1. Make sure when you are buying a boat, that you get a minimum
of 13 inch wheels and a drive on trailer. Most people spend
10,000 bucks for their boat and 300 on their trailer. You can't
enjoy the boat when you always are having trouble transporting
or loading it. Spend at least a $1,000 for a good trailer. Ask
around - talk to people before buying.
2. If you already have one of those trailers that's a pain to
load your boat on, think about making some guide on's for it.
Two 2x4's five feet long covered with carpet attached to 4 inch
angle iron bent to attach to the trailer frame will cost about
50 bucks to make and install. Make sure before mounting them
that your boat is on trailer correct, then mount them carpeted
surface first flush against the side of your boat. This way
your boat will automatically center itself as you drive on the
trailer.
3. If your boat is light in weight, small tires less than 13 inches
will probably do. I would carry a spare anyway, but if you have
a heavy boat with small tires, care two spares. Check your air
pressure often, inflate to maximum load pressure. At any sign of
abnormal wear, get them off the trailer and check for the reason.
4. Always! Always! Put bearing buddy's on your trailer (big or
small) and also install bearing buddy caps to keep the grease
from being thrown all over your wheels.
5. Always carry a set of spare wheel bearings. Frequent grease
with Lubriplate-Auto/Marine-Lub 'A' - Part number 12298 (tube
type). This fits into the heavy duty 3-way lever grease gun, made
by Lubrimatic Products Co., Omaha, NE 68110. Since I started using
buddies with this grease, greasing about every 3 trips, I've
never (knock on wood) had any trouble. I haul a bass boat
several thousand miles each year.
6. If you are
using a truck type vehicle with a bumper ball to haul your boat,
may I suggest having your ball welded to the
bumper. Also weld your bumper to the frame of your truck. My
trailer and boat kept working my ball loose. It also kept pulling
my bumper down crooked in relationship to my bronco. So I had it
welded. I also had them weld a couple large links of heavy chain
to my bumper about a foot on each side of my ball sticking out from under the bumper. This was for the safety chains I installed
on trailer. In case something broke, I would not lose the trailer.
7. Get a bigger winch, with a strong nylon strap and replace the
small one. Trailers don't come with ones large enough to do the
job right.
FREEBIE: I extended my trailer tongue by three feet using the
next size up square steel tubing. This allows me to keep my feet
dry during launching and also allows me to use shallow ramps
better. Make sure you put some sticky back rubber matting on it
so you won't slip. This can be purchased at most good boat
dealerships. Remember if you extent your trailer tongue you
will have to swing wider on right-hand turns!!
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