What a day...my ego hurts!

[CDENsomnia]

So we left today from the Kansas City area to come to Table Rock lake which is about a 3.5 hour drive. We had to take a weird way down through the hills because we dropped my daughter off at her grandparents house in Joplin. For whatever reason the GPS took us through the hills on winding up and down on steep grades. We were towing with my wifes Denali which tows the boat pretty well although I prefer to tow with my superduty, but the Denali is more comfortable for all.

I knew we shouldn't go through the hills like we did but by the time I thought about it, it was too late. We kept trucking through the hills and was coming to a stop and my wife said "Do you smell that?". At first I didn't smell anything but then it just hit me. I look in the mirror and see my drivers side trailer brakes smoking. I think what was happening was when the Denali would downshift to keep us from accelerating the boat would come forward and cause the brakes to drag, they heated up pretty bad. So I pulled over for about 30 minutes checked the brakes and the fluid. Seems like I saved everything by pulling over. I think I will replace the rotors when we get back just to be on the safe side.

This was only the beginning, we got to Indian Pointe and pulled in to the condo and there are these very tight entrances with rock walls lining the drive. I pulled in no problem, got our keys and couldn't really turn around so I attempted to back out the way we came. Needless to say I looked away for a split second to watch for traffic and rolled hard enough in to a small piece of that rock wall. It peeled the rim of the trailer wheel back and poof the tire let all the air out. We stopped to look and I knew it was done for but we had to get the trailer out of the exit. We adjust the trailer more and once again I am having to pay attention to traffic and the wife was spotting the trailer. Just as she crossed over we nicked the other side tires on the wall. Luckily it kept its air. We finally got it out of the exit and changed the flat tire with the spare.

Needless to say I am going to look for another tire tomorrow morning because who knows how long that tire will hold up. Frankly I don't want to move the boat without a new tire. When we get back I will have to buy another wheel and tire to replace the spare. All I gotta say is my 3 bad things are done for this trip...time for a beer! Thank god for a spare tire!! My ego is hurt a little because I have been towing trailers since I started driving (much bigger trailers then this) and have never had an incident like this. After we dropped the trailer we found the little known service entrance to move the boat in and out without dealing with the wall of shame!!!!! Ugh!

Now its lake time!

 

[woodard1983]

I'm jealous, even with the troubles, trying to figure out a way to make a trip down there happen this year!!!

hows the water, I hear it's pretty clear right now?

 

[Murf'n'surf]

I feel your pain. It's the towing with a different vehicle thing...in your truck, you know where every inch is then you jump into another vehicle and all bets are off.

 

[jcyamaharider]

Way to turn some negatives into positives. Drink a beer get out on the boat and enjoy. It always could have been worse.

 

[4x15mph]

@CDENsomnia, good to hear it worked out in that you are on the water. Your attitude is a lot better than mine would have been so there was another lesson to me in reading all of this.

Can't wait to hear about this place. 3 1/2 hours is a long trip so I know it has to be great.

 

[itsdgm]

Bummer. It happens to the best !!!

 

[txav8r]

As they say..."shit happens", and glad you let it go and chilled! I go with the different vehicle/different local than your accustomed to. Some of these resort places just are not laid out for boat trailers very well are they! Glad you found an alternate entrance. Hills are a bear with surge brakes, but you would heat up the Denali brakes if you didn't have them. Even coasting down a hill can have the boats weight resting against the actuator and applying brakes on a long downhill grade. Can't remember his name, but someone that used to climb that pass out by Reno/Lake Tahoe had similar experiences a few years back and there was a long thread about it on "you know where". If you had to deal with those issues often, you would need to set up for it differently, but like you said, a wayward routing this time. The tires...well, they can be replace as well as the wheel, and they are not too expensive (unless you swapped for radials and nicer wheels). At least you have a Shorelandr, and those axles are much stouter than the MFI trailer, although I think the rating is the same, but the square tubing and the way they mount may align them better, but still watch the tire to make sure you don't have any alignment issue now due to a bent axle or hub.

Have a great time, what a nice lake that is!

 

[Boat Crazy]

PM sent.

