400: Bow roller material - Lagoon400

[meirriba]

Hi everybody
Is it Aluminum or stainless steel?
Our unit just broke and drowned (all 7 rivets broke).
Want to manufacture new roller, and think Aluminum will be better corrosion wise.
Thanks for any insight.

[meirriba]

Sorry, but seems my question is stupid.
The front crossbeam is S/S, so obviously the roller should be of S/S as well��

[Spot]

Originally Posted by meirriba

Sorry, but seems my question is stupid.
The front crossbeam is S/S, so obviously the roller should be of S/S as well��

Hello,
I think knowing why it happened and how to prevent it from happening again are also relevant.

[meirriba]

Seems I have a big problem with myself...
I have looked again at the cross beam, and it seems anodized aluminum and not s/s as I have assumed in previous post.
So back to square one.
What should the bow roller made of?

And if it was s/s, it may have caused the breakdown, although the material around the rivet holes is intact and there are no corrosion signs.
However, one if the seven holes is significantly enlarged.

[Nicholson58]

I replaced my roller with a custom Nylatron roller. Not a Lagoon.

[tkeithlu]

I built mine using trailer rollers. You have a choice - hard yellow plastic (nylon?) or softer rubber.

The point of the examples is that considering the issue from the perspective of function rather than corrosion, etc. might be of benefit to you.

[meirriba]

The roller itself I suppose will be made of tough plastic of sorts. I think this will be easy to solve (ss per examples given above).
The main issue is the metal base and its connection to the beam

[sailingchiro]

I had always thought the cross beam is aluminum and the bow roller is stainless, at least mine is. I use the yellow roller my self.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by meirriba

The roller itself I suppose will be made of tough plastic of sorts. I think this will be easy to solve (ss per examples given above).
The main issue is the metal base and its connection to the beam

To clarify...the main problem is where the metal bow roller assembley attaches to the forward beam, correct?

[meirriba]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

To clarify...the main problem is where the metal bow roller assembley attaches to the forward beam, correct?

Yes
The metal assembly is (was in our case) connected to the crossbeam by 7 rivets.
These rivets broke while raising the anchor and the metal base with the plastic roller fell into the sea.
The boat is about 10 years old.
As I have mentioned, there are no corroded areas around the rivets holes except one hole that is ckearly enlarged.

[Scrimshaw4]

Sounds like corrosion compromised the rivets. I doubt an aluminum roller will be strong enough to not warp with long term / heavy use. Cast bronze or stainless would probably be stronger. I wouldn't recommend using rivets again. Why not thru bolt it to the cross beam? JMHO

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

I built mine using trailer rollers. You have a choice - hard yellow plastic (nylon?) or softer rubber.

The point of the examples is that considering the issue from the perspective of function rather than corrosion, etc. might be of benefit to you.

I did this too,-'hard yellow nylon. I had replaced an aluminum roller with this trailer roller and it showed no significant wear after ten+ years of service. Of course I always used snubbers at anchor and never stressed the roller much.

[Sohum]

It’s aluminum. The flared cheek plates are worn thin on mine( previous abuse).

[Sohum]

Forward Crossbeam also aluminum

[meirriba]

Originally Posted by Scrimshaw4

Sounds like corrosion compromised the rivets. I doubt an aluminum roller will be strong enough to not warp with long term / heavy use. Cast bronze or stainless would probably be stronger. I wouldn't recommend using rivets again. Why not thru bolt it to the cross beam? JMHO

I do not think it is corrosion.
As I wrote above, no corrosion evidence around or near rivet holes.
IMHO, it is fatigue from the chain working along the unit and anchor hitting it when righting itself to come in proper direction.
The enlarged (but clean) hole supports this.
However, I think we shall add side flaps, and use the through bolts idea. Bolts will be S/S with plastic sleeves to separate the metals.