Boat trailer update

[RussGW270]

Welp, boat trailer is fixed. I was able to haul it to the lake, about 18 miles one way, and the hub temps stayed at 125 or less. That is better than the 225 before heh.

The surge brakes are a little unsettling, not used to that jarring motion from 8000 lbs heh, but trying to start and stop smoothly to find the “sweet spot”.

All I have left is to clean her up really well, shorten the vhf cables, stow everything I need, get the CG to inspect her, and replace some tubing (wiper water etc) and she is read to take out.

Oh, I also am adding a new winch to the list of wants. Took us like a dozen tries to back her into the water to snug her up to the roller. Every time I pulled her out, she stretched the dang wrench strap 8 inches And we had to do it again.

I plan to either replace the trailer and/or get a dang electric and/or cable line.

Russ

 

[seasick]

Bunks or rollers? It is normal for the strap to stretch. Even the wire rope models will stretch to an extent. I just get up to the roller and then haul it out. The hull will shift back almost a foot basically because of the way it lays on my rollers in the water. Bunks may require more pull depending on the material covering them. Once on land, I just crank the winch to slide the boat forward. ( make sure when hauling that you attach the safety chain)
Congrats on getting her out!

 

[Bloodweiser]

I have banks and am looking to upgrade to rollers any suggestions? Didn't mean to hijack

 

[Greyduk]

Russ, FWIW When I have pulled boats in the past (GW 225, GW 248, and GW 226) the hub temperatures usually would not hit 100 degrees. In the summer pulling the 248 they ran up to about 110. And that was with air temps in the 90"s. This past weekend I pulled the GW 226 200 miles with the air temperature around 70 degrees and the hubs got to 88 degrees. I mention all that because your temps seem a bit high with a short haul and what I guess to be not extreme air temperatures. If you were hauling a long distance in the summer your temps might get to a point where you should be concerned.

 

[Bloodweiser]

Are you thinking the high Temps are wheel bearing related.? Either worn (loose) or too tight?

 

[seasick]

I have banks and am looking to upgrade to rollers any suggestions? Didn't mean to hijack

First thing is to make sure your hull is OK on rollers. Grady's are but some other makes are not.
The number of rollers is an issue, generally the more the better, Make sure you pick a trailer that is sized adequately for your actual load.
If you bait in salt or brackish waters, aluminum frames may be an asset but at the same time, I know folks who won't use them because they can take a set ( bend permanently). I would however go for aluminum. Stainless disk brakes are an advantage as it applies to corrosion. All trailers will experience some degree of corrosion/rust.
I won't bash any specific brand but I wouldn't buy another trailer of the brand I originally bought.

Some annoying features to keep in mind that you probably won't be able to judge: You may get waterproof LED lights but find out that the connections are not so waterproof. Springs will rust even if all you do is look at them! Stainless disks still have parts that will corrode and they may freeze up just like drum brakes do. Brake lines mat corrode also. What is it they say;"Rust never sleeps"
Just make sure you get a trailer that is good quality and sized correctly for your hull. Also plan on having to spend a few bucks to get it set up correctly for your boat especially is you plan on long hauling.

 

[seasick]

Are you thinking the high Temps are wheel bearing related.? Either worn (loose) or too tight?

All of the above plus dragging brakes or over sized loads.

 

[Greyduk]

They might be bearing related ( too tight) or the brakes possibly dragging and transferring heat to the hubs. I am not saying that there definitely is a problem. It is just something that I would monitor. Pull 20 miles and check then pull another 20 and check. And as I said in the summer the temps can climb up there where you would want to be aware of it.

 

[RussGW270]

I think the only reason they were above 100 is the hubs need more grease. Now I know the brakes are not locking any longer, I will replace the hubs all together. Was not going to do that till I knew I was not going to blow brand new ones. Hubs were not my issue, the brakes were, so now I can swap the hubs.

On the other issue, the crank is just junk, so while I got most the stretch out, it just cannot lock this boat down, so a stronger new crank needs to be installed or it will never be enough.

Small fixes.

R

 

[leeccoll]

I have banks and am looking to upgrade to rollers any suggestions? Didn't mean to hijack

Bloodweiser, I have had nothing but problems with my rollers. It's a Venture Trailer (Think as cheap as possible), and I believe not enough rollers for my 228 hull. At any rate I'm having a new bunk trailer built as a result. If you are loading in wind/waves and don't "nail it" perfectly, it wreaks havoc on the lifting strakes and keel-meaning damage.
Maybe with a higher end trailer that won't be an issue, but there's a reason there aren't too many new roller trailers coming off the assembly line if ya catch my drift.
I felt obligated to share that with you LOL.
Apologise for butting into Russ's thread.

