Trailer Galvanising

edurbin · Post by **edurbin** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 9:18 pm

Wondering if there are any words of wisdom out there for galvanising the trailer. My use is 100% salt water, and its just a matter of time before the demon rust will get to it.

Comments from those who have done their trailer would be great. Anybody galvanise their wheel rims ?
How do you get the insides out of the tongue jack ?
Where do you need to drill holes to let the liquid zinc drain out ?

Thanks
Craig

BK · Post by BK » Sun Apr 24, 2005 7:34 am

I was at a boat show and a guy was selling the idea of galvanising your trailer for $1000. He said the trailer has to be sand blasted first.
I was talking with a guy who had a brand new boat while waiting our turn at a boat ramp and he said his galvanised trailer was only a $150 option more. The difference of galvanized over iron is only $150.
Dave Clark has found a company in Florida that will sell a double axle galvanized trailer for the Mac for around $3000. I was thinking of picking one up when I go there to sail the Keys.

Post by **kmclemore** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 9:09 am

I guess if I were to want to upgrade my trailer, I'd opt for an aluminum one. You not only cut down on the corosion, but you also reduce the weight pretty dramatically.

edurbin · Post by **edurbin** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 4:24 pm

Thanks Guys. Mine is only 12 months old and I've kept it oiled, so I reckon if I do it now it will be saved. Sandblasting will be done. I've drilled holes in any sealed trailer pieces. Problem I have just now is the tongue jack - how do you get the insides out of it ? Maybe its a job the angle grinder - cut it off and buy a new jockey wheel.

Craig

argonaut · Post by **argonaut** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 6:47 pm

Saltwater here too. Local boat stores sell galvanized wheels and mounted tire/wheel sets.
You almost never see painted wheels.
The 5 lug 14" was like $119 US for galv. wheel w/mounted ST series tire, the wheels alone I looked at were $29 I think.
WM and Boatersworld sell 'em too and a higher price of course.
All of the local tire stores also sell the galvanized rims for about the same price.
Rinsing the trailer every use helps a lot, mine's been a salt water boat and it's a '97 and the trailer still looks pretty good.
I was thinking of trying some black POR 15 on it though.
My trailer doesn't have brakes so I'll probably replace it before spend much to fix it up.

BK, who sells the galv Mac trailers down here?

BK · Post by BK » Mon Apr 25, 2005 7:58 am

Argonaut, I went by the dealership when I was in Ft. Lauderdale a few months ago but Dave Clark has all the details.
I still am not sold on a duel axel but if it is a good deal I would take it. As pointed out in previous posts, the 14" tires and single axel are OK for boat weight minus tongue weight deduction, having no gas or water aboard and if the tires are in top shape. I have to park the boat in a very tight area and I need the easy movement of a single axel.
This whole problem of galvanising should have been an option by MacGregor. Now it will take a lot of money to change it. The new M has 15" tires.

dclark · Post by **dclark** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 8:14 am

That was from Rocket Trailers in FL (http://www.rockettrailers.com). It was a couple years ago that I looked into it, but didn't go much further than that. As I remember they would make a galvanlized, dual axle trailer for the Mac 26X. That included SS disk brakes, an anti sway bay, and a weight capacity of 4500 pounds for about $3,000-$3,500. The trick is getting it. If you can pick it up, no problem. If they had to ship it, it was expensive. The best choice was to wait until a shipment was coming my way (could be several months) and have ot "piggy-backed" with others. As I remember that put the shipping to CA at about $500.

argonaut · Post by **argonaut** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 10:15 am

My parking is tight too, alongside my house with just yard on that side, my driveway's on the opposite side, and two trees to thread when you park. Maybe a single axle w/15"wheels is the way to go.

edurbin · Post by **edurbin** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 8:14 pm

Yeah - my parking is tight as well. The single axle trailer is great for manoeuvering. I had a double axle trailer on a previous trailer sailer. The sideways pressure on the rims and hubs was tremendous, and the twisting on the trailer frame aweful. Eventually the main crossmember in the trailer cracked at the vee joint and had to be welded again. For my use, single axle is a plus.

Craig

BK · Post by BK » Wed Apr 27, 2005 8:03 am

I meet Earnest Guenther who did the Alaska trips in the exploring section and he has the duel axel but said he put more than 22,000 miles on his single axel 14' tires and went to the duel axel to carry more stuff in the boat on long hauls.
From this, the 15" tires or duel axel are not needed. I was reading the breakdown of boat and tire weight that some one did and everything is fine with the 14" tires. Make sure to deduct tongue weight from the boat load and factor in +5% built in safety tire load over the tire printed load(2000LB tire load X 5% =100lbs).
MacGregor did the math and it must have looked good to him.

aya16 · Post by **aya16** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 9:33 am

Garges sand blast and galvanize, build a new trailer in so cal.

The phone number is new 310-8777287
The phone number on the link Below is wrong. They built a trailer for my other boat very heavy duty (baja ready) they said, galvanized for 3500.00
about 4 years ago. single axle.

http://www.411boating.com/COMMON/Frame. ... MTRAILERS/

Chip Hindes · Post by **Chip Hindes** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 10:36 am

BK wrote:MacGregor did the math and it must have looked good to him.

The math MacGregor did had mostly to do with $$, not tow weight.

You're right about deducting the tongue weight, but with a single axle trailer loaded with no special effort to keep everything forward, that's likely to be no more than 6-7% maximum, and it could be as low as 5%. So your max limit is likely to be something well under 4,000 lbs.

Like towing with a Taurus, no matter how inadequate they are on average, you'll be able to find one or more people who've had satisfactory results. And if everybody towed with a Taurus, we'd be hearing some horror stories and there'd be a lot of broken Tauri out there. In fact there are quite a few of us who have experiences with the stock tire setup which contradict the your anecdotal evidence, and who don't believe "everything is fine with the 14" tires."

aya16 · Post by **aya16** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:21 am

Ok heres the scoop.....Baja custom trailers in southern cal.

6000 pound galvanized two axle trailer.... $2600.00
take apart sand blast and galvanize our trailer...$1200.00
add second axle......$850.00

My suggestion would be use your trailer till it gets worn some and buy a new trailer.

The place above is formally Garges trailer, Now they are called Baja custom trailer and are in the process of moving to Carson Calif. near 605 and 91 fwy. The phone number is 310-877-7287

website coming soon is what he they told me.

BK · Post by BK » Wed Apr 27, 2005 4:03 pm

I wonder what a new galvanized trailer with a single axel and 15" tires, SS brakes, sealed bearings and wash down brake kit would cost? What would be the load bearing weight of this trailer and the weight of the trailer itself? What would he charge if we could get 5 of us to get a new trailer? Is anyone else interested in this?

aya16 · Post by **aya16** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 4:30 pm

bk I only asked about the 2 axel, But he did say single would rate 5000#
I dont need a trailer now but would be interested in a couple years. That doesnt help you guys that want one now though. The brake wash down is easy to do its just a hose and some fittings to the brakes nothing complicated.
Give the guy a call see what he says.
Anyone want to buy a year old stock Mac trailer for $2000.00?

What are they worth anyway?

MacGregorSailors.com

MacGregorSailors.com

Trailer Galvanising

Trailer Galvanising

Galvanised trailer