Steel Trailer Reno

[Neo]

Blue plastic skids were always good for loading on and off... Rollers are no easier, wear too quickly (from road vibrations), so require maintenance. And with the wind up they can end up scraping your hull during loading.

I have a new Aluminium trailer now (with fancy Torsion suspension and skids) but the big advantage of the Original Steel Trailer is it holds the hull much closer to the ground than any other trailer design .... And that always makes loading on and off much easier.

All the best.
Neo

[OverEasy]

Hi Neo

Hope all goes well for you over there.
Your Springtime there has sprung while my Fall over here has fallen .
Just envious of your improving weather conditions while I’m working on winterizing for the coming cold/snow/ice/slush (take you pick..New England gets it all…sometimes all at once too!!!.. )

Nice post and nice work…even if it was 4-to-6 years ago.

Over here I’ve generally used fish oil based enamel paint on bare steel or Rustoleum brand paint (in a can) liberally brush worked applied to clean dry dust free & oil free surfaces. Even the interior surfaces if possible by flooding the interior with paint and pulling a paint saturated rag ball through. I avoid close welded tubes as there is no way to ensure they are actually water tight without a pressure test or that they stay that way over time. If I cap a tube (to keep out wasps) it’s with a gapped screwed on cover or a plastic slip in/on where I’ve added several drain slots.

Your right in not wanting a sealed tube or one that lets water in but not out!

A ‘sealed’ tube heated by the sun then abruptly immersed in a nice chilly bath of water can generate a good bit of negative pressure to suck in water through the smallest of pinholes and trapping it in there forever. When the tube heats back up in the sunlight the water vapor spreads throughout the tube to perpetually rust the tube out from the inside. Seen it happen time after time after time….even with galvanized trailers where the tubes are weld sealed before being galvanized. (There isn’t any way for the galvanizing to get inside )

In cases where non-galvanized painted equipment is gonna be subject to abuse such as rock/gravel/abrasion I also tend to overcoat with a couple layers of compatible a soft epoxy paint. The softer types tend to dent instead of chip like the hard ones do so as to leave more of a protected surface over time. I also suggest periodic applications of wax everywhere (especially the bottom surfaces) to help seal over any metal exposure points.

While all that helps to combat plain steel rust it still eventually will happen.
The new “rust dissolvers” like you mentioned are great at breaking down the iron oxides adhesion and help in allowing one to flush that away from tight spaces like leaf springs.

I’m not so thrilled by the purported “rust reformers” where they attempt to convert iron oxide into a pseudo ceramic.
My experience with them has been poor.
Generally these don’t always penetrate to the parent metal leaving a layer of “unreformed” rust next to parent material.
They are by their very nature brittle materials which tend to crack back perpendicular to the parent metal surface which allow water back in (and into that unreformed rust layer) to continue the attack on the parent metal while now hiding it from view.

I haven’t much experience with galvanized leaf type springs personally.
Wonder how well they hold up over time….

The type I’m familiar with are the bare and black painted type leaf springs.
Of the two I sort of prefer the plain bare type which I try and keep oiled with a penetrating residual oil like one uses for motorcycle chain drives ( remember the pre Kevlar drive belt and cog era?) like the old PJ1 brand. Not WD40! Regular application seems to do a great job if you can start doing it from new and keep doing it.

Just wondering how your great work has been holding up for you over there over the years.
Any recommendations of what worked or what you’d do different?

Best Regards for a Great New Season!
(I’m still envious as I prep for a cold, icy, wet, snowy, road salted and traction sanded start of winter in New England … I gotta get South 🏖 🏝 … I gotta get South 🏖 🏝 …. I gotta get South 🏖 🏝 )
Enjoy the warmth!

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[DoodleBugger1958]

G’day Neo,
Just wondering how your bunk setup is going with launching and recovering and any added straps to stop movement while trailering.
Cheers

[Neo]

Hi OverEasy,

Well the POR15, despite it's high price, proved to be pretty useless and rust was all over the trailer just 12 months (and maybe 4 seawater launch'es) later.

Weather here has been rain, rain, rain so I'm hoping thing will change for the better in the coming weeks.

All the best.
Neo

[Neo]

Hi DoodleBugger,

On my old trailer I used to throw a wide band ratchet strap down each side, passing just behind the helm, then secured (lopped) around either side of the steel trailer frame. And I used to use a wide band ratchet strap over the bow down to the frame again.
But even without these straps, there was minimal movement of the hull while trailering .... Are seeing lots of movement while you're trailering?

BTW where abouts in Australia are you?

