I know this has been hit on probably in every forum. My Wellcraft sat on a roller bunk trailer and I hated it for a few reasons so I got rid of it and got a trailer with dunk boards on it.

Now, my 195 Sundowner is on a roller trailer and I would really like a bunk board trailer...I think. Which do you guys prefer and why? Trying to get some different thoughts.

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1987 Sundowner 195, 4.3 OMC " Z boat"
1983 Wellcraft 248 Sportsman, 3.0L OMC Sea Drive "Born Again"
9' Patriot 40lbs TM "Quack Addict"

Another topic sure to elicit varied responses. Depends on your trailer use. I have bunks, and I don't mind them. Of course I only trailer about a mile to the ramp, so my trailer is bare bones basic. Some like rollers cause you don't have to back as far into the water, some like the "stability" of bunks.

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1996 205 Sundowner DLX
5.0FL Volvo SX Cobra
Tow Veh: 2012 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X

If you are on lakes that don't have tides the bunk is fine. With the 7 foot tidal changes we have the bunk would really limit when you can launch/retrieve. Most people use rollers here.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

What about bunks with bunk slides?

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2011 SL242 5.7 VP GXi - 320 HP Dual Prop

My thoughts(for what it's worth) If you trailer long distances then go bunk style it spreads the load out over the bottom. With rollers it puts a pin point on the hull where it contacts and can cause issues. I have a bunk style and like it, never had any trouble loading or unloading. But this is just my opinion. I know a lot of folks are going to chime in and give you a good idea of the pros and cons of each.

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1990 Four Winns Horizon 200
2005 GMC Sierra

I've heard that they work pretty well. If you look at the boat ramps here its about 85% rollers and 15% bunk trailers. The key with a roller is don't put it in too deep for retrieving, that allows the roller trailer to center the boat. And of course keep the safety chain ON till the stern is in the water. Contrary to urban legends the boat does not fly off the trailer in reverse. And contrary to more legends they do not require constant maintenance. In fact I have just replaced a few rollers, on a 20 year old trailer !!! All it takes is greasing of the roller bars and pivots once a year. They guys who do my bottom paint for me at the yard always comment, 'yours is the only trailer that the roller bars move like they should and everything is greased'...it doesn't take more than 10 min....

Here its galvanized trailers and rollers....If you are concerned about support you can add more rollers, this size boat is specified to get 20 but I have 24 and could easily add more.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

No doubt! I like hearing different responses and different reasons for peoples preference for one over the other. I guess for me, having the boards does give me that "warm fuzzy" when I trailer the boat. The ski boat not as big a deal, alot lighter boat and shorter trip. My Wellcraft I put on the ocean so it is 1.5 hour trailer ride and the boat is very heavy once all fueled up and loaded.
I used to have roller trailer under that Wellcraft and a CC I used to have and both trailers burnt my nerves up pulling them. The way the rollers made the boat sit, with the bow WAY high...I always felt like if a couple straps failed, it would roll right off and cause a 84 car pile up. Plus, unless you change the rollers every year, they mark up the hull. (especially after saltwater use)



We don't see too many roller bunks here, even at the beach. Maybe boat ramps are different....



I loved having those when I had a bass boat. Never had them on anything else but I wouldn't mind installing the slicks again.
And Capt.Hoss brings up another good point. What about PSI distribution on the hull?

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1987 Sundowner 195, 4.3 OMC " Z boat"
1983 Wellcraft 248 Sportsman, 3.0L OMC Sea Drive "Born Again"
9' Patriot 40lbs TM "Quack Addict"

Crap. I don't take the strap off until boat is floating off the trailer...at least the wellcraft. How do you unload a roller trailer with just stern in water? Seems like it would put too much tension on chain to unhook it. Dont you have it floating off the trailer? That's how I did it but, again, this is why I am asking

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1987 Sundowner 195, 4.3 OMC " Z boat"
1983 Wellcraft 248 Sportsman, 3.0L OMC Sea Drive "Born Again"
9' Patriot 40lbs TM "Quack Addict"

That's more rollers than I've seen. And that makes more sense. I think my last roller bunk trailer had 4 sets of 4 rollers which didn't seem like near enough contact area

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1987 Sundowner 195, 4.3 OMC " Z boat"
1983 Wellcraft 248 Sportsman, 3.0L OMC Sea Drive "Born Again"
9' Patriot 40lbs TM "Quack Addict"

My roller trailer loadrite has 64 rollers on it for my vista. I like it for the way it keeps me centered but I also added a turnbuckle to put on once loaded in case winch were to fail

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2001 Four Winns Vista 248 by rick2752, on Flickr

Here's how I do it by myself:
I get to the ramp put the plug in and the rear straps off.
I have a turnbuckle in addition to the winch strap and safety chain.
I leave the chain on and take the turn buckle off before backing down.
Stern is in the water. I get a line and loop the closed end around one bow cleat. I loop this line around the winch stand, and tie it off on the other bow cleat. I leave enough slack in the line so the boat can move back a bit. Then I unwind the winch till it puts tension on this line. Its holding the boat so it can't go anywhere (no dock right by the ramp). Then unwind the winch so there's no tension on it. Unhook the winch hook. Climb up on spare tire and climb in boat (bowrider). Lower drive half way and start up. Warm up boat and when its running smoothly untie that line. Because of the angle of the ramp it will not roll off even then, I have to shift to reverse. Dock boat and park Jeep n trailer. To retrieve I just reverse that procedure. I have that line ready, drive up on the trailer and lasso the winch post. Tie the free end of the line off on the other cleat, that holds the boat. I have the winch strap already rolled out, and grab it with a boat hook. Reach over, line is holding boat and hook up winch strap. Turn off engine, raise drive, climb over on spare tire and winch boat up. Easy even without a dock. The key is using the line to take the stress off the winch strap and keep the boat from going anywhere.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

custom bunks. MAIN reason.. LARGER support impact zone on the hull of the boat...

ROLLERS suck. they have multiple failure points. and can fail easier.. BUNK IS BEST hands down

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Not Penny's Boat

1993 190 Horizon 5.0L EFI
http://www.smwebhead.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11136
1977 14' CMF Skiff SOLD
2015 Emotion Stealth Angler 11

...except in all the other situations and places where bunk trailers are difficult to use because of natural conditions...

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1988 215 Sundowner 5.7L OMC

I think that there are some boats that are not supposed to be used on roller trailers, for the reason stated (Boston Whaler is one that stated this in their literature). In our conditions a bunk trailer would be extremely limiting. In fact the town harbormaster has 2 Whalers and they were both on roller trailers, with a lot of rollers.

Here's another data point....when I replaced the deck on my FW, I had all the foam out from the consoles to the engine. All of it, to do the stringers. So I got to see the raw 'glass from the inside. And, this boat has sat on the same trailer at least 15 years, and there were no internal cracks or stress points that I could see.

Bunks can rot and a few members have had problems with bunk brackets coming loose on their FW trailers. If you maintain a roller trailer you will not have failures. Mine is 20 years old and I've replaced maybe 2-3 rollers because they were starting to get small cracks. Grease the roller pivots and that's it. The ones that fail have had no maintenance for years.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

+1 OEM Whaler trailers are bunk for the most part. Most of the whalers in my neighborhood are 15 or 17' Montauks, which are pretty light, probably around 2K lbs or so. Again, it all boils down to personal preference and situation. If I had a smaller boat, or didn't trailer almost exclusively, then bunk would probably be better. But I trailer almost all the time, all sorts of different ramps and conditions with a heavier boat. So I am happy with rollers.

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1988 215 Sundowner 5.7L OMC