We returned to using the black rubber rollers to prevent damage such as this. This same design has been used on all of our trailers since the mid 80’s, with no real damage issues.
The damage began to crop up more when we went to the yellow urethane rollers that our consumers preferred.
The urethane rollers are more durable, though they also impale more damage to the boats. The roller is stiffer, as it is more durable, which removes the shock absorption which the rubber black rollers allowed.
We went back to the rubber rollers in 2006 and our damages are again to what we would term as user error.
Judd Lasiter cut out his own personal roller and this style roller is not made by a vendor. It is posted in the archive pages, if you would like to see it. It compensates by closing the only open area, which is able to be impacted when loading.
We have seen others do this previously and it does reduce damage, though most of the damage that is more common to the urethane rollers in recent years.
The hard impact, forces the bow eye against the gelcoat, and the gelcoat simply flakes off or loosens and begins to flake off later.
Hope this helps you to understand the issue. And we still are trying to have those rollers made cost effectively or find one which is already modified.
BCB
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