All the best.
Neo

[OverEasy]

Hi Neo

Sad to hear the fancy/pricey paint didn’t work out. Lotta effort!

Glad you where able to get an aluminum one. They’re supposed to be great for salt water ( I’d still rinse off every chance I got though)

Spring rain makes the flowers grow (along with the grass and weeds and shrubs and….).

Here the trees are dropping their leaves
And several days of rain making it slicker than grease when on the wet leaves.

Soon it will be “stick” season then everything here in New England will freeze over for 3 months Kinda hard ya sail a Mac26X on ice

[DoodleBugger1958]

Hello Neo

I live in Perth OZstralia.

Currently removing cornflake paintwork as much as I can with the boat on the trailer. Using a product “White Knights” hoping for a few more yrs from a steel trailer.

On long or bumpy trips I use straps especially if I cannot get the bow touching the rubber “V”.

The beds need replacing and this is next on the list.
Cheers
Doodlebugger

[OverEasy]

After a week of temps in the 70F (57C) the weather here in New England has suddenly dropped down to 27F (-3C)…Brrrr

We’re envious of those in the Southern Hemisphere whose Spring weather is warming up for what we hope is a great summer out on the water .

Please share your warm water adventures and trips with your soon to be ice bound Northern Hemisphere cousins as we soon to be standing hip deep in snow as perpetually dig out our walkways and driveways from the latest snow storm .

We recently purchased a old 15 foot runabout to use in the shallow waters and narrow estuary channels where it would be too dicey to take our Mac26X. It came on what appears to be the original ‘91 steel trailer. We got the seller to knock off $400 for the state of the trailer.

While we’d hope to possibly salvage and refurbish the trailer our better judgement kicked in when after trailering it all home we found that one of the leaf springs snapped!

Once we got the boat launched on a local lake we had a chance to give the whole trailer a good through inspection. While the steel box tubes may still have some life left the rubber rollers, springs and axel don't. Good tires though!

In considering what to replace/fix we thought to save a few bucks and possibly buy good serviceable used items…. What we found is that there are actually quite a few very nice gently (hardly) used heavy duty hot dipped galvanized used trailers available in Craig’s List and Facebook Marketplace for very reasonable prices. They generally need a set of tires and an axle greasing along with some bunk & post repositioning.

We found a very nice ShoreLand’r trailer for $400, the same amount we got knocked off the boat purchase. We replaced one tire older than 6 years ( the other was only 2 years old) for $90. For another $50 we changed out the old incandescent bulbs for new complete Harbor Freight submersible LED set with side lights.

After taking some measurements we repositioned the articulated support rollers to fit the runabout’s hull while empty. At the boat ramp we fine tuned the support positions with a couple on/offs while transitioning off of the old trailer.

Later, Using the teeter/totter approach (and a pair of 3ton Jack) stands the Admiral and I lifted the axle off the ground and repositioned the axle aft to increase the tongue weight appropriately. We also repositioned the roller sets and winch post. Really not all that difficult at all to accomplish and the modifications/adjustments were done in about little more than half a day (not counting travel time…).

It a while we’re at it spur of the moment we upgraded the winch to a new web strap (no more wire cable cuts). We’d wanted to upgrade to a new 1500 lb tongue Jack for Over Easy so this was a prime opportunity while the tools were out. (Over East’s Sea Lion trailer had an adequate 750 lb Jack but we wanted the extra capacity and larger wheel roller to make things easier). We took the 750 lb Jack and put it on the runabout trailer. While the winch and Jack swap were not specifically necessary they are gonna make things easier.

The “new” runabout trailer is a single axle ShoreLand’r that technically is capable of carrying a Mac26X or Mac26M. This trailer can be adjusted to handle a boat from 15 ft on up to 28 ft in length. (Yes a bit overkill for a 15 ft runabout but the price was right!) This might be of interest to those seeking to replace their olde MacGregor steel trailers with a heavy duty thick gauge hot dipped galvanized one on a budget.

The ShoreLand’r trailer sits low and has an articulated rear bar to help get the boat loaded without having to back in as far as one might otherwise need to. The tongue is sleeve mounted with 2 through bolts so one can easily adjust it in/out as required. The single axle is mounted with 4 through bolts and the frame comes with multiple pre-punched hole sets which is also easily accomplished even with the boat in place so one can get the appropriate 10-to-15% tongue weight. The support roller sets can be very easily swapped for short bunks and easily automatically articulate to fit to the hull shape. While this particular trailer doesn’t have brakes the axle has the welded fittings to add them if desired.

Hope this helps some of those thinking about dealing with their older MacGregor steel trailers.

Best Regards
Over Easy