Protecting the trailer from Rust
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: General Forums
Forum Name: The Boat Shed
Forum Description: Discuss all things boating.
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=91498
Printed Date: 08 Jun 2026 at 8:04pm
Topic: Protecting the trailer from Rust
Posted By: Joker
Subject: Protecting the trailer from Rust
Date Posted: 05 Jun 2013 at 10:46am
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Most of the corrosion occurs whilst the trailer is at park after launching where that salt has many hours to do its thing. Once home then its washed off but the damage has already been done. I have found that the battery operated sprayers that comes with 5ltr of 30 seconds are ideal and quick to use.  Any old container filled with 50:1 product like Salt away are a quick and easy way to give the wet parts of the trailer the once over.
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Replies:
Posted By: letsgetem
Date Posted: 05 Jun 2013 at 2:19pm
| The Saltaway applicator - which clicks onto your water hose - sprays diluted Saltaway, higher pressure better. I am not one to normally give plugs for products - but will say, Saltaway seems to have worked well for me - at least it appears to remove salt deposit when sprayed on the boat, no scrubbing needed. I spray it over the trailer too, and assume its doing some good. |
Posted By: Jet_ski_fisher
Date Posted: 05 Jun 2013 at 2:36pm
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Why not just ad 2pac clear coating to the outside of the trailer. no more salt eating metal so to speak... ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">  MH... Catch measure release...<*))))< |
Posted By: Joker
Date Posted: 06 Jun 2013 at 1:23pm
| Letsgettem, I do connect to the hose at home but at the ramp I use the sprayer where there is no hose. |
Posted By: Durban
Date Posted: 06 Jun 2013 at 5:57pm
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if the trailer is galvanized & properly galvanized inside the tubing & painted on the outside with 2pack paint this should prolong the life of the trailer , eventually over a long period of time the rust will start from the inside the tubing , my idea of building a trailer is to have no holes drilled into the tubing to bolt brackets & whatever on there are means & ways this could be avoided to drill holes into the tubing & still bolt things on at the ends of the tubing fabricate cover plates & bolt them on with sealed gasket after galvanizing pour engine oil in tubing & bolt cover plate back on apply a 2\3 coats epoxy paint with the oil in & galvanizing this should prolong the life span further |
Posted By: 2Hulls
Date Posted: 08 Jun 2013 at 11:21pm
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Durban I like that idea with the oil. My trailer has holes that let the water in and none that let the water out ?????. It scares the hell out of me and if I knew who the manufacturer was I would like to ask him why ?. Should I drill a hole to let the water out or fill with cheap auto oil and seal the hole somehow to stop the rust . Cheers ------------- I think it is just disgusting how everyone has treated Lance Armstrong, especially after what he achieved wining races while competing on drugs. When I was on drugs, I couldn't even find my bike. |
Posted By: Durban
Date Posted: 08 Jun 2013 at 11:39pm
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with oxygen in there it will rust with oil in will prevent \slow the rusting proses as yours has already started if you good with a welder weld it closed when something is galvanized with the ends caped off [ closed ] holes are drilled for the galvanize to enter & exit in the dipping proses |
Posted By: feijoa
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2013 at 2:41pm
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anyone stuffed one of those green sprinkler tubes through their trailer (as in permanently fixed it) and flushed the insides with water found it good? at this stage i just salt away the outside and run water through the front holes and it comes out the back lols |
Posted By: Joker
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2013 at 2:49pm
| The Soak Hose sprinkler would work. I currently use two short bits of ordinary hose down each side then a T junction to a single bit with a hose connection. I put a good squirt of washing up liquid down the hose connector before connecting to the water. The soap foams up and cleans all sides of the internal tube. |
Posted By: Joker
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2013 at 2:52pm
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Lanolin based spray on products are supposed to be sticky and resist washing off whilst giving good protection. Does anyone use this regularly and noticed a difference?
