Getting ready to trailer my boat home from FL (13 hr drive)....does anyone have any experience with damage (or preventing damage) to the boat while trailering. I don't have a cover so I've been wondering if a long ride home should be a concern.
Thanks
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Bert Scott
Niceville, FL
Nacra F18
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Trailering Question
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Posted: Aug 05, 2011 - 12:51 PM
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Posted: Aug 05, 2011 - 02:02 PM
Hey Bert, when i first bought my boat in Detroit it was about 6 hours from home, not quite 13 but long enough. some quick advice is to make sure you have good tires, and struts to support the trailer. for strapping it to the trailer i usually try and keep the cross bars over the 2 areas each pontoon sits on the trailer. like that put the straps over the cross bar and around the trailer supports. make sure that if you are using ratchet tie downs, put them at the bottom so that when the wind vibrates them they are not rattling against the boat and scratching up your gel coat. other than that, keep all loose ends tide down and you should be fine.
Cheers,
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Will Schwan
Toronto Ontario
Solcat 18
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Posted: Aug 05, 2011 - 02:08 PM
Make sure than all tie downs are tight and knotted if possible, I would check these every gas stop. Harbor Freight (if they have that in Texas) has great deal on tie downs. Use enough tie downs to limit rattle/flapping/movement of everything. Also make sure that you have good bearings and hopefully you have bearing buddies. If you are unsure about this drive for 10 miles of so, pull over and tough your fingers to the outside of the axel near the wheel. If it feels too hot to touch then you might have bad bearings. It might not be a bad idea to shoot some bearing grease into the bearings before the trip if you are unsure about them.
What kind of state is your trailer in?
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Alex
Prindle 16 "Shake & Bake"
Portland, Oregon
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Posted: Aug 05, 2011 - 02:43 PM
This may lead to problems if the existing grease and the added grease are not compatible. Instead of having the minimal lubrication provided by to little grease one grease may "attack" the other leading to essentially no lubrication.
I recommend that you tow the trailer for a few miles and check for excessive heat. If OK keep an eye on them (check hourly or so) for the rest of your trip. When you get home remove all existing grease from the hubs, inspect the seals, bearings, and races, and replace if discolored, cracked, rusted, or pitted, then pack or repack the bearings with a grease of your choice. Use new seals! Either keep a good record of the grease you use or keep it on hand so when you need to regrease you don't have any worry about using incompatible products. I use Stalube Marine Grease (MFG by CRC) sold by NAPA on all my trailers, boat or otherwise. I just keep one of my grease guns loaded with trailer grease at all times. Buying different colored grease guns helps keep them straight. https://www.napaonline.co…LRSL3120_0006410094&An=0
Edited by Rider_55 on Aug 05, 2011 - 02:44 PM. -
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Posted: Aug 05, 2011 - 03:07 PM
Thanks for the reply's....I guess I wasn't very specific but I actually did have concerns about the grease type/compatibility Rider mentioned...good thoughts.
I'm mainly concerned about rocks flying up along the road. I drive a toyota tacoma and i don't think it's especially bad wrt to throwing debris, but I've never gone sand skiing behind it either :) Regardless, there seems to be rocks on the roads more and more these days....maybe it's just San Antonio. There are some options out there along the lines of mud flaps but I don't know if I really need them. ?
Al, I assume it is the original trailer that came with the '05 boat. It's in good shape. It does have bearing buddies and I intend to lube it up pretty good before taking off. I might be able to ask the previous owner what he used on them or clean them up as Rider suggests...
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Bert Scott
Niceville, FL
Nacra F18
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Posted: Aug 05, 2011 - 06:57 PM
I would have to go to walmart and get a spare.
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Nacra 5.2
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Posted: Aug 05, 2011 - 07:09 PM
We towed our sailboats thousands of miles and never had a problem with rock and debris hitting the boat. The forward profile of the boat is probably too small to really be a good target. One time, a car in front of me ran over a tire tread doing 70MPH and kicked it up in the air. It hit my grill, hood, then the windshield and totally missed the boat. I have no idea how it missed the boat because it was a fairly large tread.
You should make sure the mast is bungied on tightly. We hit a pot hole one time and the mast bounced off of the support.
If you have a sailbox. make sure the doors are secured so they can't open during the trip. Finally, as stated by others, check your hubs regularly to make sure they are not hot.
The only recurring problem we have is that the bugs mess up my mast base and hull tips.
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Posted: Aug 05, 2011 - 11:36 PM
I'd get two (or three) and return any you don't use when you get back.
When you are inspecting the trailer check the date codes on the tires, even if tires are low mileage and look like they have good tread, if they are past five years old I wouldn't trust them for the trip. It's hard to tell when a tire blows and you can end up dragging the bare wheel on the ground until it starts throwing chunks of metal.
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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN
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Posted: Aug 06, 2011 - 12:27 PM
ok....good advice all....thanks again. I don't want that picture on my camera....
