Boat trailer disaster stories

Dwight Harley

Dwight Harley

Well-known member
I didn't want to hijack Steve Hoover's thread so I thought I would start a new one....I'll go first:
A few years ago my friend Mike and I were on our way back from hunting on Dry Lake. It was dark, snowing like hell and we were tired. Mike was trailering his beat up aluminum duck boat. We're zipping along about 65 when there was this "disturbance in the Force," the truck jerks sideways and we both say WTF! and I look back to see a shower of sparks coming up from the left side of the trailer...the trailer is jerking back and forth and Mike pulls over to the side of the road. The damn bolts had all sheared off and the left wheel was long gone. Anyway, we crammed all the gear we could including the OB into the back of the truck and left the trailer and boat on the side of the road. The next day we wrestled the rig onto the back of a flat bed trailer and Mike took it into the shop to get it repaired.
Like I said in an earlier post, I don't like trailers and don't trust them but they are a necessary evil.
 
ouch.....that could hurt.

Personally, I love trailers and own 9 of them. They are just way too versatile and I'm always hauling stuff.

Funny story! My buddy & I were heading down to do the Pointe Mouillee Show some years ago and we were at a gas station on Telegraph Road (my buddy had to make a call-before cell phones). While I'm watching out onto Telegraph Road...a pickup truck was coming down the road. Way up the road, before getting to us, he was hauling a fishing boat and trailer. By the time he got to us......his trailer had caught up to him and was rolling along side of his pickup truck in the lane next to him. You know those "double take" looks you see in the cartoons. Well, that was him. I've never seen that look on anybody else until that day. Way too funny.
Lou
 
Away-back-when, we were going on a family camping vacation. The only boat I had then was a 14 ft. jon on an old trailer that I hated because the bearings always went out on it at the very worst times. I had loaded the boat full of camping gear so much that the leaf springs were FLAT. We had gone about 180 miles out of a 250 mile trip when we decided to pull off of the Interstate for a potty/gas/drinks/snacks break. As I traveled on the overpass to get to the gas station I looked in my side mirror and saw one of the lug nuts go spinning off the trailer and another one as we pulled into the gas station. When I finally stopped, there was only one remaining lug nut on that side.

On another trip with that same boat and trailer, the rear bolt that attached the fender to the chassis finally rusted through which dropped the fender onto the tire. I didn't realize anything was wrong until smoke started pouring off the tire. I was able to stop in time and rip the fender all the way off.

Different boat, different trailer...............seized a bearing 6 miles out of a "you can't get there from here" town in the middle of northern South Dakota. All worked out in the end as we found a really good and really honest mechanic that only charged me $72 for bearings on both sides, labor, and filled the 6 gal. gas tank in the boat.

I know I have more stories but that's enough for now.
 
Years ago when I was stationed in Louisiana I was just learning to duck hunt. Well a few civilians in my shop were what the guys caled coonasses. One in Piticular was known as Swamp Rat. Ol Daryl knwe it all, but it was All illegal, no license, no nothing. Me and another guy are heading to Catahoula Lake and see lights flashing and slow down. The swamp rat and a friend had "borrowed" a boat. One truck was towing the trailer and slowed to stop with no lights showing. The Swamp Rat hit that boat at 60 mph. Totaled his little datsun truck and sent the OB and the back of the aluminum boat through the rear window of the other truck. Where do you start writing the tickets?
 
This just happened to me a couple of years ago. I was given a older trailer and the previous owner didn't have any title or registration papers since it was older. It had been sitting behind his barn for a long time. So, in order for me to get it registered I had to take it to an "official" State weigh station and have it weighed so I could take the weigh slip to the DMV to get my plate/tags. I'm on my way to the station and all of a sudden I feel my truck tug. I look in the rear view mirror and the trailer is no longer attached to the truck!! Sparks are everywhere. It takes a 90 degree turn into the most right hand lane, in between two cars and smashes into the guard rail. Couple of key points here: 1. I'm very lucky the damn trailer went right in between those two cars. There was only about 1 car length between them and that freakin trailer squeezed right in there. I about crapped my pants and am fortunate no other vehicles were touched. 2. This part of the highway was actually being worked on and there was construction equipment and guys out working in this area at the time. When the trailer actually came to a stop, it did so really close to where guys were working. Again I'm lucky that this didn't cause any damage or injury to someone else.

Turns out the coupler had a crack in it and split further as I was driving. When it bounced off the ball it snapped both safety chains and broke away from the truck. I can only assume that even though I had safety chains, and they were crossed, they must have been long enough to still let the coupler hit the road and ultimately rip away from the truck.

I went back the next day and bent the wheel wells back into shape, tied the coupler to my hitch, and replaced the safety chains and limped back home for repairs. I hate that damn trailer...
 
I agree with Lou on the love of trailers, but they deserve a lot more respect than they ussually get. Most of the horror stories share an element of abuse or neglect or both. I knocked a Bearing Buddy off in the dark at O dark thirty one morning and never missed it. On the way home I decided to stop and wash the first couple layers of mud off of my brand new truck to avoid a confrontation when I got home. When I walked around the trailer in the car wash I noticed a wheel was crooked. The only thing holding it on was the grease! I carried (and still do) everything I need to rebuild a wheel but it sure was nice not to have to do it on the freeway shoulder in the dark. I also didn't have to look for the wheel out in some field. On that same note I also carry two (2) spare tires, maybe a bit anal but makes me feel better.
 
