Trailer repairs. Galvanise or not

[captain red beard]

Hi all.
I'm have started doing some repairs on my trailer which has turned out to be pretty major.
Just wanting to know peoples opinions on galvanising.
The main frame of the trailer has a fair bit of rust internally but it seems like too much of a job to try and have it galvanised again. I was thinking about cleaning up the rusty bits on the outside and painting with cold gal then rust converting the inside and spraying with some sort of rust proofing.

The pivoting section of the trailer has to have the crossmembers replaced and I was wondering if I should try and get this bit galvanised again as well as with the spring/mudguard parts, or just paint it up with cold gal as well. I then wanted to spray the whole trailer in fish oil or techtol etc.

Is it expensive to get galvanising done and does anyone know a place where it could be done in mackay?

Thanks Red Beard

[Bros]

Forget galvanising as to get a good job it has to be on new steel or blasted steel.

[johncar]

Galvanising is only one way of slowing down corrosion, Some good paint on coatiings available which can be as good or better if good prep and so on. probably good to try and replace the cross members with C channel rarther than Box, that way you can more easily coat it and maintain it. I am building a trailer shortly and I intend all the the longitudinal steel to be RHS open both ends and the crossmembers C section. I will be painting it all, no galv, we'll se how it goes.

[Stuart]

Use POR-15

[Jarrah Jack]

If the insides are all rusted then you may be wasting your time and effort making the outside look nice. It would depend on how long you want to keep the trailer I guess but if you're already doing some cutting and welding then why not do the whole frame. Paint the outside and oil fill the insides if going rhs and don't want to get it all dipped.

[captain red beard]

Thanks for the replies guys but I have come to the conclusion that the trailer is shagged. Pretty ordinary for a 6 year old trailer I thought. I have cleaned up the axles, springs and mudguard brackets which seem ok still, most of the gal still in tack. I have painted them up in cold gal and killrust.
The main frame has rusted out crossmembers that I was going to have replaced but after further inspection the rest of the trailer is rusted pretty bad internally and wont be able to be oil filled as originally planned as there are holes going all the way through.
Just trying to get hold of the manufacturer now to see if I can just buy the main frame so that I can reuse my axles and rollers etc. Not having much luck though.

Thanks again
Red Beard.

[Noelm]

be far better off building one yourself rather than try to buy just a frame, either that or just lash out and buy a new one, job one, and before you use it, try your best to slow the rust down in the future.

[johncar]

Yes a bit late for this one, but you can slow it down considerably and stop it indefinitely if you start from new and take some simple steps and a maintenance routine. There are also ways of not submerging it so much but require a good roller system and power winch.

[Jarrah Jack]

Its a sad disgrace that a trailer should last only six years. A disgrace to the manufactures who could at least go with I beam or c section or even oil filled if rhs. They don't in the hope that we'll buy another and another.

I'll be filling my Dunbier will oil soon and coating it with Inox. Hopefully I won't have to buy another for a long while.

[Dan5]

I've fitted an internal water spray system to my new one.........$60-70 dollars from bunnings,simply plug it in and let the sprayers do their job.
Mine has RHS outer frame and PFC cross members.

Dan

[stevej]

go talk to a galvaniser, they will say that it is not guaranteed that all the voids will be filled when all there is is two 10mm holes for the liquid to flow through

whats a disgrace is the crap australian trailer manufacturers dish up to us as suitable for dipping in salt water
just going to c channel would make the trailers a hell of a lot easier to wash out

[Noelm]

C channel is good to wash, but it is harder to work with, and in the commercial trailer game, time is money, I reckon an I beam would be better, easy to work with a looks good too, or very big angle iron maybe, my mate built a trailer out of angle and it is still like new nearly 20 years later, almost all older trailers were C channels, the old Brookers and Jawars and most of them are still alive and kicking.

[whiteman]

Got the same problem as you Capn RB. Mine's a "Special" trailer, 10yo and looked after. But the rust comes from the inside. They are so poorly designed for saltwater. Ballpark quotes of $4,500 for a new trailer for a 5.3m Quinnie. I suppose my welder can get me another year or 2 but the bullet will be bitten not far into the future.

[Noelm]

$4,500 seems a bit much for a trailer to suit 5.3M boat

[stevej]

$4500 seems about on the money

I got quotes recently for a trailer to suit a 495 stacer 1200kg braked
the dunbier was the best boat yard price, mackay was from them direct, so $3-400 to get it to sydney

dunbier gal $3800
mackay alumnium $5662

chinese made gal 2800ish
local non mainstream brand gal$3500
chinese ally $3300
all without rego

[propdinger]

We had a special trailer (5.2mtr) lasted 13 years with a beam replaced once just replaced it with a dunbier which we spent a day putting tectyl 506 inside the frames and painted the outside to try and make it last longer. i was going to make one instead of forking out so much money on a new trailer but unless you make it in small sections it will cost around $700 for gal or less than $200 if its in peices

[captain red beard]

Had no luck buying a new frame from the manufacturer, they just want to sell me a complete new trailer. I have found someone in town to make me a new frame so that I can reuse my axles etc. I should be able to have it made from c section and I beam crossmembers just depends on price. If its too costly to be made that way I will have it oil filled from new which should see it last a bit longer then 6 years.
Since it will be all new steel I think I will have it galvanised. There is no one in Mackay that does galvanising so it would have to be sent to Townsville.
Does anyone know how good the quality of the galvanising is from the place in Townsville?
Cheers Red Beard