Bunks in-line with rivets

[Lerie]

Never had a bunk trailer with larger boat -would prefer a roller as I do fish by myself most of the time. I recently purchased a used 2005 Alumacraft Navigator 175 CS that is on a Load-Rite bunk trailer. I just noticed that the forward set of bunks line up dead center on a line of rivets. Don't believe that it should be this way. Am I correct.

[JOE WALLEYE]

The rivets attached the sheet aluminum to the structural members of the hull. You want the bunks directly under the structural members, so yes bunks directly under a line of rivets is a good thing. Below is a quote directly from my owner’s manual that came with my 2011 Nav 175.

"when locating and adjusting trailer bunk supports to boats to boats with longitudinal type frames, care must be taken to place the bunks under the outside longitudinals. The outside longitudinal can be identified by locating the second row of rivets from the center keel on the hull bottom. On most boats this is approximately 17" from the center line."

[REW]

X2 On Joe's comments.
This is exactly one of the reasons that many boat manufacturers prefer that their aluminum boats be supported on the keel of the boat.

So, even if you have a bunk trailer, many manufacturers like the owner to have a row of rollers down the center of the bunks that support the keel of the boats hull. The keel of many boats, especially aluminum boats are designed to carry the weight of the hull. That is not true of any part of an aluminums boats hull that does not have a supporting member directly behind the hull - hence the recommendation to put the bunks on a row of rivets.

Good luck
REW

[Lerie]

Thanks for the replies and info.