Trailer Cosmetics

[Beau McCrory]

I've got the powder coated Dorsey trailer with my 20V and haul basically all over TX. The trailer has almost as many miles on it as my Tahoe--I notice that I have a lot of rock damage to my trailer's fenders and axles, but no boat damage. The rocks have damaged the powder coating and I now am starting to rust. The looks are bad enough, but what about long term effects of corrosion? Can I touch up the powder coating, or do I sand blast the trailer and redo from the ground up???

[GIZMO]

finger nail polish works good on small rock chips.

[Beau McCrory]

good idea, but we're talking hundreds of small rock chips.

[raythompson]

My old boat trailer got that way after about 10 years. I just ignored the spots and the trailer was still fine after another 10 years.

I did have to replace the bunks. That was easy as I prebuilt the bunks and then took the boat to the lake, tied the boat up to the dock, and replaced the bunks on the trailer.

I also had to replace the springs some time later. A four leaf system that I noticed looked odd in the garage. Closer inspection revealed a broken spring. After acquiring new springs, I removed the old springs and found 3 of 4 leaves broken on one side, 2 of 4 broken on the other side. Interesting replacing springs on a trailer while the boat is still on the trailer.

I also lost a wheel bearing, actually lost the cap, outer bearing gone, inner bearing shreaded, and axle nut missing, and the axle was riding on the hub. Nothing was holding the wheel on the axle. Discovered when I was backing into the driveway. The assembly failed somewhere on the road close to the home port. The wheel was extremely hot and started smoking when I stopped.

Backed the boat into the garage with the bad axle. Interesting job replacing an entire axle while the boat is on the trailer. Had to remove the springs to get the axle out. New axle was a different configuration and I had to move the axle to the bottom of the springs to get the correct height. The new axle had a channel that would get grease to the inner bearing which I think was the root cause of the failure.

So a few paint chips are the least of your worries. Keep the hubs lubricated and free of water. Also inspect your trailer before every trip. If I had lost the wheel while traveling at 60 mph it could have been a not so pleasant event.

[Beau McCrory]

wow ray, that's great that the trailer held up so long.... I was just worried about the already evident rust. you must haul like i do to go thru that trailer like that

[raythompson]

It was a well built trailer that was custom made in San Antonio TX for the specific boat. Drive on capability (which was not widely used back then) was excellent. Even approaching the trailer at a 45 degree angle and the boat would still self center. Front bow mount was high on the bow making it easy to get to from the boat. Rear guides were weld steel with rollers so the hull never scraped.

I had the trailer 20 years and pulled the trailer from San Antonio TX to Knoxville TN (about 1100 miles). While in San Antonio I made dozens of trips to Canyon Lake (about 45 miles) and to Inks Lake (about 80 miles). While in TN I made dozens of trips to Spring City (about 45 miles) and the local river (about 7 miles.) I put a lot of miles on that trailer.

If a trailer is well maintained it will provided excellent service. I don't know that I could have caught the bearing failure. I might have avoided it if I had changed bearings every 5 years or so. The spring failure was just form fatigue and can be easily inspected visually.

I never did have a flat tire as I kept the tires in good shape and did change them out once.

So, as your trailer ages, before you take it out for the day inspect the springs, check tire pressure, and see that there is pressure in your buddy bearings so you know there is grease. And check your lights after you have hooked up; clearance, tail lights, and brake lights (use your hazard flasher.) I got stopped by the police because one of my brake lights was not working. No ticket, just a notice.

[Ruune]

see if you can polish some of the rust off, then try and match some yellow (judging from your pic) rust-oleum paint. Clean off the polish with alcohol, windex, or some other rapidly evaporating cleaner. When you've finished prepping, spray the paint on some q-tips and dab it on lightly.

[Gardyloo03]

are you sure it was powder coated? powder coating is extremely hard to chip and i mean really hard it should be durable enough that if the metal gets a dent that the coating wont crack or peel just bend with it. If you can flake this off then its not powder coat and if they sold you on that i think i would talk wiht them about it.

[24V4KBH]

Just open mind
what about RHINO or LINX ?
Just pray-on where is the most hit area. huh not bad idea.

Links >
http://www.rhinolinings.com/RL/main/
http://www.line-x.com/

[Cheeky]

I have powder coated items chip in the past. My speaker cans are powder coated and they have a chip or two where they have been hit while the boat is being towed.

[Beau McCrory]

I like Ruune's idea for the short run and the Rhino idea rocks for the long term!!! thanks for the ideas, fellas!