TRAILERS and TRAILERING

My infamous Bobby Rahal story.

I know this happened in ‘1987 cuz he won the Indy 500 in ‘86.

At the time I had my ‘1969 19’ Glastron Carlson, ob cuddy cabin that I had just restored.
Came w/o a trailer and pre-internet, cheap/used trailers were a bitch to find.

What I ended up w/was a pc of crap, 17’ trailer w/10” (I think) tires!
Made bunks from 2x12’s standing on edge, over hanging the back of the trailer by 2’!

Very clear on the car too cuz it was ‘1980 Buick Century, x-company car that I bought from my dad.
This was the era that GM got sued for mixing engine brands w/car brands.
That Buick had a (from the factory) Pontiac 301 V-8 which I learned was THE weakest V-8 every built!

So my hotty gf and I are returning home after a fun weekend of fun in the cuddy at the local pond…………, and I’m entering the Columbus outerbelt when I see a new Mercedes sedan go blowing by us.

The license plate said, “500 WNR” and I instantly knew it was Bobby Rahal (lived in Cols).

Soon as we were headed straight I floored the Buick.
5 mls later my foot was still on the floor!
We we’re gaining on him but not by much.

I looked in the mirror to see the boat/trailer trying to swap lanes at 80 mph w/those tiny ass wheels turning a gazillion rpms!

After 10 mls of foot on the floor, we caught him!
Pulled beside him, honked the horn, got his attention and gave him thumbs up!

He waved back and his eyes were the size of Q balls when he looked in his mirror and saw my boat trying to kill us all!

Got home and unhooked the trailer to see oil dripping off the safety chains!
That 301 went through 3 qts of oil on that trip and never ran right after that!

...anyone ever been trailering though town at say 35 mph, and have your boat/trailer combo pull up next to your window, riding along on its trailer jack wheel? i have. nothing in life will ever make you think faster & make you feel more helpless, at the same time...

Had a guy trailering beside me on us 41 which has cross thru's with hi curbs. Poor guys boat trailer came loose and was running on the front wheel just off the pavement. The coupler hit that curb and the boat did an endo into the median. I stopped to help. Boat was upside down still strapped to the trailer. Guy had just bought it a couple of weeks prior. No insurance! Put that one with things that make you sick to your stomach.

Life lesson:

Buddy was helping me hook up my first Sonic to my Suburban to pull to the local pond for the day.

He did safety chains, coupler and lights.

There is a bump at end of driveway at road.

We hit that bump as I watched in the mirror, the tongue bounced up, dropped down on road, safety chains still pulling it!
I hit the brakes, still watching the mirror as boat rolled forward and the bow of the Sonic blew out both back windows of the Burb!!

Friend was sick to his stomach until I assured him it was my fault.
Told him you can help me do whatever you want but is my responsibility to double check your work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Instigator

Life lesson:

Buddy was helping me hook up my first Sonic to my Suburban to pull to the local pond for the day.

He did safety chains, coupler and lights.

There is a bump at end of driveway at road.

We hit that bump as I watched in the mirror, the tongue bounced up, dropped down on road, safety chains still pulling it!
I hit the brakes, still watching the mirror as boat rolled forward and the bow of the Sonic blew out both back windows of the Burb!!

Friend was sick to his stomach until I assured him it was my fault.
Told him you can help me do whatever you want but is my responsibility to double check your work.

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Yep, got to double check to make sure it fell down on the ball. I've rechecked my own work and found it not all the way engaged. My rule of thumb is to ALWAYS hook the chains, lights and double check the ball engagement even if only moving the boat around your own property. Never know when you decide to tow a little further and not hook up the chains and lights.

I had a guy lose his fully loaded landscape trailer in front of my house and it ended up 400 feet off the road within 25 feet m my neighbor's house after crossing my front yard. Would have killed me or one of my kids had we been in the yard in its path.

this is GREAT thread, first time trailering my boat out to the west coast one of the axles was so rusted that when i made a u turn it started bending the axle upwards, luckily its a tandem axle trailer and i was able to finish the trip without issue. but you bet your ass that when i got home i ordered 2 new axles with hubs to slide under. i was about 2 hours away when it happened too.

It was down on the ball, I saw him do that, but he did not latch it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DangerNewb

Yep, got to double check to make sure it fell down on the ball. I've rechecked my own work and found it not all the way engaged. My rule of thumb is to ALWAYS hook the chains, lights and double check the ball engagement even if only moving the boat around your own property. Never know when you decide to tow a little further and not hook up the chains and lights.

I had a guy lose his fully loaded landscape trailer in front of my house and it ended up 400 feet off the road within 25 feet m my neighbor's house after crossing my front yard. Would have killed me or one of my kids had we been in the yard in its path.

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I have had to move the axles back to get more weight on the tongue.