 

[leeccoll]

I think the only reason they were above 100 is the hubs need more grease. Now I know the brakes are not locking any longer, I will replace the hubs all together. Was not going to do that till I knew I was not going to blow brand new ones. Hubs were not my issue, the brakes were, so now I can swap the hubs.

On the other issue, the crank is just junk, so while I got most the stretch out, it just cannot lock this boat down, so a stronger new crank needs to be installed or it will never be enough.

Small fixes.

R

Russ,

I'm thinking you are into this a bit too deep to consider buying a new trailer, but man you seem to have a lot of things to juggle.

Wish you the best~

 

[DennisG01]

The strap can and will unwind a bit if it's been recently replaced - until it get's wound up tight. But the winch, itself, should NOT be slipping. Meaning, the handle should stay put in the same location - easy enough to check. If the handle is moving, the gears are shot - and stop trailering with it immediately. I'm assuming it's not gear related, though, because it would pretty much be inoperable if the gears were the problem. Go outside and try cranking on the handle some more - I'm betting you get more turns. Crank hard.

The other thing that can cause the boat's bow eye not to stay tight to the bow roller/stop, is loading too deep. It changes the angle of the boat vs the trailer and when you pull out you get exactly what you experienced. From about 10-20mph, stomp of the brakes HARD to try and snug the boat up.

Bearing temps... I've never actually measure mine with a thermometer. All I ever do is put my hand on the hub (and the tire tread) whenever I stop somewhere and I look to make sure I can comfortably keep my hands there. Your temps may be artificially higher if you very recently did a good amount of braking just before checking their temp... brake temp can bleed to the hubs.

Starting and stopping smoothly... if the spring and gas shocks (inside the coupler) are good, then just keep practicing. If it's banging pretty well, though, they are need of replacing. Once everything is up to snuff, here's what I do: First, come to an ALMOST stop a few feet from where you actually want to stop and gently let up on the brake pressure as you approach that point and even take your foot off the pedal for a sec. That allows the coupler to extend back out smoothly without a clunk. Then, since you're only crawling at this point, LIGHTLY use the brakes to come to a complete stop. Lightly/gently stops the rig without compressing the coupler again, using only the truck's brakes. Now, when you go to take off again, there should be no clunk as the coupler is fully extended.

 

[RussGW270]

@DennisG01 - Oh, no the winch is not slipping, just pulled as tight as it could and then the boat simply pulls the strap as the boat comes out. Agreed - this is just "growing pains". I am thinking that is all it is, but I simply am not happy at all with this trailer.. heh.

@leeccoll - Replacing it is a last resort. My issue is, like you said, I have a lot in this. Since I cannot find anyone willing to unload and store the trailer where I am, unless I pay them.. call it $500 minimum, even if they only store it a week. (it cost me $250 just to get it unloaded from a flatbed truck that hauled it here). If you figure I would have to store it at a marina a month, to get them to take it off the trailer, that is easy $500....maybe more. Then getting it fixed, another call it $1000...if I put another $1,500 into it, I would rather put that into a new trailer.

Now, that being said, I can remove the wheels and rebuild them for the price of the storage etc, and now the brakes themselves are good, that should resolve the rest. We will see. I will first try adding more grease. May just be they spit too much grease out, would account for the variance in temps. The wheels are fine as I spun them when I last lifted the trailer and there was no wobble.

So, leaving all options on the table, but will try a least cost version first, but I am a lot more confident in towing it as is than before.

I still plan to fix a few small items, and then need to spend time making my new list of what goes on the boat and where, storage wise.

I ordered a $15 ray53 mounting bracket so I can re-use the ray51 vhf... saved the cost of a 2nd vhf.. heh

Russ

 

[DennisG01]

@DennisG01 - Oh, no the winch is not slipping, just pulled as tight as it could and then the boat simply pulls the strap as the boat comes out. Agreed - this is just "growing pains". I am thinking that is all it is, but I simply am not happy at all with this trailer.. heh.

Gotcha. Then it sounds like it just isn't wound up as tight as it should be yet - I've been there many times with new straps. Or, it's just that you're loading too deeply. Been there, too.

Try cranking on the handle there in your yard - really lean on it. Just keep your face out of the way in case your hand slips off since the handle will spin back up at you from the tension. In other words, keep your face out of the line of fire!

 

[seasick]

If you decide to replace hubs, make sure you inspect the spindles first. If they are gouged or worn down, replacing the hubs will be a waste. Replacing spindles may mean replacing axles.
On a second note, I wouldn't agree that bunk trailers are better than rollers or that all rollers are junk. Each has pluses and minuses. In general, bunks need deeper waters to haul and rollers work better in shallower waters. The shallowness of the water is directly linked to the slope of the launch ramp. Also, it is ( or should be) a lot easier to snug up a hull on a roller trailer. Down side is that they usually cost more and have a lot more parts to maintain.

