What is the longest distance you towed your boat...

[murphini]

KC to Okoboji is about 800 round trip, I do it every year without incident towing with my 04 Expedition w/5.3 Triton. I don't even feel it back there. I get between 9-11mpg depending on speed and wind direction, but ave close to 70mph. I also pull to Tablerock which is about a 450mi round trip annually.

2007 Trailer HAD oilbath hubs; but one failed in 2009 on a trip from KC to Tablerock lake. Luckily limped to the water and got boat in, then took trailer to a shop to get fixed. Gave whole new axle under warranty with the VAULT bearings. So I had a mixture: one axle has the new VALUT and the other still HAD Oil Bath. One of the OIL bath bearings started to get cloudy and you can't add oil without taking wheel off. I went to a trailer dealer and switched the remaining oil baths to the standard grease bearing buddies hubs. I know they work.

Other thoughts:
Check tires for air pressure and wear patterns.
Make sure you have right lug wrench for trailer wheels--they are different from my truck tires.
Check pressure on your spare
I bring portable chocks when I park it.
Check the heat from the wheels when you get gas (which will be often) and make sure the bolts are snugged up--my alum wheels enable the bolts to loosen.

Am considering a 1200 mile tow to Missisippi River up near Lacrosse this upcoming summer.

[canuck]

Wichita KS to Tucson AZ... 18 hours(ish) highest elevation approx 7800msl... With two motorcycles in the bed of my 'O5 Z71 1500, sitting somewhere around 12,500lbs total GVW. FML shoudla gone diesel... And now the lake is three hours away. haha WTF was I thinking. As for Lake Powell Next year tho, lets make it a TIGE TAKEOVER! What dates u lookin at my fine Canadian friend?

We will be there the last week of July 2011. We are being joined by friend from all over the US (Denver, St. Louis, Los Angelas, Kansas City). Four houseboats in all.

We were there for the first time this summer but didn't bring along our boat. Turns out none of the other families had any wake board boats. The water was absolutely perfect in the mornings and at dusk. My son wasn't too happy about wakeboarding behind an I/O without a tower.

[raythompson]

Doesn't matter how far you tow. I only go about 15 miles to the lake. On my old boat and trailer (single axle, pre Tige) I was getting ready to back the boat into the garage after returning from the lake. Noticed something odd on the drivers side of the trailer, the wheel was canted slightly. Got out and looked and found a disaster.

The wheel hub had failed. There was no axle nut, no outer bearing, only shreds of the inner bearing and the hub was just riding on the axle. The whole assembly was smoking hot. Don't know when it happened but apparently it was not far from home.

So I continued to back the trailer into the garage just letting hub rub bare on the axle. In a few days I repaired the issue. This required jacking up the trailer and crawling underneath (I used jackstands). I had to remove the axle completely from the trailer as the bearing surface was destroyed and install a new axle. I also discovered at the time that on one of the springs that three of the leafs of a four leaf spring were broken. On the other spring one of the leafs was broken. The breaks were impossible to see without removing the springs. So I had to replace the axle, springs, hubs and U-Bolts. The trailer was 20 years old though but was well maintained.

However, I have never had a tire failure. Of course I am now jinxed.

[Ewok]

So I'm getting ready for a 2500 mile trip from TX to WA. Im thinking about building a plywood cover for the bow so the cover doesn't sink in and form a scoop to trap some air. I'm thinning about it to lessen the wear on the cover and make the boat a little more aerodynamic when towing, has anyone else done this? I'm also going to build a little structure to hold up the rear part of the cover incase it snows on me during the trip.

[yllw20]

Ewok,

On that trip the thing you should probably pay the most attention to is winterizing the motor or at least draining your block and vdrive. Don't know where you plan to stop but you definetly don't want any freeze issues while in transport.

[Ewok]

Ewok,

On that trip the thing you should probably pay the most attention to is winterizing the motor or at least draining your block and vdrive. Don't know where you plan to stop but you definetly don't want any freeze issues while in transport.

I will definitely drain the block and any other areas where water could be an issue. We actually have to do it once or twice a year here when the temps get below 32. I'm going to have the local Tige dealer complete the rest of the winterization when I get to WA. I plan to use the boat for one last time on the lake the weekend before the move when my brother and uncle come to town to help us finish the packing.

[Iwndr]

http://www.trailer-rockguard.com/
this is just one of many dealers of boat rock guards

[Timmy!]

Ewok, I would worry about the plywood rubbing on the gelcoat/interior from constant vibration. You might ask about getting the boat shrinkwrapped for the long trip instead. It's usually about $125.

[Ewok]

i would have to drive 3 hours to get that done

[Ewok]

I'm planning to build a frame that would support the plywood and not have the plywood touch the gelcoat. I'm going to wrap the edges of the wood that will touch the seats and the cover with trailer bunk carpet. I'm going to use road wrap on the exposed fiberglass and tower as well.

[Ewok]

I was just wondering if anyone else has done a similar project and had any lessons learned from it.

[chpthril]

i would have to drive 3 hours to get that done

Order the material and do it yourself

[Timmy!]

Order the material and do it yourself

I would lean that direction as well.

The other thing you can do is check with a dealer and see if any of them have the shipping covers that you can buy off of them. Tige used to have a white plasticy cover that they shipped the boats with.

[Ewok]

Order the material and do it yourself

I just looked at an online catalog and I would still need to build a support structure for the bow. I'll look into it some more and I'll post all my lessons learned with pics from the trip.

[IDBoating]

When we shipped our boat 2800 miles from Forte's in Florida (thanks again, guys, you're absolutely awesome!), they had a local shrinkwrap outfit come to the shop and do everything. It was WELL worth the money. Two people worked for several hours. They had all sorts of special foam, padding, tape, wrap, cording, and this awesome propane fired heat gun. No way could you economically order all this stuff and do the same job yourself.

Idea: See if you can find someone to shrinkwrap the boat in a city on the way toward Spokane, but as close to your current home town as possible. It will cost you an extra half day, but it's totally and completely worth it. I cannot recommend this enough.