Trailer questions

[joeT]

Retrieving the boat yesterday I noticed that there was a slight tear in the strap webbing for my trailer. I bought this rig used so I knew that I would need to put a little work in it fixing small things etc.

I was thinking of just replacing the strap, however, on closer inspection I noticed that the winch is rated to 500kg and is 3:1 ratio. The boat weighs closer to 8-900kg and I've been finding it hard going winching it in! There is a bit of rust on the winch and I'm not a big fan of straps, so thinking of replacing the whole winch.

1) Do people prefer straps or wire rope? Spectra rope is a bit expensive I think.
2) Is it right to use a winch rated to 500kg on a boat that weighs more?
3) Can I just replace the strap with a wire rope and use the existing winch?


This is also my first braked trailer and I've noticed that the brake cables have surface rust and so do the fittings. The brakes seem to work ok but upon heavy braking the system is a bit jerky. It seems to give a little shunt when coming to a stop, nothing alarming, but I can feel it.

4) Is it normal to have jerkyness when braking harder with cable brakes?
5) Do brake cables need replacing when showing signs of rust?
6) Is there any additional maintenance I need to do on a braked trailer like lubricate the piston on the coupling?


Sorry for so many questions!

Many thanks

[Clyde]

JoeT,
Personnaly I'd look at fitting a new winch with one that has three reductions and allows the handle to be fitted to each drive shaft i.e. when the cable is slack you use the one to one and as the load becomes heavier you move on to the next reduction until you are in low gear, so to speak. I would assume that the 500kg's is ok unless you are picking it up off the beach etc where the loading would be the most. Theoretically the load experienced by the strap should never be the weight of the boat.

As for the cable brakes, my experience has been that the harder you brake, the harder they will brake the trailer and at times cause a jerking feeling accompanied by a noise. All you can do is keep things as lubed as possible so that the brake action is as smooth as possible.

Happy boating, cheers,
Clyde

[Chimo]

Hi JoeT

Why not have a look at a brand name 1:1 5:1 and 10:1 winch. In the past I had such a unit with a strap on it and you can use the appropriate ratio for the load ie 1:1 getting the boat on and part way up and then go to 5:1 or 10:1 depending on the grade of the ramp and your degree of tiredness. When we beach launched and basically drowned the trailer the 1:1 was great in the water too as we could get it loaded really quickly to avoid waves.

The other benefit of 1:1 is that you can unwind all the strap off when at home and wash the salt off and dry the strap before winding it on straight and flat ready for the next use. This also stopped the strap from rotting and also prevented the winch hub from rusting etc.

Re the brakes.

I found that the only way I couuld get mine to operate as I wished ie smooth and progressive was to:-
1 have the rotors machined as they are usually not true and you cannot adjust brakes properly if they are not true. Also if you adjust things up with untrue rotors you will get very hot bearings.

2 keep the piston well lubed and make sure the coupling is adjusted up correctly on your ball

3 to keep the cable as new I painted mine with a brush with fish oil before it ever got salt water on it. Its only gal wire which you need to be able to work it and to be able to adjust it over time. Old stuff that has started to rust is probably worth painting to see if you can extend the life but its probably on the way out. I'd try anyway as fish oil in the tin is cheap and easy to use as long as you do not need to work with the wire to adjust the brakes.

4 keep the cable adjuster under the piston on the pull well lubed so you can undo the lock nuts and adjust or change the cable as needed.

Those lever brakes are a heap easier to maintain than are 2 axles of hydraulic operated elec overide breakaways that are on my Tinka now, oh for the simple life.

Back to your questions
1) Do people prefer straps or wire rope? Spectra rope is a bit expensive I think.
Depends, strap is fine if you look after it and I now have wire on the 912 elec for my Vag and its fine if you look after it too

2) Is it right to use a winch rated to 500kg on a boat that weighs more?
I wouldn't especially with the ratio you have

3) Can I just replace the strap with a wire rope and use the existing winch?
I wouldn't


This is also my first braked trailer and I've noticed that the brake cables have surface rust and so do the fittings. The brakes seem to work ok but upon heavy braking the system is a bit jerky. It seems to give a little shunt when coming to a stop, nothing alarming, but I can feel it.

