How much?!?! Trailer stuff

[dave42w]

A free day tomorrow so heading off for a sail at Rutland. However, this morning I thought it would be a good idea to check the trailer tyre pressures. Found both tyres badly cracked (quite scarily so in fact). One of the disadvantages of a cat trailer is that we can easily forget to inspect the wheels because they are hidden by the boat when we are getting ready to go out.

So I went to our local tyre dealer, normally very competitive prices. Cost of trailer tyres is £80 for a total of £160 due to being an unusual size. He then said he was also concerned about getting a good seal due to the rust on the wheels.

On his recommendation I went to a trailer centre where I had

- 2 new hubs and bearings
- 2 new wheels with tyres (and a much more standard wheel size that is a little larger)

All for £169

As I'd had quotes from mobile caravan service engineers of £80 to service the bearings (given that we will be towing well over 1,000 miles before the end of the year) I thought this was a brilliant deal.

I've done a few other trailer upgrades as well (it is a fairly old Bramber but the chassis is in good shape).

- added a pair of u-bolts and a plate where the main bar just reached a crossbar but was not fastened to it. Was banging when going over bumps.

- added a jockey wheel using a kit from TrailerTek to save drilling the trailer for the bolts (Jane found it too heavy to move the empty trailer) http://www.trailertek.com/trailer-parts ... m-drawtube

- added a safety cable (Isn't it now a legal requirement?)

- I'm about to swapthe rear pads that the skegs rest on for 7" rollers to save dragging the boat up and down the pads (when we store the boat on our driveway we have to move it right forward on the trailer so that the overall length fits on the drive - I figure it also helps make it harder to steal).

- I've been tuning the straps and padding so that everything is now just the right size, have saved loads of time securing the boat to the trailer now.

Our boat came with a big metal frame that fits on the rudder pintles that had the lighting board attached to it. The lights were not working reliably and the cable was covered in tape in the middle where it had once dragged on the ground. So I bought a new 6ft LED lighting board (I've never found the bulb ones very reliable). I fitted that but obviously it is a bit narrow so I've got some LED side lights also from traileertek http://www.trailertek.com/trailer-parts ... ubber-body I'm going to fit these onto some timber supports so that they are the widest (just) part of the boat and trailer. I'll use Scotch connectors to wire them into the lighting board. At the same time I'm going to install some little wedges because currently the lighting board is parallel to the sterns rather than vertical and the LED lights are quite directional, at the moment idea for HGV drivers about to run into the boat

Our trip to the South Coast in the last week of October will also be out first time with the boat on the car roof, as we will be towing the caravan. Hopefully that will set at rest one of our main reasons for choosing the Sprint (ease of lifting it onto the car roof compared to a Laser Pico - similar weight but all in one lift). I'm thinking of getting the Rooster foam tubes to protect the decks from the roof rack.

Anyone got any top tips for Sprint 15's on car roofs?

Dave #2008

[WaveyDavey]

What I've learned about trailers (sorry, never car topped)

The wider the roller the better. I just switched mine to 8" V profile. Previous were 5" flat profile with raised edges and the boat tended to travel sideways while rolling on and want to jump off the side.

I found bow snubber blocks are good for the front trailer supports. I mounted them on roller fittings using cut down pieces of the removed roller to pack out the snubber to the full width.

I replaced the light clusters on my board with led units and replaced the old 7 pin plug with euro 12 pin. Result is a much more reliable system that doesn't need plug and bulbs jiggling on every use. Only problem is my car (2012 s-max) can't detect leds due to low current draw. Dash reports bulb failures and the indicators flash at double time. I have bought, but not yet installed, some resistors to fix this.

I've always bought wheels and tyres as a unit. Good prices online and wheels normally rusty by the time tyre is dead anyway. Also means old wheels are still useable as spares.

[dave42w]

What I've learned about trailers (sorry, never car topped)

The wider the roller the better. I just switched mine to 8" V profile. Previous were 5" flat profile with raised edges and the boat tended to travel sideways while rolling on and want to jump off the side.

I've just rechecked and I did get 8" V profile. I'm using u-bolts to fasten them on to save drilling. But I only got 40mm and the roller frame is 50mm. So waiting for replacements.

I found bow snubber blocks are good for the front trailer supports. I mounted them on roller fittings using cut down pieces of the removed roller to pack out the snubber to the full width.

Ours has a nice 12" rubber pad already through bolted but as the bolts are a fair distance apart the middle shifts sideways when dragging boat along it.

I replaced the light clusters on my board with led units and replaced the old 7 pin plug with euro 12 pin. Result is a much more reliable system that doesn't need plug and bulbs jiggling on every use. Only problem is my car (2012 s-max) can't detect leds due to low current draw. Dash reports bulb failures and the indicators flash at double time. I have bought, but not yet installed, some resistors to fix this.

I replaced the lights on our folding Dandy with full LED's, was very glad to not have to do all the wiring this time

Our 2010 Citroen Berlingo doesn't beep to show LED indicators working but no other problems.

I've always bought wheels and tyres as a unit. Good prices online and wheels normally rusty by the time tyre is dead anyway. Also means old wheels are still useable as spares.

Is new to me but makes sense now.

Dave

[Bob Carter]

When carrying the Sprint 15 on the roof rack the big thing is to stop the hulls moving around due to the curvature of the decks when the hulls are upside-down on the roof rack. I have always addressed this by cutting some very shallow wooden wedges and taping them onto the roof rack with black carpet tape positioned to stop the hulls rocking. Once positioned correctly I just leave them on the roof rack.
I'll send some pictures.
Cheers
Bob

[dave42w]

When carrying the Sprint 15 on the roof rack the big thing is to stop the hulls moving around due to the curvature of the decks when the hulls are upside-down on the roof rack. I have always addressed this by cutting some very shallow wooden wedges and taping them onto the roof rack with black carpet tape positioned to stop the hulls rocking. Once positioned correctly I just leave them on the roof rack.
I'll send some pictures.
Cheers
Bob

Thanks Bob, would be very interested to seem them.

Dave