Dunbier reinvents the trailer for new-generation boats

The ground-up redesign, launched at the 2023 Sydney International Boat Show, includes single- and tandem-axle trailers in standard and wide configurations, with an emphasis on recognising that small boats fitted with trolling motors are now much heavier up front, and getting the boat on the trailer without damaging it is front of mind with most owners.

It’s the first ground-up makeover of Dunbier’s best-selling trailer range in more than 20 years.

The Dunbier Sports Centreline range is wider than before, with the frame sitting lower to the ground to help with shallow-water launching and improve the towing experience.

Thought has also gone into the trailer’s frame, with an extra cross-member added and carried further forward to give more support to the bow of the boat. The design also reduces flex in the frame, allowing the boat to sit better on the trailer while it is moving.

Other changes include removing the curved section of the back of the trailer that was used as a guide to centre the boat as it moved forward.

Expensive to make, it is replaced with a new rear entry cradle that is 200 per cent larger than before, with bunkers pushing the keel of the boat onto the low-resistance ladder rack roller system that forms the backbone of the trailer.

The rear section of the trailer also includes a heavier cross-member further back, a nod to the fact that boats are being fitted with ever-larger outboard engines to push them.

The trailers have also integrated a step on top of the tail-lights, and a much lower tie-down padeye below it.

Forward, ‘big mouth’ single roller brackets help the boat to centre as it moves forward, meaning that even on a rough day with tide and wind, a skipper can confidently get the boat back on the trailer single-handed.

The boat will slip on and off more easily, too, with the roller count more than doubled to seven compared with the trailers this one will replace.

Dunbier National Sales Manager Andrew Murphy told boatsales that the changes to how the trailer was made cut down on some of the cost of building them, meaning that even though the new trailers have more metal in them, prices have not gone up.

The trailers are also equally suited to alloy or fibreglass boats.

Production of the new trailers is starting now, with the first deliveries expected from Dunbier in mid-August.

Dunbier Sports Centreline range