Trailer emergency Westport MA pan-pan

[Catigale]

Mass Mac folks...my trailer tongue snapped pulling put at Westport and I need some help, either:

1 local welder who can tack me on a reinforcement piece

Or

2 is there an sailor who is slipping who can loan me a recovery trailer to bring boat home 3 hours

Please Pm me or em from board...

Pix to come

[sirlandsalot]

Bummer, wish I could help!

[sirlandsalot]

My wife just ripped my centre board off last night on a sand bar.......

[Johnacuda]

Sorry, I just read this now. Did you get any help or find a welder?

[Catigale]

I've left the boat in Westport and have three options to consider on a return trip next weekend.

1 shore up the trailer tongue with timbers and pull boat home. Not happy about this. 200 miles/4 hours. Angle iron might be better here

2 local welding, if the metal is good enough to weld. Need help with getting a contact here.

3 order new trailer , launch boat with shored up trailer, swap, and trailer home. Since I need a new trailer, if I can get one in reasonable time, best option here I think.

[Harry van der Meer]

Catigale,

I have my trailer at home, my Mac is in a slip. You are welcome to use my trailer. If you can fix the trailer for transport, I know a very good local welder who can fix you up.

I replaced the tongue of my trailer with a longer and heavier one for fear that the same thing would happen to me.

I am located in Uxbridge, MA. Let me know how I can help.

Email me privately if needed.

Regards - Harry

[Catigale]

Why do I feel like Jimmy Stewart in "Its a Wonderful Life?

[Russ]

Wow!
So lucky that didn't occur on the road!

pan-pan might be a bit too mild for this. I would have titled it "Mayday"

1 shore up the trailer tongue with timbers and pull boat home. Not happy about this. 200 miles/4 hours. Angle iron might be better here

I'm no mechanical engineer, however this doesn't sound like a good idea.

2 local welding, if the metal is good enough to weld. Need help with getting a contact here.

Seems like a reasonable solution. Probably need some new steel in there as well.

3 order new trailer , launch boat with shored up trailer, swap, and trailer home. Since I need a new trailer, if I can get one in reasonable time, best option here I think.

If the rest of the trailer is in good condition, this might be a bit extreme.

What about a local trailer shop
http://www.bibeausboatmart.com/

http://www.mechanicadvisor.com/ma/westp ... d-sons-inc

http://www.mechanicadvisor.com/ma/westp ... ne-service

Good luck Steph and let us know how it works out. Lesson here for all of us is to inspect those trailers.

[K9Kampers]

Cat-

Sent you a PM with a couple of trailer options...

Andrew

[Catigale]

Thanks for responses everyone, Plan A and B in place.

Its an awesome board when you can get trailering help in under 24 hours....


Picture of the failed tube.



closer up




To get his trailer home (without boat) do I

1) Run lumber underneath it and clamp length of tube with several clamps

B) Clamp angle iron on the edges but am then limited in length to where the I-beams join.

iii) Stop fooling with this and leave it at site until a mechanic can weld it before moving.

[RobertB]

Without the boat, I recommend a flat bed tow truck and take it to a trailer repair shop/welder. This kind of towing service is covered under my insurance from State Farm. No reason to take shortcuts here. Next best is an onsite welder but I imagine you will pay a premium and there is a lot of steel to cut out and replace - not a simple weld job unless you only want a patch.

[Tomfoolery]

1 shore up the trailer tongue with timbers and pull boat home. Not happy about this. 200 miles/4 hours. Angle iron might be better here

I'm no mechanical engineer, however this doesn't sound like a good idea.

I am a mechanical engineer, and it doesn't sound like a good idea to me, either. Sitting still in the yard with a load on it, just to be able to move it once or twice, no problem. Dynamic loading, with the very real risk of total separation on the road, very big problem.

2 local welding, if the metal is good enough to weld. Need help with getting a contact here.

Seems like a reasonable solution. Probably need some new steel in there as well.

Easy enough to fix in the field and be safe enough for the road, then go to option 3 once safely home. Lay another 3x3x3/16 (or 3x3x1/4, if it makes you feel better ) tube up under there, the full length of the existing 3x3x3/16 tube (about 80"), space the front and back with steel spacers (the tube will lay on the bottom flanges of the channels right behind where it's broken), and weld in three places - front, back, and middle (to the flanges of the channels). You don't need much weld, and if it makes you feel better, scab some straps to the sides at the front and back with fillet welds. Do try to get another spacer, or half-spacers with a gap between them for the brake line, near the partial break, so the almost loose front part of the tongue is fully restrained even if the remaining metal lets go.

The front and back of the new tube will be pulled upward, and the middle will bear against the channels. It's trying to bend into a smile shape. Side to side loading is minimal, with a little bit of twist induced since the hitch ball is higher than the centerline of the tube. But it will be just as strong as the original, and you may not even have to move the brake line, as I think it will fit in between the old and new tubes.

The highest bending stresses will be right where it broke, tapering to zero forward and back. Shear load is negligible.

[Wind Chime]

Our 2000 factory Mac trailer was on the edge of failing in exactly the same place. We had the entire 8' section replaced just in time. After the repairs, we had the the trailer sandblasted and painted with rust paint.

The problem with the design is, the "inside" of the tongue (square steel tube) has no anti-rust paint on it and the end that is under the actuator is open to the elements so it literally rusts from the inside out. Best I can do is fresh water rinse with Salt-Away.

[Catigale]

With the boat off the trailer, you guys don't think I can just strap two 2x4s underneath it with cinch straps to create a strong enough tongue to pull this trailer home??

[Tomfoolery]

A 4x4 will be more than twice as strong in bending (vertical tongue load) as two 2x4's, and much much stiffer, unless they're glued together, but even then, the 4x4 will be a little taller and therefore a little stronger (all other things being equal).

If you do that, make sure you strap it near the break and near the coupler, plus all the way back near where the existing tube ends.

You'll have to get around the flanges of the channels, though. And cutting a relief for them will weaken it, but at least it's on the compression side (the top of the wood, if it's strapped to the bottom).