Advice wanted - choosing new trailer

[kiwicraig]

Hi Raiders,

I’m looking to learn a bit from your experiences with different types of trailers.  I have a 5.1m Mustang half cab – an older fibreglass hull with a 120HP Tohatsu on the back, so I would say a reasonably heavy boat for its size.  When I brought the boat I knew that the trailer was in fairly average condition and would need to be replaced at some point.  I’m at that point now.  A few weeks ago I noticed that it has actually rusted through the bottom of one of the rectangular sections on the left side in front of the axel and the sides of the section have started to bulge out.  While it has not actually let go, given where it is this point will probably be fine with the boat on the trailer, but would be loaded up as the boat is pushed back or pulled onto the trailer so I am simply not going to risk it. It’s got one more launch in it and that will be to swap the trailer over.  I’m not even going to bother with renewing the rego as there is no way it would pass a safety check.

The trailer I have is a traditional roller type, single axel and braked.  It is a Marlin and I have been fairly happy with it as it was really good at centreing the boat as I often retrieve solo.

I’ve been doing a lot of research an @antonywardle also sent me a useful article from Fisho that had some interesting points.  I have a few specific questions I would like some thoughts on. 

1)      I have no idea how much my boat weighs. I have a tare weight for the trailer so in theory I could tow it to a vehicle weigh station and work it out but for obvious reasons would rather not.  Does anyone have an idea of the range for the weight of the hull itself? (I can get the weight of the motor from the manual).

2)      Skids vs Rollers?  The article that I mentioned earlier seemed to favour Skids over Rollers largely because there were less moving parts to maintain.  I had always assumed that skids were only suitable for smaller, lighter boats but is that the case?  Is it possible to use a Skid type trailer for a heavy fiberglass boat and should I be considering it?

3)      Aluminium vs Steel? All of the trailers I have looked at have been hot dipped steel – the article I read also talked about aluminium trailers.  The obvious benefit would be that they don’t rust, but are there down sides?  I’ve not looked into this option yet, but given what I know of aluminium I am guessing it would be more expensive and aluminium can get brittle at joins with age so could be prone to cracking/stress fractures.

4)      One of the brands of trailers I have looked at seemed to have the axel a little further back and less of the trailer protruding behind the axel.  Could just be a deceptive photo but this appeals as it would mean that I could get the trailer further into the water which would make drive on/off easier and (I would think) put less stress on the trailer due to the shorter lever.  Any thoughts on this?  Any downsides?

5)      Old vs. New?  My thinking at the moment is that I am going to buy a new trailer so that I can get into good maintenance habits from day 1, thinking that prevention is better than a cure.  From what I have seen 2^nd hand trailers seem to run at around 1/3 to 1/2 of the price of a new trailer anyway and you’re never going to get one in great condition.  Thoughts?

6)      Any vendors that I should avoid?  PM me if you have had a bad experience with someone.

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your help. 

 

 

 

[Fab1]

4 hours ago, kiwicraig said:

Hi Raiders,

I’m looking to learn a bit from your experiences with different types of trailers.  I have a 5.1m Mustang half cab – an older fibreglass hull with a 120HP Tohatsu on the back, so I would say a reasonably heavy boat for its size.  When I brought the boat I knew that the trailer was in fairly average condition and would need to be replaced at some point.  I’m at that point now.  A few weeks ago I noticed that it has actually rusted through the bottom of one of the rectangular sections on the left side in front of the axel and the sides of the section have started to bulge out.  While it has not actually let go, given where it is this point will probably be fine with the boat on the trailer, but would be loaded up as the boat is pushed back or pulled onto the trailer so I am simply not going to risk it. It’s got one more launch in it and that will be to swap the trailer over.  I’m not even going to bother with renewing the rego as there is no way it would pass a safety check.

The trailer I have is a traditional roller type, single axel and braked.  It is a Marlin and I have been fairly happy with it as it was really good at centreing the boat as I often retrieve solo.

I’ve been doing a lot of research an @antonywardle also sent me a useful article from Fisho that had some interesting points.  I have a few specific questions I would like some thoughts on. 

1)      I have no idea how much my boat weighs. I have a tare weight for the trailer so in theory I could tow it to a vehicle weigh station and work it out but for obvious reasons would rather not.  Does anyone have an idea of the range for the weight of the hull itself? (I can get the weight of the motor from the manual).Getting a hull weight of someone over the internet will be a guess at best.I know you don't want to but fully load your boat with fuel and gear like you do for a trip and take it over the weigh bridge then deduct the trailer weight.This is the most accurate way.

