Time for a new Trailer

[Y-Not]

Have decided to keep the old Cruise craft a few more years, but to do so means a Trailer update.
Any suggestions n Brands to sus out or to stay away from. My current trailer is almost 30 years old and has just reached that stage where the frame has gone to far to feel safe towing it any distance on holidays.

Are Dunbier as good as they say? I have looked at an Oceanic it seemed well made.
Any feed back appreciated.

Trev

[rosco1974]

have a 2.5yr old oceanic under my 610 makocraft will be surprised if i get 5 yrs out of it,showing rust signs and in the next 6 months will need all ubolts replaced...go the dunbier thats what will be my next trailor
cheers rosco

[NTMID8]

I have a 93 Mackay under my 470f signature, seems pretty solid still, recently had to replace the crossbar on the drive on section but other than that still pretty good.

[PWCDad]

I have two Oceanic trailers. One has corrosion that needs refinishing and all the u bolts are severely corroded, brake discs are swelled beyond help on one as well.

Both are very well looked after... washed every time they were used. Kept under cover, even used a salt slayer pump at the ramp if going overnight to no avail. Never again. Both stored under cover.

One is 4 yrs old and one is 5 yrs old.

My new trailer is a Mackay Aluminium 6500 series with ATM of 3800kg.

Only around 4 months old but have looked at a couple that were 2 yrs and 3 yrs old. The two yr old one was never washed after launching and retreiving boat.

The gal sections were at the stage where some white powder was forming on the under carriage but the trailer in the main looked like my new except the ally colour was a darker grey.

I'm hoping "long term trailer" with this ally trailer.

Bloody expensive though....

Anthony

[maztez]

Brejen (Brett) has just built a gal trailer for the . Viper plate .. All bolt on so if one section rusts , it can be replaced without having to replace whole trailer ..does any other manufacturer do this ??

[Captain Seaweed]

I have an aluminium Dunbier under mine and I am very happy with it. My second choice would be the FMS trailers for sure.

Marty

[bigjimg]

Trev, Have you got a price for the Dunbier yet?Ivan at FMS trailers gave me a verbal price of around $5 grand for my Signature 580.They will leave Dunbier for dead.I have a Dunbier under mine.When it dies FMS will get the job.Jim PS As a side note Ivan doesn't stuff around with all kinds of axles 3.5 ton is the smallest he goes.

[Jarrah Jack]

A mate has a four year old dunbier under his trail craft and its beginning to rust so don't expect that to be your answer. He washes it down now but for the first few years he didn't.

Imho the pederson trailers from portsea marine are the best because they are alloy,bolt together and have the torque suspension.

[Alchemy]

Have decided to keep the old Cruise craft a few more years, but to do so means a Trailer update.
Any suggestions n Brands to sus out or to stay away from. My current trailer is almost 30 years old and has just reached that stage where the frame has gone to far to feel safe towing it any distance on holidays.

Are Dunbier as good as they say? I have looked at an Oceanic it seemed well made.
Any feed back appreciated.

Trev

Hi Trev,

Give Origin Boats a call. They have built me an alloy trailer for my new 7.5m Origin Evolution. Without bias it is an awesome trailer. Built from 5083 plate which is folded to shape and welded. It has Duratorque axles meaning no leafsprings to rust and I spent the extra to have stainless disks and calipers. Probably not as cheap as a Dunbier alloy, but it is a custom trailer to suit your boat. It has weighed in at only 560kg too.

Here is a link to a post about it. http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...hlight=trailer

Regards,
Dave.

PS, i towed my boat home from Redcliffe to Townsville without any probs.

[murf]

Brejen (Brett) has just built a gal trailer for the . Viper plate .. All bolt on so if one section rusts , it can be replaced without having to replace whole trailer ..does any other manufacturer do this ??

yup Felk trailers do the bolt together version

If I was to make one this would be the go as I could get it HDG easier in the smaller sections and as said when the rear end starts to rust away just replace that one section

cheers Murf

[Scalem]

Whatever your choice of trailer, I think all manufacturers try to cut corners to save their cost of manufacture. How? One way others have already identified in the U bolts. There is gal and there is GAL. I'm no expert on the processes, but I have seen differences in quality. Other ways....