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Posted By: Barrie
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2013 at 3:41pm
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Externally, I use to spray inox on all the nuts, bolts and springs as well as the hand winch and moving parts at that end. I use to do this once the boat was in the water as it seemed to almost remove the water keeping in mind that the movement up the ramp and to the parking area would shake off most of the water anyway |
Posted By: Moki Marko
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2013 at 5:30pm
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my mudgeway trailer has done sterling service for 13 years - it's on the way out tho, mite get to 15. Thats with regular washdown after use. Unless you are going to keep your trailer for that sort of time then you're never going to know if your lanolin/saltaway/oil filling, etc etc has worked or not You would have to have 2 or more identical trailers in use so you have some sort of comparison - so by the time you die you will have a pretty good idea how to make a trailer last. |
Posted By: letsgetem
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2013 at 7:19pm
| I spray Lanocote (CRC product), on all sorts of things, including the trailer parts that show some tendency to rust. I like it, as it sets into a sticky coating that you can see and repels water and salt. The trailer is only 9 months old, so its too early to be sure, but it appears to be doing good. |
Posted By: 2Hulls
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2013 at 8:27pm
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Has anyone used fish oil. I am thinking of spraying the white powder parts with it. Super Cheap auto's sometimes have three cans for a good price. |
Posted By: CanadianJohn
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2013 at 9:23pm
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joker, i used lanocote on my trailer every third or fourth trip from new. after three years the galv was still shiny like new except for a few places. and it had one spot of grey under where the bung would drip. i reckon it was all the salt in the carpets dripping there. there was no signs of rust anywhere. would have cost a couple hundred in lanocote overall but in my opinion very worth it. i'm sure there are some other good ways to slow corrosion but would do the lanocote thing again if i had a trailer from new.
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Posted By: Joker
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2013 at 1:41pm
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I have had a recommendation that this product is very good in salt water conditions especially on the nuts & bolt fittings which usually are only zinc plated. http://www.crc.co.nz/Automotive-Corrosion-Protection--Coatings-Protective-Compounds/p1/Soft-Seal-ib7b7b944-0c6e-46ae-ba41-d069b501063a-6553.htm" rel="nofollow - http://www.crc.co.nz/Automotive-Corrosion-Protection--Coatings-Protective-Compounds/p1/Soft-Seal-ib7b7b944-0c6e-46ae-ba41-d069b501063a-6553.htm
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Posted By: Bounty Hunter
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2013 at 2:42pm
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also good for sealing battery terminals and electric windlass/capstan motors etc ------------- No disintegrations! |
Posted By: Joker
Date Posted: 11 Jul 2013 at 2:58pm
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As a general wash down I use a water blaster with an initial soap spray all over and it gets rid of the salt on the boat and trailer ok. Then use the Salt-X as well. From the warehouse I got a 5ltr of dish wash liquid for $12 that I dilute 4:1 to put through the water blaster and it works fine.
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Posted By: BERNVERN
Date Posted: 11 Jul 2013 at 4:12pm
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I have found a home grown mixture of used engine oil , fisholene, and shellac is wonderful for killing rust. The fisholene kills the rust, the engine oil penetrates (pulls the fisholene into crevasses, cracks and under the rust flakes) and the shellac dries and seals the fisholene so that water does not penetrate. This mixture is made up of equal parts of oil fisholene and shellac mixed together in a bottle and can be thinned with meths. Doesn't look too good but by gum it works a treat. I had a Austin J4 van on the waterfront where salt spray , sulphur, potash, phosphate blew on to it from port facilities. We painted any rust with this and it stopped it in its tracks. After 3 years before we sold the van (they were very prone to rusting) we water blasted the whole thing and it ended up like no rust. Shellac has to be made up from "powdered shellac " available from good paint wholesalers / shops. fill a far / tin with the powdered shellac and then tip meths in until the jar is full, screw lid on to stop the meths from evaporating, Leave for 24 hours until dissolved and then mix other ingredients in and off you go. |
Posted By: GrizzlyKiwi
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2013 at 10:14am
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Were trailers built and galved better in the 70's? the trailer on my sea nymph is 1 '72 and its sweet as no rust or anything... I did replace the axle but that was due to me wanting to put standard hubs and stubs on there and not rust. |
Posted By: Kings Marine
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2013 at 3:46pm
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Older galv trailers certainly stand up much better to rusting problems, im not sure if its the galvanizing process nowadays or the make up of the steel. Also C section trailers are much better than box section for rust resistance  ------------- The Mighty Waikato http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kings-Marine/100476476662857?%3Fref=ts |