An unsafe trailer

[Captain Ard]

I'm under my boat the other day checking out the axle seals and the wiring. As luck would have it, it was getting dark when I went looking so I had a flashlight and I find something that scared the crap of me. The tongue was cracked on trailing edge of both sides where it bolts onto the trailer. The tongue is (WAS) a 16ga 3x3 with a hole to fit in a 1/2 in bolt. The hole was punched in and I'm guessing they didn't clean up the inside so as to provide some strength but the thin metal didn't hold up to the stresses of towing, launching, retrieving.......

Now I've pulled this boat up and down hills at 60 to 65 mph for more than 150 miles at a time and never knew the potential for catastrophe was hidden right back there.

Needless to say it needed replaced. I went to a welding shop and for $35 I bought myself a 3x3x1/8" 10 foot long hunk of steel. Hauled the old and the new to a friend of mine who welds for a living and proceeded to fabricate a new tongue. We did some drilling, some cutting, some welding and also put a bushing in at the attachment point. Did some priming, some painting and I now have a brand new SAFE tongue on my trailer.

I thought I would pass this on because it was a lesson for me that will never be forgotten.

Captain Ard

 

[rickybobbybend]

Your posting got me under all my trailers, fortunately nothing unusual. Thanks so much for the heads up.

 

[HANGEYE]

Read your post and headed straight out to the garage :shock: . Everything looks good \/. Thanks for the heads up =D> .

 

[Charger25]

That's a good price on the steel. I had something similar and had to buy a 20 ft and cut it down. Bout 120.00 bucks! But the piece of mind is worth it.

 

[dkonrai]

thanks im checking the tin trailer in the morning!
dino

 

[Hanr3]

Nice find, and one of the reasons for chains.

I too discovered something about my trailer today. Rather than hyjack your thread I'll start a new one.

 

[turbotodd]

I assume a hole was drilled (punched) through a piece of tubing and a bolt run through it? I hope I read that correctly.

Usually that's the case. Trailers (all of them) are built quickly and 99% of the time, cheaply.

To do a job like that correctly, a bushing would've been welded into the tubing so that the bolt would have something to tighten against rather than crushing the tube. I've built a few race car chassis and the rules clearly state that fact.

Amazes me how cheaply even the "better" trailers are built. Makes me want to go into business building boat trailers, and building them RIGHT. Unfortunately, they'd cost $2500 each for jon boat trailer, and the market for that just isn't there when someone can buy a somewhat decent one for under $1000.

 

[Captain Ard]

Not welding a bushing in was the the cause of the problem. It became the weak spot and could have been an easy and cheap thing to make it right and safe. I think our trailers are the most overlooked part of the equation when it come to boats and boating. From tires to bearings and all the components that make up the platform we haul an expensive boat around on. My find was purely by chance and made me a lot nervous about the rest of the trailer. I have since gone over the entire trailer making sure that all of it is now in proper order.

Lesson learned.......Ounce of prevention pound of cure thing ya know.