• I got caught once where the hubs supplied are an imported hub, where the inner and outer bearings are the same size. Try matching the dust cap size to your regular ford/ holden bearing buddy and you are in for a surprise. Way too big!! Insist, and then put it in writing what stub axle you want, or they will fit the same imported/ cheap irregular size hubs that you will find annoying when trying to source bearings and fit bearing buddies to. A very generous ausfisher engineered sleeves to fit these hubs for me, or I would never have been able to use bearing buddies.
• They will fit ford stub pattern with 13" ford trailer rims. Annoying again! Very hard to find 13" ford rims unless you order them specially from a tyre or specialist trailer place. Same goes for the tyres - had to order them specially. I hate being snookered into using tyres and rims I can't source easily. Imagine steaking tyres on Frazer Island and trying the closest wreckers. You would be lucky to find spares. It's either 13" holden rims or 14" Ford available anywhere, not 13" Ford
• If you are buying for a Tinnie, make sure you get Tinnie Keel rollers. Wrong type will chew them out very quickly.

From there, a trailer manufacturer to me is only as good as being able to cater to what I want, having been stung before. Decent U Bolts and springs, the right wheels and stub axles that don't force you to go through a long process finding spares or replacements a few years down the track.

Scalem

[Crocodile]

Hello Y-Not,
If you are going to keep it for a while consider getting a custom aluminium trailer.
You may able to use parts such as winch, coupling, rollers, springs and axles from the current trailer to save some $$$$'s.
I have made loose enquiries of the local welding shops and have been suprised at how reasonable the quotes were for aluminium.
Bu local I mean Currumbin, which is not too far from Jimboomba.
I suppose that it is all a question of dollars.
If you have got 30 years from the original you have done very well.
I have been told that you need to be careful where the steel parts touch the aluminium to prevent galvanic corrosion.

[deckie]

Like many i'm not sure why trailers just do not seem to last as long these days. I have my theories about poor gal jobs, lack of simple but regular maintenance etc but they're just theories and pick ups from older experienced heads that have the results to back it up. latest trailer i did up was also a near 30yo gal still in great nick made by Tracer trailers in Sydney who are still going strong from what i gather...that alone says something to me but is that simply a reflection of a good gal job originally ? No idea.
All we can do is pass on stuff we have heard, results we have seen, and theories that need to be disproved or pondered by those better qualified.
When it comes to trailers its not just the money saved by doing it right..its peace of mind, supporting a hull evenly without pinpointing road and weight stress onto it, safety, and that pain in the arse factor of being disappointed it didnt last and/or having to replace.
Best old salt i know has always done things his way and as a wise man once said...if we dont learn from the past we are destined to repeat our mistakes.
I'll pass on some things he told me and other stuff i've heard which as far as i'm concerned make at least some sense but i cant prove either way.
1. Trailers that were regularly fishoiled last longer. Probably still the number 1 preventive maintenance i keep hearing...and heard it from repair/builders. Easy applied by various means and can be used/done anywhere without getting the wannabe Bob Brown's on your arse.
2. Removing trailer lights. This theory is old school but just keeps making sense to me. Older trailers where you spent all of 20 seconds removing the lights before dunking and leave in the boot till going home might be another theory that is actually true to a certain extent. We discuss galvanic corrosion, residual currents etc in alloy boats a lot, but for some reason our trailers (being the ugly fat chick of the boating world) dont get asked this question. How does this sound to you ...we dunk steel into saltwater and leave it sit for hours and hours with electric appliances connected to it. Does this sound silly at a very basic level to anyone else ?
3. The majority of trailer corrosion is done at the ramp whilst on the water. We dunk into saltwater then leave alone with the salt for hours and hours. The second time on retrieval we tend to think about the trailer and wash/rinse it off with freshwater and feel content thats enough good maintenance. One dunk left for 6 hours with saltwater on steel in the sun, but the second treated after maybe 5 minutes and we're happy ??? One day someone will carry an old 22l plastic fuel tank full of f/water on their trailer with a small bilge pump in it, connect via a switch to the parker lights thru the trailer pin plug, and run some garden poly irrigation tubing down their trailer. After launching and retrieval flick a switch or turn the parkers on when coming off the ramp and it sprays/flushes the trailer with freshwater as u head away from the ramp to park or to go home. No me tho..too bloody lazy and stubborn and cant wait the 25 yrs to test the theory.
4. We tend to think trailer only after the damage is done in its first years. When we notice a problem we attack it but the best time to treat is when brand new. One old guy i know with the most beaten up tinnie u;ve seen but immaculate trailer told me he covered it in marine penetrol when brand new to act as a water repellant and binder/primer over the gal. But i know this bloke bullshits abouts fish he catches so i dont necessarily trust a word he says. Just passing it on coz it seemed to make sense at the time. His secret he said was penetrol and fishoil over the back half since brand new.
5. Ask for the most common axle, stub axle/wheel/springs combo. Can be half the price to maintain/replace every 5 yrs or so.
6. Welds and box section corrode fastest from the inside and never treated/looked at. Ask for a resealable access hole into any box section especially at the rear so u can stick a spray nozzle tube into it and fishoil the inside of the steel tubing especially at welds. Plug up/weld/epoxy the hole up. Assume water always finds a way into anything no matter how secure it looks. Look for low points where water can pool on the inside even on a new trailer.
7. Always let the bearings cool down before launching. Plus always take a spare set and some grease if heading up the highway at 100kph on hollies....this part i know is worth doing