4) Is it normal to have jerkyness when braking harder with cable brakes?
Possibly your rotars are out of true so your brakes are not working as progressivly as they might were things set up as they could be

5) Do brake cables need replacing when showing signs of rust?
I dont like rusty cable especially if you will have to touch it to make adjustmets. When the nasty red track runs up your arm and goes under your armpit and blood poisoning has happened to you one tends to take steps to avoid a repeat. All that happened to me was one of the strands pierced one finger and eventually I was off to hospital. Do they need replacing? Do you feel lucky?..........

6) Is there any additional maintenance I need to do on a braked trailer like lubricate the piston on the coupling?
Yes and get the rotors machined so you can adjust things up as they should be./ Also keep the adjusters on the levers in such a condition that they can be operated and keep the piston greased and the coupling adjusted for you ball.

Also don't back the rotors into water when they are hot or you are likely to have to get them machined again.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Chimo

[joeT]

Thanks Chimo and Clyde.

I have attached a couple of pics.

1) Is the lube points for the coupling piston those rusty holes in the picture?
2) When doing lots of work on the trailer, do people take the boat off by dumping it on the lawn or go to the ramp, tie the boat the the pontoon, and work on the trailer in the car park?

[Far side]

Thanks Chimo and Clyde.

I have attached a couple of pics.

1) Is the lube points for the coupling piston those rusty holes in the picture?
2) When doing lots of work on the trailer, do people take the boat off by dumping it on the lawn or go to the ramp, tie the boat the the pontoon, and work on the trailer in the car park?

Joe T

1: THERE SHOULD BE 2 GREASE NIPPLES IN THIS AREA AND YOU NEED TO GREASE UP THE PISTON
CAPS LOCK OFF
2: Attach trailer to car get 6 tyers position the tyers along the keel get some side ropes off each side of the boat gradually let the boat off onto the tyers pack and adjust as required make sure the side ropes are tight so the boat dosent roll
pack 2 tyers or more on each side depending on hull shape take it all nice and slow and watch out for your transducer.
3. replace the crap cables they give you with some stainless and change the connection points on the brakes with stainless shackles
Coat the cables in lanlolin grease do your routine maintenance on the trailer. I actually gor a spray gun mixed with lanolin and got inside all of the box section and along the trailer in general works a treat.
Grease all of the springs and pull the rollers and grease under so they roll nice

warning dont move the trailer too far from the boat and you need it to line up nice when you pull it back on.
I was lucky to do this on a flat concrete surface and could take the car out of gear and pull the boat back on to the trailer with the car and trailer moving under the boat. I forgot to mention you need a couple of ropes at the back to keep the boat from going forward.
Take it all nice and slow you shouldn't have a problem I did mine by myself .

[Chimo]

Hi Joe

Yes the rusty holes are where there should be grease nipples. Would be worth-while jetting the crud out with something like innox or lannox before refitting nipples and greasing it with the same marine grease that you top up your bearing buddies on the wheels with. No bearing buddies? They are worth having too.

That wire looks a tad rusty for me. Whether you change or not it is up to you.

The adjuster under the pull looks rs too. If you relace it to be able to get fine adjustment thats also a good time to do the gal cable. If thats what you do drop the coil of cable into bucket and cover it in fish oil and let it get hot and soak in before you lift the cable above the oil to dry it before installing it.

Have you jacked up the trailer and spun the wheel to check the rotors for true?

Why don't you drop the boat onto a row of tyres on your front lawn to do your trailer up? I looks like there are a few jobs to do.

There a couple of good threads on here about how to do it but essentially you lay tyres along the keel and put a couple on either side to stop the boat falling over then tie the stern to a tree and drive the trailer slowly forward.

When putting the boat back on unhitch the trailer and just wind the trailer under the boat but be careful the front of the trailer does not hit you as it rises up when going under the boat.

Your new winch with the three ratios will make this easy. Look at the same brand winch as they are pretty good. Also get used to putting the winch handle in a safe place or you will lose several before you get wiser.

Cheers
Chimo