MacGregorSailors.com

ModsNote: Moved from the Tyres thread in General forum ~fc

Its interesting that other people have had tyre problems.
This is the email that I have just sent to the Australian agent.

Hello Phil,
Seems that I only contact you when I have problems.

We really are enjoying the Macgregor and am astounded how many people come and talk to us about the boat. I've owned lots of boats from Rivieras to farr 38s,but this boat constantly amazes us .Its a great boat,actually a great package,we use it as a caravan as well and we are taking it home to Tas this year because we really missed having it down there for our summer.

So its with regret that I talk about the problem with our tyres. I,m concerned that somebody will get hurt Phil.
As you know we bought the boat in April last year and towed it up to Townsville and back to hervey Bay. We have mainly used it around Hervey bay, so not a lot of kilometres of use.

This year in July we towed it up to Cardwell,at Rockhampton we noticed a large bulge in the drivers side tyre on the inside edge,so not easily seen. Bought a new tyre for a spare and put the original spare on the trailer.Just south of cardwell the second of the original tres shredded and delaminated the tread off the tyre. Put the newly purchased spare on and drove to a truckies tyre shop at cardwell. He noticed when repacing the tyre that the original spare that was put on in Rockhampton(never been used) had also developed a bubble in the side wall. The cost of replacing three tyres with steel belted light truck tyres with a load rating of 1150 kg rating amounted to $515.00. The tyre place said that the original tyres were trailer tyres and had a 100 kmh rating when new but deteriorate quickly not being steel belted .

I have attached photos and await the factories comments.By the way we have had a great trip around Hinchinbrook Island.

Yes, I have a similar recent story.

When I bought my boat I'd read a bit about the original fabric tyres and decided early to put on some steel radials. Being a bit new to the game, I fitted some tyres rated for 850kg at 35psi. They were fine for short distance towing around town, and thats how we used the boat for the first couple of years. More recently I've towed the boat from Newcastle across to South Australia. On the way over, I had a tyre blowout at 110 km/h on a downhill sweeping left hander, out west in NSW on a Saturday afternoon, no mobile reception. Thanked my lucky stars that she pulled up straight and didn't roll over. There was some minor scarring to the gelcoat and a nasty black mark on the side of the hull. Polished out OK. Jacking the trailer was a bit of a job, and I had to give in to digging a furrow under the hub to get the spare back on. And, yes those blocks of wood that I always carry were really handy to have that day.

I limped onto Dubbo at a sedate 80 km/h and found a big tyre retailer who would come out on a Saturday afternoon for a $100 fee. Fortunately he had what I needed - the 15 inch light truck tyre rated for 1150kg. I asked him to fit 2. Then I said what should I keep for the spare, the steel radial or the original fabric tyre. Well, he had the other steel radial off the trailer in a flash and he called me into the workshop. See this he said, this one has also delaminated - you're lucky you made it this far ! So, I said, just give me 3 of the new ones and be done with it.

The light truck tyres are a big improvement. They don't "bounce" like the steel radials used to do. The driver now feels more confident that the trailer tyres are fit for the job. Have now towed all over South Australia without any tyre dramas.

Cheers
Craig

The originals are absolutely hopeless but ours did 15000+ k's before we replaced them and both were delaminating, one was completely shredded inside as well.
We now run light truck tyres rated 1200kg? which is just enough when you consider the boat with load for a long trip could be 2500kg all up.
Bob

Was just down at Synergy last night looking at my new and checked the tyres. is being delivered with 15" trailer tyres 8 ply and a 2400kg rating on each tire. I hope these will perform without the troub les you were discussing last year in these posts.

I had a similar situation last year,my tires were 7 years old,they had very little milage on them,maybe 800 miles a piece,i had one delaminate,it took a few hours the following morning to find a 12 inch 900 KG rated tyre,then off we went,20m miles later the second one delaminated,i found a replacement,the guy at the tyre shop them explained to me that tyres have a life of 4 years.

I reckon this should have stayed in the original place, since it is to do with the OEM spec tyres.

It is really interesting that there is so much debate on things such as dual axle trailers for safety, when the fitting of a good set of tyres will make so much difference to the safety of the towing package.

The Dunlop LT5 is rated to 1150kg a side and is a very well proven tyre. It has proved perfect on the trailers of my last 2 boats, and will continue to be my choice going forward. There is simply no debate to be had at around $300 per set.