Trailer repairs

[IanS]

Bravo Ozzie.

[Andrew]

Good to get those boat wheels going again Ozzie, solid job there.

[Ozzie]

Thanks gents . The work is done. All new everything bar the original drop axle which was sound. I have prepared a detailed post with pics but quickly here’s a link I had in my favourites. Self explanatory .

https://www.eatondetroitspring.com/lubr ... afsprings/

My mechanic concurred. He recommended maintenance above all else. I have installed gal springs of course. The cost difference was negligible. But even so he said clean everything thoroughly after use and once rust starts clean it and paint.

Anyway detailed post with pics and inventory coming up.

[Andrew]

Thanks for all the input. I have unfortunately or fortunately as in “thank god” finished much of the work prior to reading it. I used Duragal steel as I had some on hand and purchased the rest locally.

https://ausrollform.com.au/the-duragal-difference/
Though duragal may be different to hot dip I’m firmly convinced that trailer maintenance is far more important than either. Dunking steel, treated or otherwise, in salt water without proper maintenance and cleaning will ultimately lead to tears before bedtime. I say this after close to half a century of boat trailer ownership. My old tinny trailer was just untreated steel and got used regularly and usually half submerged at each retrieval. It got pressure washed after every use while waiting for the outboard to flush and repainted regularly. Results, zero rust when I sold it. I am about to fill my crossmembers with oil . I’m thinking not “pour in drain out” fishoil as mentioned. but fill them with engine oil and leave it in there. !!! Copious grease on everything else. The rest of the trailer I think I’ll paint with fish oil. 2E5D630E-63D1-45D5-B9C6-D1BA43DE60BD.jpeg

After my mate did all the welding my wife, who’s a dab hand with a paint brush put two coats of galmet grey on all welds and new Duragal. She offered to do the whole trailer but I declined, pointing out that if you go to buy a secondhand trailer and it’s all painted in opaque grey or silver you get to wondering what was “under“ the paint. At least I do. It’s obvious on my trailer what was still quite sound and original and what was repaired/replaced. Fish oil being transparent won’t look like it’s attempting to hide anything come sale time.
A868F5CD-BF85-4279-81ED-3006FD1F3F96.jpeg
It was a pleasure watching my mate, a retired boilermaker welding. Neater than the original. He uses Duragal for all his projects including his own truck bodies and trailers. Also reinforced my decision not to attempt the work myself with my green shed arc welder and near non existent welding abilities.

To each his own.

Glad the projects going well Ozzie, The Duragal looks like a great product (had a good read, from your link) and a great way to build a trailer frame without the difficulties of hot dipping a huge object. They say it's better than hot dip, due to it's alloy of 3% magnesium and 2.5% Aluminium (?with the zinc), your boiler maker mates' method is certainly far more user friendly. I will try it out on "the next" trailer build . (and also on my wylo2 steely project)