Posted: 12/26/2015 6:22:59 PM EDT
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Soon, I will be trailering my boat about 450 miles, and I've never trailered it that far before. It's a small 16' Gheenoe with a 25 horse Yamaha on top of a galvanized steel trailer.
Here's the background story: even though I've had my boat since 1998, it is in almost brand new condition...probably less than 20 hours total time on it. It had been a while since I had it on the water this past fall, so I had the motor serviced, and I elected to replace the bearings/wheels/tires just because. Everything has been flawless. I'm not worried about the boat...it's in great shape. I am worried about the trailer, because that's where issues occur. It has always been garage kept, and appears to be in fantastic shape. Any caveats or things I need to be aware of before making this trek? Fairly obvious question, but it's the things I might be overlooking that concern me. |
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I'd be worried about the tires.
Has the trailer been stored with the weight off the tires? I I've gone up to three years and gotten away with no issues, but supposedly this is bad. Have the tires been exposed to UV light for much of this time? Even if away from UB, you can have plenty of tread left but a blowout waiting to happen on dry-rotted tires. If you go much beyond three years, this can start to become a real problem. |
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Quoted:
I would buy a spare wheel and tire. Never know when you might get a flat and I wouldn't want to leave boat and trailer on side of road to go and get a tire fixed. This is a good call if you don't already have one. Or if you kept one from the previous set. This also reminds me to get my spare back from my neighbor.  (He had a flat when he last took his trailer out, and it was a holiday, so he borrowed mine. I'd actually forgotten until he reminded me recently)
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I replaced wheels/hubs/bearings/tires in early fall...all brand new.
I have (2) spare tires. The only thing I don't have are two replacement hub/bearing assemblies (despite the fact that the current ones are brand spanking new) for some catastrophic event. Everything else is brand new. Much appreciated. |