2)      Skids vs Rollers?  The article that I mentioned earlier seemed to favour Skids over Rollers largely because there were less moving parts to maintain.  I had always assumed that skids were only suitable for smaller, lighter boats but is that the case?  Is it possible to use a Skid type trailer for a heavy fiberglass boat and should I be considering it?A fully skidded trailer will support any boat better than any rollered trailer in my opinion.

3)      Aluminium vs Steel? All of the trailers I have looked at have been hot dipped steel – the article I read also talked about aluminium trailers.  The obvious benefit would be that they don’t rust, but are there down sides? I’ve not looked into this option yet, but given what I know of aluminium I am guessing it would be more expensive and aluminium can get brittle at joins with age so could be prone to cracking/stress fractures.You hit the nail on the head.

4)      One of the brands of trailers I have looked at seemed to have the axel a little further back and less of the trailer protruding behind the axel.  Could just be a deceptive photo but this appeals as it would mean that I could get the trailer further into the water which would make drive on/off easier and (I would think) put less stress on the trailer due to the shorter lever.  Any thoughts on this?  Any downsides?Any good trailer will have adjustable axles and winch posts that you can move the axle fwd/back or the winch post or a combination of all three.The best thing you can do on any boat provided to can maintain the correct ball weight down load is have the axle and winch post fwd as much as possible.This achieves 2 things.Helps keep your bearings/axles/leafs out of the water(You don't back down as far) and there's less chance you can drop your trailers wheels of the end of the ramp.Not many people think about these things. 

5)      Old vs. New?  My thinking at the moment is that I am going to buy a new trailer so that I can get into good maintenance habits from day 1, thinking that prevention is better than a cure.  From what I have seen 2^nd hand trailers seem to run at around 1/3 to 1/2 of the price of a new trailer anyway and you’re never going to get one in great condition.  Thoughts?That ones up to you.If money permits buy new.

6)      Any vendors that I should avoid?  PM me if you have had a bad experience with someone.

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your help. 

 

 

Good luck with your search. 

 

 

 

[sydney south]

1)      I have no idea how much my boat weighs. I have a tare weight for the trailer so in theory I could tow it to a vehicle weigh station and work it out but for obvious reasons would rather not.  Does anyone have an idea of the range for the weight of the hull itself? (I can get the weight of the motor from the manual).

From memory the old Australian Mustang boats then when to the Tournament brand, which have now under the Haines Group. Have a look and see if you boat is still manufactured so as to get an indication of the weight. I would also add a few extra kilos to cover yourself. Either that or as mention previously the weighbridge is a better choice - just time consuming.

2)      Skids vs Rollers?  The article that I mentioned earlier seemed to favour Skids over Rollers largely because there were less moving parts to maintain.  I had always assumed that skids were only suitable for smaller, lighter boats but is that the case?  Is it possible to use a Skid type trailer for a heavy fiberglass boat and should I be considering it?

Skids are good, but sometime it is hard to get the boat off the trailer if you have not used it for awhile. I always used a can of silicone spray over the skids to stop this from happening.

Lest maintenance on skids.

3)      Aluminium vs Steel? All of the trailers I have looked at have been hot dipped steel – the article I read also talked about aluminium trailers.  The obvious benefit would be that they don’t rust, but are there down sides?  I’ve not looked into this option yet, but given what I know of aluminium I am guessing it would be more expensive and aluminium can get brittle at joins with age so could be prone to cracking/stress fractures.

Alloy is good, won't corrode and lighter as well.

4)      One of the brands of trailers I have looked at seemed to have the axel a little further back and less of the trailer protruding behind the axel.  Could just be a deceptive photo but this appeals as it would mean that I could get the trailer further into the water which would make drive on/off easier and (I would think) put less stress on the trailer due to the shorter lever.  Any thoughts on this?  Any downsides?

 

You will need to adjust the axle so you get the correct ball weight.

 

5)      Old vs. New?  My thinking at the moment is that I am going to buy a new trailer so that I can get into good maintenance habits from day 1, thinking that prevention is better than a cure.  From what I have seen 2^nd hand trailers seem to run at around 1/3 to 1/2 of the price of a new trailer anyway and you’re never going to get one in great condition.  Thoughts?

 

If you are planning on keeping the boat - go new.

 

6)      Any vendors that I should avoid?  PM me if you have had a bad experience with someone.

