Trailer Problems

[raythompson]

Another dismal weekend with my boat, or should I say trailer.

Drove the boat about 12 miles to the ramp and when I got there discovered that all the wheels on the trailer were covered with oil/grease. Not good. I felt a hub and it was scorching hot. All four hubs were greased over and were too hot to touch. Obviously the brakes were dragging on the trailer.

I called the dealer and informed the dealer that I was in no position to pull the boat 30 miles to their place of business as the brakes on the trailer would not survive. The dealer told me to put the boat in the water as they could not retrieve the trailer on a recovery truck due to the weight and the possibility of damage.

So I launched the boat and towed the trailer about 4 miles to a place where a recovery truck could pick up the trailer. The trailer wheels hung over one side of the truck so there is no way it could have been done with the boat on the trailer.

Now it started raining, a cold rain. The recovery truck left and I took the boat about 20 miles down river to Blue Springs Marina and had the boat placed in dry storage. My wife arrived with the truck (sans trailer) and took me home and I was soaking wet and cold. Sometimes the rain was so hard I could not see 40 feet in front of the boat.

I had taken the trailer to the dealer in the fall because the surge coupling was acting differently than when I bought the trailer. The dealer said there was nothing wrong. I think that assesment was incorrect.

For some history I ordered the trailer with brakes on both axles. When the trailer arrived there brakes on only the rear axle. The dealer installed new hubs and plumbed the additional brakes using parts from the trailer dealer. Of course they did not paint the hubs and I found different size nuts on the hub bolts. The dealer did fix that problem. The dealer also replaced the surge coupling because of the additional braking requirements.

Somewhere in this process I believe that something was installed improperly or that something failed in the coupling and was causing the coupling to not release.

The trailer has been returned to the factory to be rebuilt. I suspect that new seals will be required. New bearings may also be needed along with new brake pads as they were soaked with oil. The hubs do not have grease but instead use a heavy oil. The oil is kept under pressure by the hubs.

The trailer manufacturer (or boat dealer) will cover the repairs under warranty, will pay for the tow charge (60 miles round trip), and I will also press for the dry storage charges.

It was not a good day. I will not mention the trailer manufacturer until I get the trailer back and see how the repairs have been handled.

The good news is the boat performed well.

[lee]

It it from the local trailer maker or the one in Indiana?

[dogbert]

What a bummer! It's not fun being out in one of our boats in the driving rain.

[raythompson]

Originally posted by lee
It it from the local trailer maker or the one in Indiana?

It is a local builder that it is fairly close as the builder came and picked up the trailer from the dealer. It is not the normal trailer that is provided by Tige.

[raythompson]

Originally posted by dogbert
What a bummer! It's not fun being out in one of our boats in the driving rain.

Yeh, and rain drops sting at 20 MPH. And to top it off it was cold and the rain was cold. It is not the worst day on a boat and I only say that because I don't know what the future holds.

[Tequilasun]

Ray, sorry to hear about your troubles.

Sounds to me like the dealer did indeed botch the install.

I hope everything works out for you.

[dogbert]

Originally posted by raythompson
Yeh, and rain drops sting at 20 MPH. And to top it off it was cold and the rain was cold. It is not the worst day on a boat and I only say that because I don't know what the future holds.

That reminds me of the time when my neighbor just picked up their Malibu Wakesetter and invited my buddy and I to ride along. Of course, there was no gas in the boat, so we went to get some. As we were finishing up, I noticed some storm clouds and said we'd better wait it out 'cause it looks like it's gonna get bad. My buddy says it'll be fine. Just as we are pulling out into the main lake to head back all hell breaks loose. The sky is green, tons of lightening and 80+ Mph winds. We have about 10 people in this 20' wakesetter and the waves are instantly 5' and we're driving into them. At this point, my neighbor turns to me and says, here, you drive and gets out of the driver's seat. We couldn't really turn around because we would have been swamped. It was the longest 10 minutes of my life! Definitely not recommended!

[Tequilasun]

Originally posted by dogbert
That reminds me of the time when my neighbor just picked up their Malibu Wakesetter and invited my buddy and I to ride along. Of course, there was no gas in the boat, so we went to get some. As we were finishing up, I noticed some storm clouds and said we'd better wait it out 'cause it looks like it's gonna get bad. My buddy says it'll be fine. Just as we are pulling out into the main lake to head back all hell breaks loose. The sky is green, tons of lightening and 80+ Mph winds. We have about 10 people in this 20' wakesetter and the waves are instantly 5' and we're driving into them. At this point, my neighbor turns to me and says, here, you drive and gets out of the driver's seat. We couldn't really turn around because we would have been swamped. It was the longest 10 minutes of my life! Definitely not recommended!

Bet you found yourself reaching for the Taps Button!

