Boat Trailer Stuff

June 14, 2003

So, how do you look after your boat trailer and what can be done about that darn salt water corrosion?

First of all, whenever you dip your trailer into salt water make sure you hose it off with fresh water right away. Get into the wheel wells, let water spray into the trailer frame and rinse everything off. God help you if you have electric or hydraulic trailer brakes. Make sure you REALLY rinse them well getting water inside the brake drums. At least every couple of months pull the brake drums off, get in there with some brakekleen and clean them up and lubricate the backing plate friction points with white lithium grease and inspect everything. A little bit of silicone spray on components (not brake surfaces or brake linings) would be good preventative maintenance.

I hope you're not one of those stupid people that backs their SUV or car or pickup into the salt water submerging your rear axle and brakes and possible the rear frame of your vehicle in the salt chuck. If you do then you're a real IDIOT!! Salt water will eat all of your vehicle's components alive. Only back up down the boat ramp enough to put your trailer's fenders at the surface of the water (enough to slide your boat off). Don't go any further than getting the rims of your vehicle wet. Any more is asking for long-term trouble and an expensive brake job.

There are many parts on your boat trailer that will go bye-bye due to corrosion. Such as the entire trailer lighting system (lights, bulbs, connections) and other stuff like your winch. The best place to find both of these items is at your local www.princessauto.com store. If you don't have one near you then you can always call them up and do mail order. Great stuff, cheap prices.

I bought a new winch that was a direct bolt-on replacement for around $30 there.

Trailer lighting. This is a touchy subject as I'm sure most salt water boaters are fed up with replacing corroded so-called "submersible" trailer lights. Well, let me tell you... standard submersible trailer lights SUCK and are a very cheap design that will at best last 2-3 years before needing complete replacement.

On many trailers the manufacturers use quick crimp-on connectors. These things are useless. Salt water gets in them right away and corrodes the copper of the wiring until nothing works anymore. You have to solder all connection and then dip them in silicone sealer as well as using some sort of heat-shrink tubing that goes over the entire splice. That's your new guarantee policy!

When it comes time to replace your submersible trailer lights again don't get the same junk. Go with some good hermetically sealed LED lights. www.princessauto.com has them now. Taillights are about $32-36 each and clearance lights are $10-13 a piece depending on style. These things don't get hot like regular lights, they consume a fraction of the electrical current (won't overload your flasher), and they last typically 100,000 hours before burning out so you NEVER need to replace the bulbs in your lifetime. The other great thing is that LED's don't take 1/4 of a second to light up like regular light bulbs, they light up in an instance. This gives vehicles driving behind your trailer that little bit of extra warning which could save you from an accident. I just ordered a complete set for my trailer and I'll add a how-to light replacement article here when I receive them. Maybe in a week or so.

Axle bearings! You should be taking them apart at least once a year and re-greasing your axle bearings to avoid bearing failure and a catastrophe on the hwy. It's relatively easy to do so get out your hydraulic jack and get to it.

That's all for now, stay tuned.