INVESTIGATOR 563

Yes, got your drift, that would work quite well. Another thought I had after the earlier post was two rollers cantilevered from each side (only the one in the middle of the cb) thus having a permanent split between them just wider than the cb. Then position the normal rollers either end of the cb just in front and just behind it. That way you could drop or swing the cb anytime without any removal or jacks . That longitudinal spacing is only slightly more than mine currently has and should not cause an issue.

Hope that description made sense if not I’ll draw it up.

As far as I know it should just fall out once the bolt is removed David. Replace bolt and you’re good to refloat providing seal around bolt is ok . You can then keep sailing while getting your cb treated

Disclaimer: you may get different results when trying this at home.

Hi Ozzie, Is this the sort of thing you are talking about? I had it in mind that I might be able to use something like this each side of the back roller, mounted wide enough apart to have the width of the keel fit between them. If they swivelled from that angle shown to both rollers standing in the vertical position, I reckon they would guide the boat on to the centre of the trailer and them swivel to the vertical once they were influenced by the shape of the keel. If it worked, it would be brilliant.
Regards Peter T

I’m a huge fan of my gal cb revitalised with fish oil and moored now for 16 years BUT I’m also aware of differences in how various bits on the same model of boats last vastly different periods.

Those old enough the remember the jam tin brakes and bed spring spring suspension of the golden age of Aussie motoring will know the expression “Friday car”. One man’s beloved motor was another’s lemon. I’d hesitate the recommend gal in case it fell out the Tuesday after someone installed it.

Rusty memory but maybe in the original MSN forum somebody did a fibreglass cb. Maybe that’s a nightmare after a bad curry

Hi Peter. Not quite, but I see the idea. I’m just going out for a while to Bunnings but later I’ll do a sketch up over a beer and post it up. Endless fun
Something like this . The cantilevered rollers would need beefy pins but as each one is only taking half the load each at that point I’m sure it would work. The pin through the cantilevered roller would be something like a large cup head bolt with the cup heads stopping the rollers from coming off and just sufficient room between them for cb to swing down for servicing. Those centering sprung rollers are good gear I had them on my tender trailer when I had one years back.

I was also going to add if you could get the independent suspension off a wrecked AVan it would mean no axle in the way.

I had it on my old van , great stuff

https://www.alko.com.au/vehicle-technol ... -overview/

Any trailer manufacturers copying our ideas here send the cheque to investigator563 forum

Ozzie,now that's a great idea re the A van suspension, Will check it out. Another question, Do you think that the rollers under the keel section and the very rear one need to be adjustable ? Or do you think it would be OK to just have the roller bracket welded to the cross section, like on the top of it? I know my existing trailer has them just welded on front and back of the cross section and there is a lot of wear in the holes of the roller bracket which take the roller axle. If they were height adjustable, you could adjust to take up the wear over time but the disadvantage is the distance the adjuster bars hang down below the cross member?
This is going to end up a new standard in trailer design I reckon !
Cheers, Peter T

Hi Ozzie, here is photo of A Van suspension, Don't know if it would work as I reckon the cross member that the swinging arm swings from would have to go the full width of the trailer, otherwise I doubt if it would be stiff enough to take the weight of trailer and boat. Then my thought is that If the cross member needs to go full width, might as well have an ordinary axle. Interesting thought though, any ideas? Thinking, thinking !
Then again, ( still thinking), I guess the cross member in front of the centreboard opening could be used for this purpose as well, it could start out horizontal , (not "V"'d like the other cross members ) made out of 100 x 50 Box section fully weldd to the side rails as shown in pic out to the inside edge of the swinging arm, then be made from there in a steeper "V " to get the under boat part level with other cross members in heavy duty (5 or 6 mm wall) 50 x 50 Box section under the boat to the other side. Looking at my existing trailer, that cross section would have to be moved forward far enough to have the swinging arms the correct length? will have to check it out on the old trailer in daylight. Just might be possible ? Then, this could be the mounting point for front of the longitudinal spines we were talking about? worth a long hard look I reckon. Also, not sure if you could still use leaf springs ?

Regards Peter T
download/file.php?mode=view&id=1858

Hi David, yes mate its getting too complicated I think. see you Wednesday. Cheers
Peter T

Sorry for late reply Peter I missed your post last time I was here. You are quite right. It’s been a while since I sold my avan and I remembered it wrong. It did have the cross member with the rubber in the tube but the stubs were on swing arms. Now I think there are better setups more like this
This was just something I grabbed off google images, but there are many designs now catering for low weight up to monster 5th Wheeler vans.

The great value of independent suspension is not only do they avoid the need for construction of the stepped axle on my type of trailer ( which also would interfere with our drop keel concept) but they eliminate “axle steer” created by leaf springs and live axle which is the main contributor to trailer sway particularly with a high riding TS. If you do a search on eBay variations on this type of suspension will show up.

I had two older live axle caravans, a Newland and a Millard which I was not comfortable towing without stabilisers even though they were under a tonne. My Avan however was well behaved at all times sans any kind of stabiliser.

My six main keel rollers are all fixed but the two forward ones are adjustable. I don’t think I’ve had the most forward keel roller up for years though. I’m in the lucky situation that as my trailer gets used rarely the original rollers are only just breaking down after 40 years. A regularly used and immersed rig would get more deterioration

Thanks Ozzie, very interesting. I called into a place called Sunshine Trailers in Deloraine yesterday on my way back from a visit to “private Eyes (David) and they were telling me about a new single leaf spring but you would still need an axle. It’s amazing what is actually out there. If I don’t rush and look at all the options, I will surely come up with one or two good options. I don’t mind having an axle so long as I can keep the overall height from the uppermost point on the boat less than my shed door opening of 2.4 M
As for the rollers under the keel section, again still looking at options . So long as the bottom of the keel is flat, then the rollers could be fixed mounted, something I will need to check

Cheers again
Peter T