[dogbert]

Originally posted by Tequilasun
Bet you found yourself reaching for the Taps Button!

Nope, too busy trying to keep us from sinking. Rain @ 80Mph really hurts!

[Tequilasun]

I had a very similar situation last year, but I don't think I had the severity of you and Ray's situations.

We had a storm open up on us after we had just dropped the boat in the water, and were heading over to the houseboat slip. It rained hard enough that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, let alone the bow of the boat. We made it over there (short trip) and stuck the tige in an empty houseboat stall. Well, guess what, here comes the owner of that stall, so we had to move. The wind was pushing 3 footers at us, with that hard rain. I wasn't out in the boat for long (2 minutes) but got soaked again.

We sat it out, then put the boat back on the trailer as there was another line of storms coming through.

Funny part is, called my buddy on his cell phone (he was meeting us that day) and told him that the storm was crazy. He was motoring across the lake, telling me that I was nuts, and how beautiful it was where he was. He got nailed with the second line of storms though.



Moral: Respect Thy Weather report!

BTW, most cell phones with internet access can get on weather.com and access a regional radar

[dogbert]

Originally posted by Tequilasun
Moral: Respect Thy Weather report!

BTW, most cell phones with internet access can get on weather.com and access a regional radar

I normally do, but weather changes very quickly here and this one really did pop up out of nowhere. Cell phones are great if you have coverage. It's spotty where we are because our lake is pretty deserted

[raythompson]

I was on Inks Lake on time with a parasail about 150 feet in the air on a 200 foot rope attached to the back of my 18' Century Bronco I/O. Had a passenger up in the sail with clear skies all around. All of a sudden the wind went from 5 mph to over 40 mph with no warning. 5 minutes later there was thunder storms.

The thunder storms were really not a problem by that time. You see, the wind caught the parasail, raised the back of the boat out of the water about two foot (the prop was clear of the water), dropped the boat back down, raised it again and broke the harness attaching the parasail to the boat. The parasail was loose, this is not good.

The passenger drifted off with the wind slowly loosing altitude. She was headed towards land. I quickly followed her until I hit the shore with the boat. I jumped out and quickly caught up with the sail, got behind the sail, and collapsed the sail.

The lady was definitely shaken. She had drifted through some trees and caught some power lines to a garage. The lines were insulated but the collision was enough to break the lines. Beaching the boat also caused some damage to the hull. When I beached the boat I was doing about 20 MPH when I hit the shore. I was not concerned about the boat only the passenger. She was not hurt except for her eyelids from being wide open then entire time.

So yeh, in Texas the weather can go from nothing to some really serious wind in no time flat. Inks Lake is fed from Buchanan so the same weather applies.

I still have the parasail and use it occasionally in TN. Only now I watch the weather real close and look for anything odd in the distance.

[dogbert]

Inks Lake is 5 miles from my lake house.

[Tequilasun]

Where do you buy a parasail? That sounds like a great deal of fun....except for the whole wind/broken link/garage power line part.

[raythompson]

You can try here for a starter. Remember google is your friend.

I paid $600.00 for mine back in 1987 and it was used. What I did learn is that you need a really strong attachment to the boat. Normal ski harnesses will break. The rig I have now will support 5,000 pounds.

You also need several people; 2 in the boat, 1 on each side of the chute, 1 on the rope, and 1 strapped in the chute. You also need considerable space. Bridges and power lines are never good.

I use 200 feet of half inch rope attached to sliding pully on a rope that is attached to the lift hooks on the boat. Do not use ski pylons or wake board towers. A set of two way radios is also extremely recommended, one in the boat, one with one of the chute handlers. You need a reasonable launch area where you have a hundred feet of clear space.

It is a lot of fun. There is little danger if you watch the weather. I have purposely disconnected from the boat at full height (about 150 feet) to see what happens. You can steer the chute some and landing in the water is about like jumping off a one meter board. No big deal. So rope breakage is not a big deal.

I have had to have a panel replaced because of a tear. I also get the chute inspected every couple of years and any problems repaired.

We take off from the shore and land the person in the water as it is safer and easier. The person must wear a preserver, a ski type preserver.

Be very careful with light people. If the person is under 100 pounds any sort of breeze will cause a problem. Getting the person down is difficult.

The chute height is based on relative wind speed and flies best at 25 MPH. So if you have 10 mile an hour wind you need to travel 35 down wind and 15 upwind. The chute can easily climb at 10 feet per second up to the full ride height.

There is one variation that I have not tried. A 1000 foot rope is used to get about 600 foot in altitude. The rope is released from the chute and the person steers and glides the chut to a landing. Problem is that 1000 feet of rope is very heavy and you really need a lot of space. The winds at 500 feet are much different than at the water level.