Trailer Fixin

[Carl]

"Saltwater is not the best lubricant."
That's what the parts guys at the trailer parts store told me when I picked up new cross members for my old Magic Tilt trailer. He had 3 of them in stock, said they'd been laying around for years. Got them for $25 each.
Removed the 25 Merc, fuel tank and battery. Jacked the boat up, pulled the trailer out and stripped it down.
Amazingly all bolts came off easily and after a long day, it's all re-assembled and boat is back on.
Old cross members were one big pot hole away from failure.
Check your trailer!

 

[roy brewington]

Salt water emersion will definitely eat one up sooner than latter. I,m fortunate to have a fresh water river ramp 5 minutes from house so after salt water use hole rig gets a splash & dash with motor ran to flush out salt.

 

[Carl]

I dealt with brackish water back in Mobile. Tampa Bay is a whole other story, way saltier. I definitely need to step up the wash down after fishing trips.

 

[David Clites]

No doubt a freshwater dunk/immersion does a whole lot better than even a very thorough hose wash down. First five years I used my Wesco aluminum trailer in saltwater but had a stop halfway home (3 hour drive) with a convenient freshwater dunk. Saw virtually no corrosion on my rig. Then I moved my boat to the coast with no freshwater nearby. Even though I rinsed thoroughly sparing no water (I had both well water and city water) there were just so many nooks and crannies that can't be reached. First things to go EndOfLife were Leaf Springs (despite regular spray with Fluid Film) and aluminum Crossmembers where galvanized Bolts contacted. IIRC I had to do extensive rebuild at around 14-15 years. I suspect a galvanized framed would have done better than aluminum due to fewer dissimilar metal junctions. Not sure why boat dealer was so gung ho on aluminum...

 

[roy brewington]

Never made sense to me why manufactures build an aluminum i beam trailer and then but either galvanized or straight steel axles, u bolts, and other metals contacting frame that are going to react and rust away. Guess they're figuring those parts are sacrificial.

 

[Carl]

I replaced the leaf springs in 2020, I think I'll get another 2-3 years out of them.

 

[David Clites]

Roy, makes no sense to me either. At least Wesco used galvanized Unbolts instead of stainless Unbolts. Shop that did my trailer rebuild indicated that stainless Unbolts cause the aluminum cross members to corrode-through even faster than galvanized Unbolts do. Makes sense given the galvanic metals scale...

 

[Sonny Williams]

Here bin Va. Beach we take a cheap weed sprayer and put SaltX or similar product and spray the trailer after we pull It out of the water. Helps a whole lot