Everyone has probably heard similar or other theories over the yrs. Who the hell has the patience to test them all out tho ? What i do know is that if you're like me, when it comes to trailers we never learn coz we cant be stuffed I'm trying hard to listen to the old buggers tho coz the odd one seems to have some common sense.

[Mike Delisser]

Are Dunbier as good as they say?
Any feed back appreciated.

Trev

I wouldn't say.
Just about the only thing "Dunbier" left on my 4 year old Dunbier trailer is the frame. I don't have the rust issues others here have (I fish the fresh 90% of the time) but everything else has worn out or fallen to bits.
Cheers

[wrxhoon]

[quote=Scalem;1213280]

• I got caught once where the hubs supplied are an imported hub, where the inner and outer bearings are the same size. Try matching the dust cap size to your regular ford/ holden bearing buddy and you are in for a surprise. Way too big!! Insist, and then put it in writing what stub axle you want, or they will fit the same imported/ cheap irregular size hubs that you will find annoying when trying to source bearings and fit bearing buddies to. A very generous ausfisher engineered sleeves to fit these hubs for me, or I would never have been able to use bearing buddies.

I have a USA built ally trailer with US Ford hubs on duratorque axles , you can always weld new local Ford stubs if thats what you want . I prefer the larger US stubs, hubs and bearings because they will last longer . I can buy bearing buddies 1.98" to suit ( B/Buddy brand ) anytime from US much cheaper than you can buy them here andf have them in 7 days . Bearings and seals you can buy them localy or from US.
I wouldn't use Holden bearing/hubs because they are much smaller and HT Holden ( 13" rims) only have 7/16 studs, I prefer the thicker 1/2" Ford studs.

From there, a trailer manufacturer to me is only as good as being able to cater to what I want, having been stung before. Decent U Bolts and springs, the right wheels and stub axles that don't force you to go through a long process finding spares or replacements a few years down the track.

I have S/Steel U bolts in mine , no springs to rust ( duratorque axles) and S/steel sleeves over the stubs for the double lip seals to have a perfect none rust surface. I don't use the local marine s/s rings they sell you here in AUS because you have to change them every time you remove the inner bearing for service.

I have mine set up with Kodiak S/S brakes, vented S/S rotors, S/S calipers , S/S brackets and bolts . In 5 years the only maintenance , a new set of ceramic brake pads. I don't know if you can buy them here but I don't bother, I buy them from USA for US$ 30 per axle, US$ 60 for all 4 wheels + US$25 to post and I have them in about a week.

The rotors never rust while the trailer is sitting there sometimes for a few weeks at the time. Thats the biggest problem with boat trailer brakes, rotors rust and when you next take the trailer out you rip your pads off . The none S/steel calipers will seize eventualy as well.

If you want to avoid galvanic reaction on ally trailers make sure all bolts have a gasket where they touch the alloy.