Also when I do my bunks, I take a router and round all the edges (keeps from tearing on the edges), then glue it on w/contact cement (I use a cheap spray gun) and I use SS staples on the bottom.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Instigator

It was down on the ball, I saw him do that, but he did not latch it.

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Helped a friend hook up his Baja years ago. He had borrowed his roommate's pristine Ford van for the weekend. Neither one of us latched the ball, and it came of and rear-ended the van. No damage to the trailer, but trashed one rear door. So from then on, don't help me hook my trailer up and I won't help you hook up yours.
BTW, great thread. We ALL have stories to add!

Great thread…. I’ve become very anal about trailer maintenance over the years. There is just too much at stake by either damaging your rig or being involved with some kind of accident and being liable.

I also make a point to through bolt my bunks to their brackets. The lags seem to loosen up over time and todays lumber does provide much bite.

I tend to look at other trailers on the road while driving day to day. It gives you a good sense of what is really happening, moving and flexing when towing.

I’ve seen two trailer tires pass the vehicle I was in on different occasions. One rim/tire passed the vehicle and then crossed the 4 lane highway (70 mph) and luckily missed all the oncoming traffic. Can be quite the pucker factor….

and, yes I carry all of the goodies mentioned above. Spare tire and hub mounted to trailer, bottle jack and piece of plywood to keep it from sinking into the ground, fix a flat and usually a tonque lock just in case I would have to leave it.

Last year I bought 4 new Goodyear endurance tires. I had them balanced and can’t believe how well they tow. I never balanced trailer tires before and now I wonder why I didn’t.

...i always install a snug fitting bolt & nut through the hole in the coupler lever...or a lock...

On a serious note………..

More things I’ve learned.

My Fla Cracker Ass buddies used to make fun of me for this one.
I do a lot of single handing so I install trailer guides to aid loading the boat.

My detractors figure: if I knew how to load a boat I wouldn’t need them.
Ha!

How about if you have a stiff breeze or current, pulling the boat off the trailer before you can get it out?
Had this happen one time while testing at Sebastian.
Tide was going out and pulling the boat off the trailer before I could get to the truck and pull it out.
And I was running!

Had to move the boat once I got home.


Another benefit to them is they help you know where the back/side of the trailer is while under tow.
No taking out mail boxes etc.

Also, I install the ones w/lights for night driving.

Ive had a couple of trailers wider than my tow pigg so, forget its back there, at night, on a winding, narrow road!

And helps to judge depth when backing down the ramp.

Along w/my trailer toll box that goes wherever the trailer goes, I have a Tupperware tub w/every imaginable trailer tongue/ball combination that there is.

All ball sizes, every version of raise/drop tongue, including adjustable.

When we went to Syracuse to p/u my first Sonic we used my buddies truck.
He had a 2 1/8” bumper mounted trailer ball.

The trailer had a 2 5/16” coupler.
No problem except the ball on my buddies truck had been there since he bought it and did not want to come off.
On a Saturday night w/everything closed.
I was in shock that something that simple could screw my deal, and we were 7 hrs from home.

I had a 1/2” breaker bar w/the right socket and my buddy found a 3’ pc of pipe.
He and the seller, both big boys, got on the pipe (only room for 2) and drug my buddies 1/2 ton p/u across the parking lot until the shank on the trailer ball broke in half!

Never would have believed it w/o seeing it.

So lesson there, verify ball size w/seller before hand and be prepared for him to be wrong.
That one is huge when picking up a new toy.

Sellers version of good is often different than ours.
When you ask about trailer tire condition, they’ll almost always tell you they have great tread.
If it tows well, you hardly ever replace due to worn tread.
Its almost always, cracked/dry rotted sidewalls.

I cover mine (to protect from sun) if stored outside.

Having the trailer tow level makes a huge difference too.

And when measuring tongue weight, make sure it’s level.
This makes a huge difference on tandems.

I do a lot of weekends on the boat trips too which leaves your tow pigg and trailer vulnerable where you park them.

When I had ratty trailers, no one would steal them.

Now I find a parking spot where I can back in, even if just against a parking block to load the ball.
Making it harder to detach.

Never want to have a bearing failure? Pack a complete spare hub and bearing kit. Its worked for me!

Just redone my trailer last fall, noticed all the mounting brackets were rusted and broke, my dad never had time or money to fix, got to the point where I was nervous my boat may actually end up on my trailer literally, so I rewired, rebunked, new support brackets, new led lights/ chains, tuf coated entire trailer with new decals from bill at allison, I actually enjoyed it, the satisfaction one receives from doing the work correctly yourself is great , I only wish I did not have to be on the clock so much right now so I could get out and do more myself, just built a 50 x 50 shop which houses my boat and 3 of my friends boats, 100% if you have never pulled a transmission out of an 81 3/4 ton Chevy with 4_11 gears in the rocks of your driveway, you will never appreciate a concrete floor lol, good thread instigator

The result of somebody not checking if is trailer was properly hitched so i hit my parked car end of januari
Still working on his insureance to get this payed