Absolutely right, Tom. That old POS trailer that I had so much trouble with was just getting even for what I and the previous owner put it through. It had pitted axles that never allowed the rear seal to seal so I was very adept at replacing bearings.

I currently have three boat trailers. The two I bought new have had their share of TLC and have never failed me, while the third one is finally fixed up so it won't blow any more bearings in the middle of SD.
 
I agree Pete, and ounce of prevention goes a long way. I'm a fanitic when it comes to maintance on the truck and trailer. These days the seasons are so short, the last thing I want is trouble from the mechanical gods, so I continue to spend my time following my routine.
 
These stories of your experiences are good even though they were bad!
I will never take my trailers for granted anymore.
Keep the stories coming.

Bert
 
Same old POS trailer - I forgot to snap the coupler down after mounting it on the ball. 30 miles later I went over a set of RR tracks and the coupler popped off the ball - fortunately I had the chains on AND crossed. No damage that time.

Or the time someone passed me on the interstate pointing back to my boat/trailer. I stopped and went back to see what was going on and the front of the boat was 3 ft. up in the air and bobbing up and down. Forgot to put on the safety chain and the dog on the ratchet had come loose and unwound the strap - really lucky that time.
 
3:30 AM....8 degrees.....I slide the tongue and ball into the receiver and pin it.....Drop the trailer onto the ball,hook up the safety cables and lights.......We head out of the marina and towards the highway.....Going up the first hill.....a bang.......I hit the brakes.......Tongue and ball attached to trailer slam through back door of my WIFES Yukon(not good).........moral of the story.......When you are freezing your butt off at O'dark thirty,make sure you put the pin THROUGH the tongue and not BEHIND it...A simple pull to check it would have saved me $1200 bucks and alot of grief from the little woman. Thank goodness the safety cables held!!!!!!!
 
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All trailers are not created equal . I've had and have some gooduns and some real garbge. The absolute worst I ever had was a non galvanized Fleet Captain. All the bolts etc. were non standard so the you had to buy fleet captain replacements etc. The best tarilers I have are Long and EZ loader respectively. I always install bearing buddies (stay away form the Wal Mart Red eye bearing protectors) and keep my trailers wasked after use. Also I'm very careful not to overfill the bearing buddies so as not to blow out the rear seal. I use the best quality grease I can buy. I have learned over the yaers that scrimping on a trailer will cost you a lot more in the long run/haul.
JMO,
Harry
 
With a week of hunting behind me i was returning home with my tdb in tow two hours later i pulled into a busy restaurant for breakfast. Upon returning to the truck i walked my lab and continued on my way.About 75 miles later we hit a rough piece of road,glancing in the mirror i noticed the boat had shifted on the trailer and seemed to be bouncing on the trailer.On closer inspection i found both the safety chain and the winch strap had unhooked.The only thing holding the boat was the stern strap.I have my suspicions that some peta-types were out for revenge,but i will never know for sure.SOOOO now i do a complete walk around every time the rig is out of my sight. Food for thought. Bill.
 
Could be some PETA weenies. We have had a number of cases of them spreading corn at boat ramps to dissuade hunters and even baiting blind sites and calling wardens in Eastern NC. Even though we have a "Hunter Harassment law it doesn't seem to slow down those wierdos.
Best,
Harry
 
The morning started out early and we were off with my duck skiff on the trailer to head 90 miles north to set a silt boom on a job I was working. The site was on the big river and the dike was too steep to get the boom anchored with equipment so I brought my boat to pull it into place.
Well my pal Scuba Steve was behind my truck and trailer in his truck. We had made it thru the big city's and gone over a good number of expansion joints. About 12 miles from the job I look back as I hear a loud noise. I see flames in one mirror and my axle flying thru the air in the other. The axle is over the cab of steves truck and then bouncing around on the highway. The trailer frame is on one side and the boat is on the other going 55 till I can get over and stopped. The highway is covered with about 5 doz carrylight broadbill decoys that got chucked as the boat and trailer came apart at the rear strap. The bow stayed tied and cabled to the front of the trailer frame.

I figured we would get bagged for creating a mess and we were just picking up the last of the decoys when the trooper pulled past on his way to work.
I think he was a duck hunter cause all he said was, "did you get all the decoys"

The salt water is hell on trailers and my leaf springs just couldnt take the highway pounding after the salt ate them up. When one side broke it tore the far side off on impact.
We pushed the trailer in one truck and the boat up into the other. I rebuilt the trailer and still use it. The burnt fender reminds me how fast the springs wear out in the salt. (this trailer has the larger wheels and is rated for more than the boat, but the ChiCom parts we are seeing now, I think springs are #1 on any inspection.)

PS. This incident is the one that reaffirmed my belief in my wood boat. I built the skiff out of AC plywood and Doug fir. No glass cloth. All wood, just like the old days. The gunnels were framed with spruce.
The only damage to the boat was a crack in the gunnel side that smacked the asphalt when the trailer slammed over on its side. The fir runners on the bottom rode like skiis on the pavement till we stopped on the median. I launched at the ramp, and other than a smacked prop we were good to go.
 
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