Hats Off To Boaters That Trailer

[treeskier]

Well my second excursion with the trailer (boat normally lives on our lift all season) didn't go as well as the first.

EVEN THOUGH I just picked up the trailer from the outfit that does all my maintenance which I dropped off specifically to have the trailer hubs and bearings inspected and serviced I had a catastrophic bearing failure on the Garden State Parkway.

I noticed in my side mirror what looked like a loose fender on the drivers side of the trailer so I pulled into a rest area on the GSP to zip tie it in place. It turned out that the unusual wobbling was not a loose fender but a wheel that was no longer tracking true. When I jacked up the trailer the wheel came off on its own (lug nuts still in place. The inner bearings were gone completely. The only thing holding the wheel on was the weight of the boat...ugg. A major disaster avoided I called a flat bed for the low low price of $500 and had it delivered to a recommended service center near our final destination (46 miles).

The truck operator from South Shore Towing was impressive getting the one wheeled trailer on the rollback and securing it for safe transport. Hopefully my Boat US trailer policy will really reimburse me ...they said they would when I called....we will see.

The repairs should be done tomorrow and we will be back in business for the weekend.

 

[Betik]

The boat looks gorgeous; the trailer .... not so much!

As far as I can tell from the picture and my limited experience; it the maintaince place that you reimburse for the towing not Boat US

 

[njmr2fan]

We consider ourselves very lucky to be 7 miles from a beautiful park with multiple launch ramps into Clarkes Hill Lake / Lake Thurmond. Not even 10 mins driveway to ramp.

 

[2kwik4u]

Man, that sucks that you just had it looked at and then had this problem. Nothing more frustrating than that. One of the reasons I do my own maintenance and checks. I've been burned too many times to trust most mechanics.

 

[tomeygun]

trailering is all I know.

I would honestly struggle with allowing my boat to be in someone elses care. or be unsupervised away from me.

Same here. Winter is my tinker-time to wrench on the toys. Maybe sit in my boat and crack a beer, who knows.

 

[treeskier]

Yeah it’s partly my fault. My usual shop does good work but you really need to be specific on what you want done they tend not to reach. Also great with the boat apparently not so much with trailer. Blackfoot Marine and Trailer Service in Atlantic Highlands, NJ had it all fixed and ready to roll by 10:30 this morning. One new hub and new bearings all around.

View attachment 83820

 

[PJ73]

We trailer all over the state in Wisconsin. Have boat (just sold our '06 Sea Ray in pic), will travel. Had the right tire blow out on the trailer last September, almost lost the entire rig and boat at 65 mph. Instinct was to hit the breaks but stopped myself from doing that. The boat was nowhere in my rear mirror so the inertia would have flipped the truck. Was able to get control and catch up to the boat. They guy in the honda behind me must have shit his pants when the fender, tire, brackets and wiring harness came flying off at his car. Did about $3000.00 worth of damage to the trailer and boat. We are ordering a 2019 AR210 this winter and will continue to trailer all over. Should be nice to trailer with a tandem axle instead of the single. Cant wait to get that Yamaha, it's gonna be a long winter.

 

[PJ73]

Stay safe when trailering, check tire pressure (I did but the tire had dry rotted on the inside), and make sure you get new tires every few years.

 

[4x15mph]

@treeskier , great to read about your adventures but sorry about your last run. You were prepared with your us Tow and sounds like you got back up and running very quickly. This post was a good reminder of the importance of trailer preventative maintenance. Ordering new tires for next season now that mine are about 3 years old. I also need to learn more about the bearings and will post separately

Glad you were safe and the grandkid(s) got to enjoy the boat.

 

[treeskier]

Definitely should have known better...I grew up family vacationing with a travel trailer it was always a tradition to pull the hubs and clean, inspect and re-grease the wheel bearings before our 2 week vacation. I left that task to my service people this time and I found out the hard way that they are not trailer people.

 

[Peelz]

Same here. Winter is my tinker-time to wrench on the toys. Maybe sit in my boat and crack a beer, who knows.

its also stereo tuning time

and beer helps for sure.

 

[Jgorm]

My river place is 5 minutes from the ramp going 35mph. Brand new tires and freshly greased hubs with new bearing buddies. I'm good for the next 7 to 10 years.