I would go Australian made over any imported trailer. Bearings and brakes are easier to source.

Just my 2 cents on past experience.

Hope it helps - good luck.....

[Fishop]

I'm in the same boat as you (pardon the pun). I have an old trailer and an old glass boat and the trailer is almost done. 

I recently called a carribbean dealer in Melbourne and he was able to give me the dry weight of the boat but of course that doesn't include engine, fuel or basically anything else inside the boat.  As a guide my 5.6m glass boat was I think 675kg dry.  So maybe try find a mustang dealer he should be able to look up your Model year and give you a rough weight. 

Hope this helps. 

[Foghorn]

 contact Mustang Boats, tel (07) 5510 8888. ( from a 2004 magazine)

[kiwicraig]

Thanks all for the tips and advice. Very helpful as always!

[antonywardle]

A while ago, I needed to move my trailer axle to help me with towball weight and while doing it, I found a maths formula to try and calculate the weight of my boat. I made this post back in 2015 about it. I never checked the results at a weigh bridge so ymmv, but I'd guess that yours and mine would be similar @kiwicraig. Anyway, if you are able to move your boat on the trailer with the jockey wheel on a set of scales, then you might be able to come up with a boat weight. Your rego papers might be able to tell you how much the trailer weighs, so if you go to a weigh bridge and then subtract the trailer weight, you'll know what the boat weighs.

 

A question that I've often wondered is how much does my boat weigh.I found a calculation on the internet to tell me such a thing. I can't find it now but it was you measure from the jockey wheel on the front of the trailer to your axle and then put a set of scales underneath and write down the weight. Then move your boat forward a distance and then weigh the boat again, plug it in to the calculator and see what you come up with so its:

distance(second weight-first weight)/distance you moved it

From memory, I also had a spirit level on. Not sure if this was necessary or not. The second weight should be heavier, assuming you moved the boat forward. Now I didn't do this, I actually moved my axle back because mine was pretty light so

I got 4053mm(76kg-15kg)/280mm

which means my boat weighs 882kilograms

My outboard weights 145kg and I have a 50 litre fuel tank if I assume there was 20 litres of fuel in the tank, then that would weigh about 14 kilos. There wasn't much oil in so I'll ignore that (Weight-density of petrol is about 737.22 kg/m3, which would mean a litre would way about 0.74 kg or 740 grams)

882-145-14= 723Kilograms

I guess the next thing to do is to go to a weigh bridge and then get the weight and sub-tracked 723 kilos from it and I have the weight of my trailer.My boat had all the gear on it except my rods. Its a 4.98 Safari Caribbean FG (its the one pictured in my profile pix) 

Hows that weight calculation sound? I'm not sure if moving the axle is the same as moving the boat for the calculation but I needed to do it. 15kg on the jockey wheel wasn't much fun when trying to work in the boat! I can't find the website now that I got the calculation from but its an easy thing to do. I just used bathroom scales when my wife was out!

[antonywardle]

One final thing a friend told me was,  if getting an Aluminium trailer, go for one that is bolted. This theory is that they will flex a little anyway, and if it is bolted then this will be ok, but if welded then you will eventually crack the welds. I'm not a welder, he is, and has a lot of experience in these sort of things. 

 

Sounds like good advice, but I don't know enough about it to know if it would be good, or if it would be another item that would need periodic replacement ;-)

 

[macca02]

I don't have any experience with alloy trailers, but if i was to get a new trailer i'd 100% go for one, might cost a little bit more but for peace of mind in the long run it would be worth it. I bought a gal trailer new for my tinny about 5 years ago, its held up fine but does show some surface rust.

[tomahawk]

I just received my new Aluminium Trailer for my 6.1 metre Aluminium boat, it was manufactured by Spitfire trailers in Qld and looks pretty impressive and reasonably priced. They have a very informative web page and Peter was great to deal with.

Worth a look,

Cheers,

Thommo

[Fab1]

2 hours ago, tomahawk said:

I just received my new Aluminium Trailer for my 6.1 metre Aluminium boat, it was manufactured by Spitfire trailers in Qld and looks pretty impressive and reasonably priced. They have a very informative web page and Peter was great to deal with.

Worth a look,

Cheers,

Thommo

They sound like a great mob but one of the rules on here states that company's must be mentioned in pms only.

Welcome aboard.

[tomahawk]

Sorry about that Fab 1.

Cheers,

Thommo