Chaparral VR223 - Bunks or Roller trailer?

Hi all

Waiting for delivery of my Chap VR223 Jet boat to use on the lakes in France. I am really conflicted about the type of trailer to buy and would really appreciate some views.

Background stuff: Typically in Europe 90% of boats are on rollers. Where i boat (Lake Geneva, Lake Annecy, Lac du Bourget) the ramps are relatively steep, and there is no tide . I launch and retrieve on my own.

In looking on various US forums the advice seems to be that bunks are easiest if you are self launching, except where ramps are shallow. One downside seems to be quite a bit of chat about possible hull marking from the bunks. A second is that since the bunk trailer has to go in deeper, that if you are self-retrieving ,you then end up in deep water to get back to your towing vehicle.

I have used roller trailers for 10 years on a Bayliner with no issues, but am tending towards bunks for the Chap jet boat because of simplicity. However I am worried about the 2 downsides I noted.

Any advice would be welcome.

I would definitely go with a bunk trailer for support, simplicity, no chance of "dimples" from long term storage on the rollers.

Lake Geneva is a gorgeous lake. I lived in Geneva up until a year or so ago.

My last boat was a 17 foot Rinker with a Shorelander roller trailer. It took me some time to get used to bunks - I really liked the rollers.

I can't speak to hull dimples, but I would imagine that a bigger boat on a roller trailer might be a handful to control on a steep ramp unless you have a brake winch.

smashedheadcat said:

I would definitely go with a bunk trailer for support, simplicity, no chance of "dimples" from long term storage on the rollers.

Lake Geneva is a gorgeous lake. I lived in Geneva up until a year or so ago.

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Thanks for your comments Smashed.. I have to say that on my 20foot bayliner i never saw dimples in the 10 years i had it despite keeping it on the trailer from october to may.. (yes its a short boating season in the alps!).. It may depend how many rollers you have . My current trailer on the bayliner has 24 rollers to the load is spread quite widely.

Sorry you have had to exchange Geneva for Lagos.. I lived in Lagos when i was a teenager and that is really going heaven to hell !

thanks Biglar fr your comments also. i always used a line wrapped around the winch posts as a double safety to avoid any runaway, while letting the boat float run back using the winch ratchet. (this was after once losing control of it as a newbie and seeing the boat roll off like a rocket !.. pretty scary but fortunately no one was behind it.)

RodK said:

Thanks for your comments Smashed.. I have to say that on my 20foot bayliner i never saw dimples in the 10 years i had it despite keeping it on the trailer from october to may.. (yes its a short boating season in the alps!).. It may depend how many rollers you have . My current trailer on the bayliner has 24 rollers to the load is spread quite widely.

Sorry you have had to exchange Geneva for Lagos.. I lived in Lagos when i was a teenager and that is really going heaven to hell !

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Thank you for the sympathy. I too am sorry you had to live here. It's a sad sad place. Heaven to hell is a great way to put it. I'll be leaving here in June and I'll finally get to put my hands on some of these boats. I'll be moving to Utah, which seems to be about the opposite of this place.

As for the trailers I have to rewind time into the late 90s. As an OMC tech at a local marina I saw my fair share of dimpled boats from roller trailers. I'm not blind to the fact that a good hull sitting on a good roller trailer shouldn't give you problems, but a nice bunk trailer does an excellent job.

Well in the end i went for a suggestion made by the trailer manufacturer.. Bunks on the front and rollers on the back. Will post a picture once i get it.