As I mentioned, some hulls should not go on roller trailers. Whalers is one manufacturer who specifically states that rollers should not be used. In general. cored hulls are better on bunks because there is more uniform weight distribution. On rollers, the weight is concentrated more heavily at the roller contact points and that can lead to compression of the hull. You can actually see the depressions in the hull in some cases.

 

[leeccoll]

@DennisG01 - Oh, no the winch is not slipping, just pulled as tight as it could and then the boat simply pulls the strap as the boat comes out. Agreed - this is just "growing pains". I am thinking that is all it is, but I simply am not happy at all with this trailer.. heh.

@leeccoll - Replacing it is a last resort. My issue is, like you said, I have a lot in this. Since I cannot find anyone willing to unload and store the trailer where I am, unless I pay them.. call it $500 minimum, even if they only store it a week. (it cost me $250 just to get it unloaded from a flatbed truck that hauled it here). If you figure I would have to store it at a marina a month, to get them to take it off the trailer, that is easy $500....maybe more. Then getting it fixed, another call it $1000...if I put another $1,500 into it, I would rather put that into a new trailer.

Now, that being said, I can remove the wheels and rebuild them for the price of the storage etc, and now the brakes themselves are good, that should resolve the rest. We will see. I will first try adding more grease. May just be they spit too much grease out, would account for the variance in temps. The wheels are fine as I spun them when I last lifted the trailer and there was no wobble.

So, leaving all options on the table, but will try a least cost version first, but I am a lot more confident in towing it as is than before.

I still plan to fix a few small items, and then need to spend time making my new list of what goes on the boat and where, storage wise.

I ordered a $15 ray53 mounting bracket so I can re-use the ray51 vhf... saved the cost of a 2nd vhf.. heh

Russ

Bearings: I don't know much about them, I have bearing buddies on mine. The trailer shop owner that was going to tune up my trailer and found a bunch of things that would need attention asked me to not add any grease to the bearing buddies once they repack the bearings, and bring it back to them every year to service them.

I thought that was a bit strange, but he hold me most people pump way too much grease into the bearing buddies thinking its a good idea seeing it ooze out everywhere, and he told me that's a no no.

If I were in your situation I would handle it exactly as you are

 

[family affair]

Russ,
I don't recall if you or someone else worked on your hubs/brakes. Make sure the spindle nuts were tightened correctly. Typically they should be torqued, then backed off to allow for material expansion as the assembly heats up.
Also your tongue weight. In my opinion the 10% rule for tongue weight is way too much for a boat trailer especially if you have surge brakes. I'm wondering if excessive weight on the tongue could be contributing to what you are experiencing.

 

[DennisG01]

Bearings: I don't know much about them, I have bearing buddies on mine. The trailer shop owner that was going to tune up my trailer and found a bunch of things that would need attention asked me to not add any grease to the bearing buddies once they repack the bearings, and bring it back to them every year to service them.

I thought that was a bit strange, but he hold me most people pump way too much grease into the bearing buddies thinking its a good idea seeing it ooze out everywhere, and he told me that's a no no.

If I were in your situation I would handle it exactly as you are

This is 100% true. Too much grease pumped in can cause the rear seal to leak - which won't be seen because it's behind the wheel. This wil then let water in. For most people, adding grease once to maybe 3 times a season is more than enough. Stop adding grease once the BB's spring plate gets close to fully compressed.

 

[DennisG01]

In my opinion the 10% rule for tongue weight is way too much for a boat trailer

Agree. All of the "better" boat trailer manufacturer's I have ever dealt with will recommend 5% to 7%. The 10% to 15% is for 5th wheel type setups, not ball mounted. From personally setting up a few trailers in my line of work, I can tell verify that, too.

 

[SkunkBoat]

100 degrees sounds hot to me. Anytime mine were hot to the touch there was something wrong. Brakes rubbing, hubs too tight, rusty bearings..

Your strap problem...
new strap and its not been fully wound under tension yet? Strap is sinking into itself?
Try to figure out a way to pre-wind it under tension.
I'm surprised its not wire on such a big rig.

You should be floating the boat onto the bunks as much as possible and there should not be so much cranking.
When you launch, don't let the strap out the length of the trailer. Float the boat. Keep the strap short and wound tight.
My father in law has a 24' on aluminum tandem bunk and he struggles every time. He won't listen to me. He is used to years of a roller trailer and he keeps trying to crank too much boat.
The ramp he uses is crap and the front cross member of the trailer bottoms on the ramp on the way out. Luckily its only IN/OUT for the season..
I keep telling him to pay the marina to come get it, paint it, launch it....then end of season ...haul it, wash it, bring it back to your yard.
He's 80. I say if you leave your daughter money I'm going to spend it on my boat....

I'm so glad I don't have to deal with trailer brakes, lights, hubs, springs, rollers, cables, winches.......(at least not mine).