VR
Bert
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Bert Scott
Niceville, FL
Nacra F18
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Posted: Aug 06, 2011 - 01:01 PM
And of course make sure you tightly secure a 'Don't Mess with Texas' sticker to your trailer, a NRA sticker to the cab of your truck and a loaded gun rack inside your truck... you do live in Texas, right?
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Alex
Prindle 16 "Shake & Bake"
Portland, Oregon
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Posted: Aug 06, 2011 - 02:40 PM
Will do....and just remember....The average response time of a 911 call is over 3 minutes....the response time of a .44 magnum is 1400 feet per second
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Bert Scott
Niceville, FL
Nacra F18
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Posted: Aug 07, 2011 - 09:23 PM
Come on Damon. Is that all you got?
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Philip
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Posted: Aug 08, 2011 - 04:05 PM
Yea, that's what I meant about it's hard to know sometimes that a trailer tire has even blown and you just keep driving.
The one in my pic happened during a driving rain-storm and the only reason I found out before it got as bad as your pic was another driver pulled up beside me and started honking and pointing at the trailer. Never a good sign.
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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN
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Posted: Aug 08, 2011 - 06:54 PM
Where do you buy tires? It seems you can't buy a tire, you have to get wheel/tire combos. People just discard the wheels? -
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Posted: Aug 08, 2011 - 08:44 PM
Tractor supply usually has just the tires however if you have to pay to have it mounted it winds up being more expensive than a wheel/tire combo. Most of my wheels wind up rusted about the time the tire dryrots so replacing both is a no brainer for me. I just recycle the wheel or add it to my stash of scrap metal for random projects. -
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Posted: Aug 08, 2011 - 09:56 PM
Make sure you put some sort of pin or padlock through your hitch once it is locked down. I have had mine bounce out and if not for the spare which hangs lower than the tongue on the trailer and the safety chains i'd have had real trouble. As it was the brand new spare took the damage burning a hole through the bottom of it.
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Dustin Finlinson • Magna, UT
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Posted: Aug 09, 2011 - 06:51 AM
Check the size of the lugs for the trailer wheels against your lug wrench in the tow vehicle. There is a decent chance that the trailer lugs are not the same size as the tow vehicle's. If this is the case and you are not properly prepared, you could have a flat and not be able to change it, even though you have spare wheels available.
Get the tire/wheel combo. Have you ever tried to mount a trailer tire to a wheel yourself? A bit more difficult than a bicycle tire. I'm sure that the cost of the combo would be far cheaper than the cost of the tire and the labor at the tire shop to mount it. Think I paid about $50 for one at wal-mart. I also have a spare set of bearing, just in case. If you have a spare already, check it carefully. The ones that came with my boat were in terrible shape when I inspected them and wouldn't hold any air at all. Good thing I checked it before my first big trip.
The only thing I've had happen to my boat while trailering is I get a small amount of diesel soot on the starboard hull- washes off as soon as I get the boat in the water.
I don't trust bungees for securing the boat or the mast. IMO, bungees are only ok to keep lines/rigging from flopping. Bungees can stretch (duh) and given enough force (running over pothole), can let you down. I secure my boat with ratchet straps (not too tight, or one can crack a hull), and secure the mast with extra 1/4" halyard- no chance of the mast bouncing out of the harness if I tie my knots correctly. So far, so good.
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Eric C
Force 5 project boat
Unnamed
Previous boat
1980 Nacra 5.2
"Double Vision"
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Posted: Aug 09, 2011 - 12:14 PM
Eric,
Great advice, I would never have thought various lug sizes were in play. I agree with the comment about bungees...have you ever noticed/counted how many bungees are laying on the side of the road. Yeah, I see a few ratchet straps in the road too but that's more likely user error than fatigue.
Thanks
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Bert Scott
Niceville, FL
Nacra F18
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Posted: Aug 09, 2011 - 01:42 PM
If there is a Northern Tool near you they have the tire/wheel combos pretty reasonable. They also have the entire hub/bearing assemblies complete and already greased. You need to know the shaft size though. I caught them switching brands and got two sets for less than $25ea.
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Mike Brady
Sugar Land, TX
Sailing off Magnolia Beach in Lavaca Bay TX
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P16 "Pooh Cat"
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Posted: Aug 10, 2011 - 12:34 PM
Damon-
Checking out your pic, I noticed you had the rudders off but the castings still on. I suppose that's the easiest way, right? 2 nuts/bolts and its off... Would the nylock nuts start to wear after a while?
Removing the cotter keys, pins, washers, bushings, etc. and getting it all back on in the right order is a real PITA. Consequently, I haven't been removing my rudders for my short 1-2 hour trips, but am starting to suspect its a bad decision in the long-run.
PS - what's the tang on the comptip for? Spin?
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Jeff R
'88 H18 "Jolly Mon"
'10 C2 USA1193
NE IN / SE MI
cramsailing.com
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