Trailer Trouble

[Yara50]

Yara's trailer had a new axle, springs and brakes when I bought her ten years ago. Now there is corrosion on the axle and rear trailer RHS frame.
The trailer was originally made by Tracer Trailers in Dee Why some 30 years ago. Eight or so years ago they were still in existance, and could do repairs with the boat on top.

The company now calling itself Tracer trailers, is as far as I can deduce, nothing to do with the original. They got me to drop off my trailer at their Narrabeen site, a difficult little place on a busy road with limited access. That evening they called me and said they couldnt do the repairs I need for the Rego. Panic set in, as the rego was due in two days time.

I have to park the boat on the street as I live on a steep block-no flat grass to off-load the boat. I was thinking of hiring a mooring and putting the boat on that while I get the trailer sorted. However it would be a hassle, as currently the motor is also away getting repaired, and the boat has no anti-foul paint on the hull.

Luckily I have a warehouse, but the architect was an idiot, and reversing a trailer into the door is impossible. However, stuck between a rock and a hard place, I have made a plan of how to disconnect the trailer, turn, re-connect, and push the boat over a hump into the warehouse. Thanks to the Morton Bay Investigator Association, I have the instructions on how to unload the boat onto the ground. All set to do the job on Sunday. Wish me luck!!

[fatpaddler]

Geez, that sounds like quite the ordeal! Fingers crossed it goes well.

[Ozzie]

Good luck Ian. I heard it mentioned on the "other" site that it's a pain welding previously galvanised steel as they have to remove a lot of the coating around the area to be welded because heated gal gives off poisonous fumes. Did they mention this ?

I'm curious as I will need weld repairs done myself this year and afterwards need to treat the stripped back areas. I'm going to coat the entire trailer in fish oil after. I've long done caring what it looks like , just want longevity now.

Something similar to myself......

[atles]

Ian,
Sorry to here you are have a big problum with the trailer,
If you were in brisbane, I would let you put it at my place.
hope it works out for you

[Yara50]

So far so good. Yara now safely tucked away in my warehouse.
The instructions from the Moreton Bay Investigator group were good. An important bit that we did not intially follow, was that the tilted trailer had to be kept so that the back rollers were off the ground. As I normally do not have a restraint on the tilt, we tried it without. It works when launching into water, as the bouyancy tends to lift the boat off the back roller. However, on concrete, the boat weight sitting on the last roller, pushed it on to the ground, and stopped us from driving the trailer out. Winched the boat back up, tied rope around the front of the tilt section to stop it touching the ground, and then all went as per plan.

Now to get the trailer fixed up...

Note unrestrained tilt

Safely supported on tyres and drying plank

[Yara50]

Trailer is back, beautifully re-built with two new cross frames, new running gear, and an all-over epoxy paint job.
Now the problem comes getting the boat back on the trailer. The Moreton bay group instructions say winch the trailer under the boat, without connecting the car. Trouble with that is that the back end of the trailer hits the ground, and with a lot of weight on it, is not going to slide under the boat. One option is to instead drag the boat over the pine panelling I put under the keel, but I am not keen on that. My latest thoughts are to connect the car, restrain the tilt, and reverse the method I used to get the trailer out. However this time I will have to winch both trailer and car backwards!

[atles]

Hi Ian,
in the photo it looks like you may have room
to put a small jack under the front of the keel to lift it
so the trailer first rollers will go under this may help. get it back on
best to have the car and the trailer to do the job tho.

[Yara50]

Finally the boat is back on her trailer. There were quite a few jobs needed on the trailer to get things back as they were. The trailer repair guy focussed on the frame and running gear and not the fiddly bits.

Winching the car and trailer under the boat was difficult, as the weight of the boat lifted the car off its springs, so I had to progressively tighten the tilt restrain ropes until the point that the back wheels of the car were about to lift off the ground. At this point the front of the keel was off the ground, but the back of the trailer was also hard on the concrete. (Actually a plank on top of the concrete to prevent it being damaged.)
Luckily when I launched the boat onto the floor, I had placed two pine lining planks under the aft part of the keel. At this stage there was nothing for it but to drag the boat onto the trailer. Those planks saved the day, as rather than the keel sliding on the concrete, keel and upper plank slid on the lower plank.

[Ozzie]

Good work Ian. I am looking at trailer repairs as I mentioned. I considered repairing cross members but gather was not an option your trailer guy considered and total replacement was more cost effective? Was the gal coating and issue with welding.

[Yara50]

Ozzie,
My "trailer guy" is actually a full engineering and painting workshop, so they dont muck around. As far as I can tell they made two new cross-members from galvanised RHS (Rolled Hollow Sections) as per the original. They welded these to the existing side channels. As the whole frame was then epoxy painted, I cant tell how they treated the actual welds.

He was very reasonable, and I suspect he did it at cost price, as I have been a customer for 30 years!