fully agree that a good Stainless trailer can be built, but it seems that almost all the ones we see (read cheap) are not constructed as they should be and fail.
fully agree that a good Stainless trailer can be built, but it seems that almost all the ones we see (read cheap) are not constructed as they should be and fail.
My thoughts have been that to build a trailer from stainless it has to be over- engineered to basically take out flex and do large gussetts etc on welds. Same as the earlier ally ones before knowledge was gained on how to do it better. Comes down to quality of welds and the control of load at that point. Gets to a pont where on a larger trailer the weight is silly. I understand that on a small trailer you can easilly over - engineer things as the weight of boat is light and transport streses are low but the trailer in the link is a tri- axle with a heavy lump on it. That trailer if properly engineered would have to weight near twice as much as a heav duty steel gal one.
It is very hard to determin at what point a bit of stainless has been worked hard by the load on it and at what point it will fail. With steel trailers it has been shown over the years what to expect from a particular grade and shape of stel after galvanising and even after 10 years of exposure and 10% of rust. More experience , more data in the real world. I don't doubt some people have the expertise but the Joe - blow local welder canư just use the same section and design as he would for mild steel if doing a stainless one - that is the worry.
Just how much over- engineering on a stainless trailer would make it safe ?
Still not sure how anything stainless that is heavilly loaded will go as having seen stuff that I though was pretty well engineered in industrial situations not sure I wan't to be towing it on the road at 5t.
Yeh... it is typical of so many things.
They try to make something different, but expect to use the same methods and expect them to work.
My expectation is that and optimumly endineered stanless ( and aluminium and plastic for that matter) trailer would look very different to your typical mild steel one.
Lets face it trailer manufacture isn't the pinical of metalwork engineering or the boilermakers art............99% of trailers are crude things built to a price.
My expectation is that an optimuly designed stanless trailer would be made out of shaped and folded stock....more of a sheet metal exercise.. rather than but welding of sections of extrusion
There are things you can do with stanless that you can not or would not do with mild steel, particularly if you were galvanisisng it.
cheers
Its the details, those little details, that make the difference.
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