Boat trailer tips

NEW TRAILERS
 
It still amazes me at the number of people who have bought a new boat and trailer in the last 2 years, and despite spending sometimes countless hours of homework the boat itself, spend no time researching the trailer-the very thing that can totally ruin their boating day before it even starts !!!!

I also feel that the boat builders are to blame here, as they are so focussed on getting you to buy their boat,  and to that end keeping competitive on price, that they keep the trailer at the bare minimum on spec and price.

While this is a commercial reality now, there should be more dealers offering upgrades to the trailer spec, so that people can make a more balanced decision on whats carrying their pride and joy !!!!
 
There have been huge advances in trailer brakes for salt water use in the last few years.I have been servicing , repairing and upgrading trailer componentry for the last 20 years or so as an  Auto / Marine mechanic .
 
Trojan in my opinion are leading the way here, and have released continually better brake components over this era.

They started with the Mark 3 Brake caliper, then Mark 5 caliper with some brass componentry, and now their latest and greatest yet, the Mark 6 Stainless Steel caliper, which still has the brass bits where needed.
 
This baby is the "Bad Boy" of the Caliper world- coping with the nightmare of saltwater immersion like none before it.!!

All the bits that seized on the previous calipers-i.e. the pistons that seized- are now made of Phenolic material, the sliders -that seized are now brass, the bleed nipples -that used to break off also due to seizure are now brass, and even the brake pads have a stainleess steel backing , all great advances in reliability.
 
BUT WAIT  -theres more !!!! Even if you did all that , and either ordered your trailer with the Mk5 or 6 calipers or upgraded after you had been tortured, you were still stuck with a festering ,rusty, ferrous (feral more like)  brake disc, that corroded away nicely and then ate your brake pads for lunch once it got pitted enough (not long).
 
Some diligent souls sprayed CRC on the discs after washing the boat, usually ones who had mechanic friends to advise them, and this went some way to prolonging the disc life, and the CRC burnt off quickly as you got underway on your next tow.Do not spray INOX on your discs if you want to stop at the next red light, or any stop there after, as it does not burn off well.
 
Finally Trojan (yet again) came up with the answer- An ALLOY BRONZE DISC  - Oh JOY at last !!!!! No more corroded discs and all you have to put up with is a slight squealing when they are cold- its just a brass/ bronze squealy thing due to the metals makeup.
 
This was the final frontier in the brake saga, and they have been out for a couple of years now, but not many people are aware of their availability, let alone their greatness !!!!- This comes back to the boat builder / salesman talking only about his boat and nothing mentioned about how good /reliable your trailer could be....Cost and competitiveness coming to the fore again.....
 
 After decades of putting up with brake trauma in every shape and form and having numerous tows to Waihau Bay/ Te Kaha at around 10 hrs per tow each way in the past,it got to the point where I took a complete set of spare everything but the disc, so all dramas could be dealt with on the side of the road if neccessary. !!
 
Well trauma no more !!- I now have a Rayglass 850 Legend on a TRIPLE axle trailer with 2 rows of braked axles.

I got out the chequebook and ordered the trailer exactly how it ought to be-as I keep my boats for a long time. It has Alloy Bronze discs, Galv springs,Stainless calipers, Bearing buddies (DO NOT overfill them or you will be sorry...) and it even has Stainless braided brake hoses, as I have seen the steel crimped normal hoses fly off when the crimp gets too corroded and lets go.
 
The result- 18 months now and 350 hours- Yes 350 hrs - 7 years use for the average N.Z. boatie !!- so countless immersions, and there is just nothing going wrong brake wise-No Dramas, and no work to do other than taking the wheels off once a year to clean up hub faces and grease them again  and of course grease the wheel studs and nuts so you can get the wheels off again when you need to in the future.
 
All this good  trailer brake gear is well worth the money ,and never cheaper than when you first order the boat and trailer- as the price difference between budget and the topline gear is surprisingly minimal, especially if you add up the ongoing maintenance every year to keep the budget bits from seizing, let alone the ruined holiday.....
 
OLD TRAILERS- Upgrades.
 
The good news for used trailer owners is that all this gear can be retro fitted to earlier Trojan  assemblies, in most cases.

I am currently retro fitting the above gear onto a late 90's Haines SF600 and even though the Alloy bronze discs don't come in 4 stud,as the Haines is, its only a change to 5 stud new galv rims, supplied by Trojan, and Hey Presto !! the owners going to get all the good gear, and I've even matched the stud  thread, and nut size, to copy the rear existing  hub.!!

Andy Kerr