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Inflatable Boat Rollers


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Anyone have thoughts/recommendations on the usefulness of inflatable boat rollers for a CS17.  My CS will spend most of its time in northern Canada - gravel roads, no trailer ramps, maybe even the odd short, short portage.  Have found some in Toronto at the Tender Craft Boat Shop for $180 a piece.  Seems pricey but then maybe thats what durability costs.  This roller is rated for about 1200 lbs.

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  • 11 months later...

I would be interested in finding some inflatable rollers also, for Artemis CS17-225.

I have seen the yellow "dogbone" ones in a few photos on the forum here in the past, they look really interesting.

They were supporting Southern Skimmer, during one of the challenges I believe.

I've looked all over, to no avail.

Anyone be able to help with some suggestions?

Know where some could be had?

I'm also looking at some large fenders to do the trick, may have to use those, if I can't find better ones.

Thanks in advance, Allan Barry

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After struggling with the Dog-Bone rollers for 5 launches, I can say that the apparent advantage of staying aligned with the keel doesn't work in reality. The one advantage over a large fender is that they do deflate and can be stored in less space aboard that 3 adequately sized fenders.

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After struggling with the Dog-Bone rollers for 5 launches, I can say that the apparent advantage of staying aligned with the keel doesn't work in reality. The one advantage over a large fender is that they do deflate and can be stored in less space aboard that 3 adequately sized fenders.

What was it about the "Dog Bones" that made you struggle? Why were the fenders superior?

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My Dad and I have used the inflatable rollers for launching and pulling up our boat quite a few times during various watertribe races and we've got them pretty figured out. Can't recall our brand but they are about 4' long and 12" O.D and hold 1200# apiece. However, for a gravel surface or one with twigs and sticks and stuff I wouldn't want those. We have only used ours on nice smooth sand beaches and even then we are careful. We have not had a blowout but one of them does have a slow leak. Another problem with the rollers is that they work really really well. So much so that you'd better have enough people or a belay line to slow the boats roll once its on a cushion of air. It can also make rolling the boat up an incline a challenge unless you have help. An advantage of the rollers is that they pack up very small.

I have also looked into beach wheels for our boat for launching during the race and I think something like that COULD work well. I have lots of experience with theseCat Trax for launching and recovering large beach catamarans weighing 4-500# and they are brilliant with 2 people and make moving those boats around effortless on flat ground. A slightly more manly version of a dingy cart like this with larger balloon wheels would be great for a rocky low angle entry. Here is another place that sells balloon tires but they look a little expensive. Here is another source of cat trax balloon wheels w/o axle. Ignore the blue wheels. they are hard plastic, very loud over the ground and defeat the purpose of having a large soft durable tire for rough terrain. Cat trax are sought after in the catamaran world so expect to pay for them even on ebay but I think a cart with 4 of those wheels on an a simple dolly or even just a cradle on the CG would work well but you may not be able to lug it around on the boat with you.

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Why were the fenders superior?

I don't think he says they were, just that the supposed feature of the dog bones of staying aligned does not work. I would bet the fenders are more resilient. But I don't know if people use/abuse rollers enough that this is a major consideration. It probably varies with the needs of the user.

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I don't think he says they were, just that the supposed feature of the dog bones of staying aligned does not work. I would bet the fenders are more resilient. But I don't know if people use/abuse rollers enough that this is a major consideration. It probably varies with the needs of the user.

I haven't used any alternative to the Dogbone rollers crewing with Graham. They did not keep the keel in the middle of the roller as it looks like they would. They tended to roll out to one side or the other, as I suspect that straight roller would, though I have no experience with a straight roller.

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What was it about the "Dog Bones" that made you struggle? Why were the fenders superior?

Getting a boat the size of the EC22 down the beach and into the water with just 2 people is the major source of the struggle. I don't think the Dogbone rollers offer any advantage over a straight roller, though if rigidity and compliance could be controlled for the purpose, a roller of that basic shape might be superior.

'Ifs and buts' don't make a bag of treats.

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The different experience of Randy and Allan may be related to the difference in the hull shapes of Southern Skimmer and the CS20. Skimmer has a very broad and fairly flat aft run while CS had more V which might help in keeping the dog bone aligned. CS20 is also lighter and of lesser beam which helps in nanhandling also.

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