Trailer rebuild advice required

[goona]

Hi All,

Looking for some advice. My original trailer which is a Mackay Trailer under a 7.4m Pacific sportfish is starting to become very tired and the main rails need replacing sooner rather than later as it is rusting from the inside out.

I have over the years done a fair bit of wok to it such as new rims and tyres, new brakes, guards, bearings, axels and jockey wheel. The winch is a 12000lb 4wd winch with Dyneema and works well same as the battery. The post that the winch sits on is like brand new and the springs aren't to bad either.


Essentially it is the frame that need replacing but use all my running gear. Was thinking of going ally for the frame as I am trying to save weight as I recon on our stanage trip we would be very close to the 3.5t limit.


Does any one know who would be good to talk to that would take my good components off my trailer and build me a new frame and put my good components on. Oh was also thinking of going to skids instead of the rollers. Pros and cons for the skids are welcome.

Thanks Goona

[scottar]

Having seen my brother in law's trailer that Origin built, for a tinnie, provided you drive on, I would be going with frames across the trailer rather than skids along it provided there will be no structural issues with the hull. The boat can't help but end up in the right spot.

[MTAQ/BTAQ]

With skids you have to sink the whole trailer to get the boat off, this will accelerate the rusting of the trailer and will need replacing in 3-5 years (my old 6 meter boat was a plastic boat and so required skids and was launched 3 times a week and trailer rusted quite quickly).My new boat is an alloy boat and trailer has rollers and I only sink about a meter of it in the water and expect it to last much longer

[Lovey80]

Goons definitely go ally. You won't regret it. Give origin a ring and get a quote.

[madmaskbass]

I was observing (as a passenger) driving next to a new 6odd metre Quintrex on a shiny new aluminum trailer that seems to be all the rage at the moment. We were on a pretty nice road and the flex that this trailer was doing was eye opening to say the least. With the flex and the common knowledge of how much alloy doesnt like to flex I can't see this trailer at all being a long term proposition..and then what happens when it breaks...a HUGE repair bill..

I am not saying that alloy trailers are not great because some of the custom things you see around look unreal...but I would never be putting a nice boat like yours or any on something that was alloy that was not custom built....

What passes for trailers from most manufacturers these days is an absolute joke..

I know the Stanage road well and in my opinion I would not take ANY alloy boat trailer on it..you might get lucky and go when its been graded but it its a bit older then I reckon your asking for trouble at those weights especially on that road!

I am no expert i'm truly not but I just have taken an interest in boat trailers and from my observation

[brett62]

Hi Goona.

I am just getting towards the end of finishing off my trailer. I was looking at building a alloy trailer for my 7m glass boat that weighs 3 ton and ended up building out of steel. I work with a bus load of structural/ mechanical engineers at work and got them to check out what would work and they came back with a combination of using steel RHS/Channel. I told them what I wanted out of the trailer and how far I was towing and they said go steel. There are heaps of alloy trailers around and seem to work well and are great if you are trying to get below the magic 3500kg. I was really stuffed as even with a alloy trailer I would have still been over. You really do have to look at where you are towing and how much. The section sizes they gave me if I was to go alloy was crazy to get the same strength. Flex was there main issue with the alloy. If you have a trailer flexing a lot the stress is than passed on to the boat. There are plenty of steel trailers around that suffer from this not just alloy trailers. What ever you decide to go with just make sure it will do what you need and go where you want. Sitting on the side of the road with a broken trailer is not much fun.

I went with a full set of keel rollers and multi rollers. I have pictures on another post Trailer Build so you can see what I did. I sink my trailer and drive off and on so it see plenty of water. It just means I need to be good with doing maintenance which does take a fair amount of time but that's boating. With the new trailer I am installing a wash system inside the box sections for flushing and rust proofing inside also. There are many things you can do to make it easier to look after your trailer and there are some great ideas on this site from people.

All the best

[tunaticer]

Brett Simonis from Peninsula Steel will look after you.

[goona]

Thanks Everyone for the feed back. I will do a ring around now that I am back in Brisbane. Does anyone know who built All For Adventure trailer as that thing goes everywhere and from memory that's an allow trailer. Jury's still out weather to go alloy or steel though.

[DAVE_S]

Thanks Everyone for the feed back. I will do a ring around now that I am back in Brisbane. Does anyone know who built All For Adventure trailer as that thing goes everywhere and from memory that's an allow trailer. Jury's still out weather to go alloy or steel though.

Same mob that built there boat.