 

[Speedling]

Electric brakes are awesome btw.
when I got my exciter I blew a tire coming from marylandto indiana and had to find a spare on sSunday.
When we got the 212ss from florida, I brought 3 different tire and rim combos, lol

 

[CDENsomnia]

@woodard1983 table rock in my opinion is the best lake in the midwest. It's very clear water. My brother in law is 6'5" and even when he has his legs all the way down I can see his feet. The jet wash coming from the pumps even has more of a white or blue tint to it. It took us years to finally pull the trigger to get here. Now we make it a point to come often.

To the rest of you...i will agree having the wifes denali did make a difference. I am definitly more comfortable in my superduty. I also found out this morning one of my other rims was bent slightly but on the inside of the rim where no contact was made. I will try and take a picture of the wheel with the most damage...i am now questionning how good of wheels came on these trailers. Seems like they are very weak!!! Time to replace them because if you saw what I saw... a small rock and just barely moving tore the wheel up.

Sometimes reading the comments you all leave just makes the situation easier for some reason. It's like I have 30 helpers...so thank you! Love this community! Also shout out to @Boat Crazy for offering some assistance!

 

[CDENsomnia]

Electric brakes are awesome btw.
when I got my exciter I blew a tire coming from marylandto indiana and had to find a spare on sSunday.
When we got the 212ss from florida, I brought 3 different tire and rim combos, lol

Did you switch from surge to electric brakes? I have thought about doing that but not sure if it would be worth the cost.

 

[Lspeedss]

Just goes to prove further...BEER fixes everything...

 

[Lspeedss]

Its like Duct tape for a man's soul...

 

[woodard1983]

@woodard1983 table rock in my opinion is the best lake in the midwest. It's very clear water. My brother in law is 6'5" and even when he has his legs all the way down I can see his feet. The jet wash coming from the pumps even has more of a white or blue tint to it. It took us years to finally pull the trigger to get here. Now we make it a point to come often.

We made it down 2 years ago, I'm hoping to make it an every other or every 3rd year trip...wasn't planning on doing it this year, but from all the reports on how clear the water is this year I really want to try to make it....

problem for me is it's an 8 hour trip

 

[davel501]

Only a noob or a non-boater would give you a hard time for any of this. They still think they are too smart for any of these things to happen to them. The rest of us know that being smart doesn't prevent learning new things. We learn as we spend and spend as we learn.

 

[txav8r]

Only a noob or a non-boater would give you a hard time for any of this. They still think they are too smart for any of these things to happen to them. The rest of us know that being smart doesn't prevent learning new things. We learn as we spend and spend as we learn.

Amen...as I said, shit happens...to the very best. The difference is how quickly you can get a beer open and laugh about it!

 

[CDENsomnia]

@woodard1983 If you end up going down, PM me I would love to meet up with a fellow jetboater! If you want to go on the cheap I recommend the state park. We actually tented there to help with the budget. Pretty cheap to tent camp! This week we are staying at a nice resort called the Village at Indian Point until the 6th. Love this place but hate their entrance!

 

[MikeyL]

We learn as we spend and spend as we learn.

WOW .......... This is sooooooooooo true, it oughta become the sub-motto of our board !
Thanks for the BIG Smile, Dave ! We all needed this one !
Y'all have a dy-no-mite Boating Sunday ......... we're skipping Church (I know ... we're "bad") and going out in a few mins ourselves) !
Mikey Lulejian - Lake Oconee, GA

 

[primedoc]

Had a flat on Friday (I've already had it to two separate places to fix but evidently nobody has the expertise to fix a simple flat) so I pick up a plug kit and fix it myself. Then I get to our camp ground and go to launch the boat and the left rear Fulton transom tie down REFUSES to release. After much prodding, fussing, and cussing in the 90F 95% humidity it finally released. Then I get on the boat and guess where the battery switches were? That's right, dead as a door nail. I loaded the boat back up, just went home ans said we'll just try again on Saturday. When I got back to the lake yesterday with fully charged batteries the same tie down REFUSES to release at all this time. I was forced to cut the strap to unload the boat. That's right, evidently 2-3 months is the life expectancy for the tie downs on a new $60K boat!! Anyone know the model number for the Fulton transom straps on the 2014 240 series?

 

[tdonoughue]

So, here is a noob question:

Regarding the brakes on the hills, what should you have done to prevent that. Aside from switching to electric brakes, I can't say that I know the solution, other than to slow down and take several cool- down breaks.

Glad no one was hurt and the boat is fine. Enjoy the rest of your time there. Oh, and +1 on the beer.