Trailer Woes....Uncle!

[leeccoll]

Well a really crappy start to the day turned out even crappier. That happens every so often to remind us of what to be grateful for.

But not easy...

After doing so much work on my rig over the last 2 months, including my trailer the straw has broken the camel's back so to speak. My Venture roller trailer chew up my newly repaired hull bottom on both sides the second time I launched her after the bottom paint was removed. Tried figuring out what was going on with my loading of the boat ending up with more questions than answers. I purchased new side steps and leaf springs to replace the rusted set in the meantime, and decided to pay a local company to install the springs, and go over the brake system for safety, etc.

Got a call from them yesterday saying the brake system has some rust in it, and among other things the bill to fix it would be over 3k.

Well I was bummed that was the case, but honestly the trailer is 14 years old now. I started to see about getting a new trailer last fall. Not easy from Reno, West Coast companies seem significantly more expensive for a build. I spoke with East Coast trailer builders too. Owens & Sons likely would have been my go to, but UShip would have added so much to the price tag that it negated the savings, and the thought of driving 8 days to retrieve a new trailer, well not so sexy. U Haul and rental car companies one way price tag was also too much of a hurdle.

So I made the decision today to have Pacific Trailers build me a new trailer because they are the West Coast builders for Grady trailers, so they have the for my specs older hull, and will give me a couple hundred bucks for my old trailer.

The damage to the hull I will fix myself. Looking forward to having a bunk trailer!!

The "crappier" part of today is when I picked up boat and trailer, I got a nice ding in the trunk because the trailer height was taller than when I dropped it off and I was super tired. I wanted to get the unused leaf springs in the bed of the truck, and thought I would get it out of the way first, so when I lowered the tail gate I heard a unfamiliar sound. Picked up the gate and bummer, that will be $800 bucks to fix I bet...now back to being grateful

 

[Mr.crab]

Well leeccoll if you haven’t finalized the the deal, theres a trailer company in Arizona about half the cost.
They did a great job for me, with all upgrades including electric over hydraulics brakes.

 

[leeccoll]

Well leeccoll if you haven’t finalized the the deal, theres a trailer company in Arizona about half the cost.
They did a great job for me, with all upgrades including electric over hydraulics brakes.

I did commit there was a 10% discount and they normally are a full priced shop , never heard of your trailer company but your trailer looks great!
Hopefully somebody else can benefit from your research. Jealous, but I can live with my decision too.
Thanks for your help Mr.crab

 

[Ky Grady]

Hate that happened for you, but that's part of it. When I was in process of buying my boat, PO had multiple things done on my behalf to fix the trailer to make it road worthy for the pull back to Kentucky, I paid for said work also. After pic exchange and looking at said pics, I still wasn't all warm and fuzzy about existing trailer. I called Loadmaster in Tampa and told them my situation and asked if they could have me a new trailer in a week and they said they would make it happen. Most trailer companies were telling me 6-8 weeks for a new trailer. I rolled into Tampa Friday night, met with PO for sea trial Saturday morning, did the deal. Monday morning floated the boat at a marina and went and picked up new trailer, put boat back on new trailer and came home Tuesday morning. Very happy that I did that, after seeing old trailer in person, knew there was no way it would have made it back to Kentucky without total failure.

 

[Fishtales]

That sux especially after doing all that work. You just have to look forward at this point. Your glass will be an easy fix and you'll have a new trailer fit to the boat.

 

[leeccoll]

Hate that happened for you, but that's part of it. When I was in process of buying my boat, PO had multiple things done on my behalf to fix the trailer to make it road worthy for the pull back to Kentucky, I paid for said work also. After pic exchange and looking at said pics, I still wasn't all warm and fuzzy about existing trailer. I called Loadmaster in Tampa and told them my situation and asked if they could have me a new trailer in a week and they said they woul make it happen. Most trailer companies were telling me 6-8 weeks for a new trailer. I rolled into Tampa Friday night, met with PO for sea trial Saturday morning, did the deal. Monday morning floated the boat at a marina and went and picked up new trailer, put boat back on new trailer and came home Tuesday morning. Very happy that I did that, after seeing old trailer in person, knew there was no way it would have made it back to Kentucky without total failure.

Thanks Ky,
I couldn't pull the trigger before because it is a major expense and I already had committed to other things that were higher priorities, but now my hand is forced and it will like all things work its way through. Peace of mind hard to put a price tag on, and now I'll have the confidence to make the 4 hr drive to San Francisco to fish if I care too.
Main reason I went with this specific company is they have all the older diagrams for Grady's that aren't obtainable anymore, so hopefully she fits like a glove.

 

[leeccoll]

That sux especially after doing all that work. You just have to look forward at this point. Your glass will be an easy fix and you'll have a new trailer fit to the boat.

Appreciate that Fishtales. Honestly it was hard to give the 50% deposit, but now I'm okay. Looking forward as you say!

 

[DennisG01]

Always a hard pill to swallow, especially if it's not really expected. On the plus side, you're moving away from a trailer that was VERY much an entry level trailer with lesser components and design/engineering. We used to sell Venture - we stopped. 'Round here, we have a saying: "It's always an adventure with a Venture!"

 

[leeccoll]

Always a hard pill to swallow, especially if it's not really expected. On the plus side, you're moving away from a trailer that was VERY much an entry level trailer with lesser components and design/engineering. We used to sell Venture - we stopped. 'Round here, we have a saying: "It's always an adventure with a Venture!"

Totally agree with you on that one Dennis!

 

[SkunkBoat]

"trailer" is a curse word in my book. If I really want to be crude...TRAILER LIGHTS!....sorry, I hope they didn't edit that....Oh TRAILER BRAKES!!!!

 

[leeccoll]

"trailer" is a curse word in my book. If I really want to be crude...TRAILER LIGHTS!....sorry, I hope they didn't edit that....Oh TRAILER BRAKES!!!!

Now that's funny!!

 

[Harpoon]

So just a hunch because I see this whenever I go to a ramp. It may be that your trailer is backed in too deep when loading. When this happens the bow often doesn't get immediately cradled by the rear rollers or bunks. I generally like the rear roller (or rear of the bunk) to be just at or above (for rollers) the water line so they catch and hold the bow strait. When my buddy's back in too deep the bow floats around side to side and can contact steel on the trailer.

 

[leeccoll]

So just a hunch because I see this whenever I go to a ramp. It may be that your trailer is backed in too deep when loading. When this happens the bow often doesn't get immediately cradled by the rear rollers or bunks. I generally like the rear roller (or rear of the bunk) to be just at or above (for rollers) the water line so they catch and hold the bow strait. When my buddy's back in too deep the bow floats around side to side and can contact steel on the trailer.

I actually damaged the hull trying out loading with the front rollers totally out of the water. Problem is I launch at a pretty shallow grade, what seems to be the hangup is between the rear set of rollers and front. I am on the back set okay, and then power the engine to load onto the front, and the boat goes sideways-sometimes. I think there is too much distance between the 2 sets or the roller sets are out of alignment. It's pretty sparse setup for heavy boat like mine (a wild guess). I went out today and nailed it as far as centered loading, with the rollers just as you say, but I can't wait to get bunks since there is a lot of weight distributed on very few rollers, and since it sits that way in outside storage, am not too comfortable with the weight being so concentrated on very few rollers. So the damage I got was from the front set of rollers steel arms, boat not able to center transition between the 2 sets.

I guess it's a mute point for me as I will be transitioning to bunks in 6 weeks.

Thanks for the help Harpoon!!

Lee