Sealing trailer cross members

[Fab1]

Has anyone sealed the gaps in the end of their crossmembers and the hole in the middle of them to stop water ingress?

If so what did you use? I'm thinking of sealing mine at the ends and plugging the holes.

Wish I could weld them.

My thoughts are using sikafpex and blind grommets.

Cheers.

 

[noelm]

Take the boat off, tip trailer over, put some oil in tube, seal hole with bolt/wood plug/silicon/plug or anything you can find, oil will "slosh" around and coat inside steel.

[zmk1962]

Bear in mind that you may need to have some way of allowing for air expansion as the trailer sits in the hot sun, the trapped air inside will expand - if its completely air tight it may well blow out the sikaflex/grommet seal.

Cheers Zoran

[Fab1]

43 minutes ago, noelm said:

Take the boat off, tip trailer over, put some oil in tube, seal hole with bolt/wood plug/silicon/plug or anything you can find, oil will "slosh" around and coat inside steel.

Cheers mate.

27 minutes ago, zmk1962 said:

Bear in mind that you may need to have some way of allowing for air expansion as the trailer sits in the hot sun, the trapped air inside will expand - if its completely air tight it may well blow out the sikaflex/grommet seal.

Cheers Zoran

Breather sorted. Let me give it more🤔

[Smobaby]

Don't bother the galvanising is already deteriorating externally. Every trailer will rust from the inside out. As Nolem said spray with preferred inhibitor internally  at regular intervals. Let it breathe still pleanty of life left.

 

[Fab1]

I sealed it and filled crossmembers with liquid silicon.Let's see how it goes.

Edited February 9, 2021 by Fab1

[Fab1]

Well that was a marathon trailer cleaning job on my back with spray bottle,rubbing alcohol,silicon and rags.

Cleaned and treated rust on whole trailer then treated it with silicon inside and out.

She's more slippery than Teflon John now.

Let's hope this crappy weather gets better on my days off as I want to get out.

[Rebel]

Before you do what you want to do,ask a Trailer manufacture if it is ok. Those holes are there for a reason.

Cheers.

[frankS]

The holes are there so that the galvanizing doesn't explode when dipped. Trailer manufacturers don't care what happens to the trailer once it's sold, so just leave the holes where they are. Also the holes should be at the lowest points of the trailer so the water runs out from the inside channels. If you happen to park the trailer on uneven ground water will form a pool and rust from the inside out. Very rarely are trailers parked dead level so that all the water can escape.

Frank

[noelm]

The holes are there for galvanising, as long as there's some kind of rust preventative inside, blocking them up is fine.

[noelm]

1 hour ago, Fab1 said:

Well that was a marathon trailer cleaning job on my back with spray bottle,rubbing alcohol,silicon and rags.

Cleaned and treated rust on whole trailer then treated it with silicon inside and out.

She's more slippery than Teflon John now.

Let's hope this crappy weather gets better on my days off as I want to get out.

Get your crab gear out and go crabbing in Lake Illawarra, or go for Flathead in the channel, live Mullet or FRESH prawns are getting them at the moment.

[Fab1]

43 minutes ago, Rebel said:

Before you do what you want to do,ask a Trailer manufacture if it is ok. Those holes are there for a reason.

Cheers.

The trailer manufacturer will say leave them how they are so water sits in there rusting it to bits to get more sales.

   As the guys said they are there for galvanizing purposes and if the trailer manufacturers gave 0.111111111% of a s%## in preserving the trailers after they have sold them to you they'd use their brains and have the crossmembers ends fully welded as well as the chassiss rails ends.

  They simply would have holes in the usual places,at ends of rails and crossmembers then after the galvanizing process plug the holes with blind grommets.

  But that would be to easy and lose them a s%## load of $$$.

13 minutes ago, frankS said:

The holes are there so that the galvanizing doesn't explode when dipped. Trailer manufacturers don't care what happens to the trailer once it's sold, so just leave the holes where they are. Also the holes should be at the lowest points of the trailer so the water runs out from the inside channels. If you happen to park the trailer on uneven ground water will form a pool and rust from the inside out. Very rarely are trailers parked dead level so that all the water can escape.

Frank

My trailer is parked in my garage level and was still rusting at the centre and ends of the crossmembers.The damage is done at the ramp when your trailer is left in the hot sun stewing all day while your away fishing covered in salt water.

  Salt water is never getting inside the frames crossmembers of my trailer ever again I can assure you.

I agree with everything you say.

 

13 minutes ago, noelm said:

The holes are there for galvanising, as long as there's some kind of rust preventative inside, blocking them up is fine.

Agree.

10 minutes ago, noelm said:

Get your crab gear out and go crabbing in Lake Illawarra, or go for Flathead in the channel, live Mullet or FRESH prawns are getting them at the moment.

Crab gear in Fabian' s arsenal 0.

As for fishing today(My day off 0 again.)

I'll wait for better weather and make a day out of it.

Now to go and do the laundry,dishes,and vacuuming for the mrs like a good little boy.😂😂😂

[Rebel]

Never had a problem with rust on trailers over the years. Always washed them down. Used WD40 where it counts.

Cheers.

[Fab1]

1 hour ago, Rebel said:

Never had a problem with rust on trailers over the years. Always washed them down. Used WD40 where it counts.

Cheers.

What did you do inside the cross members? I'm yet to see a trailer with unsealed cross members with no rust.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Fab1

[Rebel]

@Fab1

 I used WD40. i bought a Blower from Bunnings for cleaning the driveway at home. This is an electric blower and blows at

300kph, that is what the label says. I use it to blow the water off the trailer and the boat. Doesn't take long. Never had a rust problem.

Cheers.

[Fab1]

On 2/19/2021 at 10:29 AM, Rebel said:

@Fab1

 I used WD40. i bought a Blower from Bunnings for cleaning the driveway at home. This is an electric blower and blows at

300kph, that is what the label says. I use it to blow the water off the trailer and the boat. Doesn't take long. Never had a rust problem.

Cheers.

No chance in hell any blower will get rid of water and salt from inside my cross members unless there's a 2 mm adapter for one.

  Good to hear someone doesn't have any rust issues inside their cross members.

How do you spray the wd inside the crossmembers to coat them all over?

[Rebel]

@Fab1 

Block the holes and pump the WD40 in to the cross member. It is a bit of stuffing around but it works.

You can also buy rust proof paint and do the same.

I do it every 12 to 18months.

A good trailer is expensive.

[Fab1]

5 hours ago, Rebel said:

@Fab1 

Block the holes and pump the WD40 in to the cross member. It is a bit of stuffing around but it works.

You can also buy rust proof paint and do the same.

I do it every 12 to 18months.

A good trailer is expensive.

Ok.I filled mine with diesel and new oil then fully sealed it.A replacement for a small boat like mine is like 3k.Buys alot of bait and fuel.

[Fab1]

A simple wheel chock would have saved that falcon.I have a 4wd hilux with good all terrain tyres and I can tell you i nearly went swimming at windang on low tide in 4low pulling my 550kg tinny out.Slimmy ramp,4 wheels on slime and wet and I spun the wheels while rolling back at the same time a couple of feet.Scared the crap out of me.

[Rebel]

@Fab1

I hope your system works.

There is also a product called Couplertec which does work againt rust, but it is expensive.

Cheers.