[cupido76]

^^^ yeah I had one bolt that I stripped the threads on and had to replace.

It rained a little the night before and the inside of the bolt hole, the wood was damp.

When the deck eventually fails I suspect it will be there.

I don't think I'm currently willing to remove every fastener and put some sealer in the holes... Too many tough to reach fasteners.

But maybe I'll try just painting another coat on top of the lag bolt heads and hope for the best.

 

[tBatt]

Driving to Lodore last week I got stuck on an icy hill. Rather than taking an out of control Subaru into my driver door, I slammed it in reverse and jackknifed the trailer off the road. That guy missed me by a couple inches at best. The trucker who slid off the road next to me said “hey I’m hauling toilet paper if you need any”.

The RAV4 chains didn’t quite work for my truck - the cam straps were rubbing on my brake lines. Abort.

Not sure if it was that or the driving like an asshole to the put in now that I was two hours off the back that blew my leaf pack again. Sorry & thanks to your crew @melmorr for limping me to the takeout.

Thanks to RiverBetty for the tools and spare bits in Jensen to get us back to SLC in a slightly safer manner.

anyways..

upon further inspection, 10/14 of the uprights holding the top rail onto the deck had significant cracking in them.

Two years ago I rolled over a Boulder on the Rainbow Park boat ramp and bent some frame members..

Time for an overhaul. Except the ski area is going to winter schedule tomorrow so I had exactly 72 hours before I lose access to shop space until May.

Pull the upper deck.
Pull the lower deckboards
Cut out the bent frame members
Sister up some 1/4” angle to the cracking uprights
Paint the frame
New lower deckboards, stained.
New conduit and conductors.
Oh an new suspension. Went with the 2400# leafs instead of the 1750# even tho it’s a 3500# axle. New shackle links, too, bc the old ones were so wallered out. Friday worked 8a-1a, Saturday 8a-4a, Sunday 10a-10p.

Tucked away and ready to hibernate until May.

 

[yesimapirate]

That's a serious overhaul.

You should send that 1st pic to NRS. Another application that's not boating.

 

[Will Amette]

An old buddy who liked to tell stories said once, "When you're trailering, it's ALWAYS an adventure."

 

[Electric-Mayhem]

An old buddy who liked to tell stories said once, "When you're trailering, it's ALWAYS an adventure."

yes....which is why I went this way...

Except for last week where I trailered due to diesel being $2 a gallon more then regular gas....so I took the Tacoma. My 146DD works pretty on the 12ft flat bed though... did a Lodore trip last month with it.

I don't know what it is about trailers that fails so often. You can rally a truck for a decade and 100's of thousands of miles and the bearings will last without issue...but trailers fail in less then 10k. It makes me want to buy a few 14 bolt axle spindles or something and make a super heavy duty trailer axle that will never fail.

 

[cupido76]

yes....which is why I went this way...

View attachment 83180

Except for last week where I trailered due to diesel being $2 a gallon more then regular gas....so I took the Tacoma. My 146DD works pretty on the 12ft flat bed though... did a Lodore trip last month with it.

I don't know what it is about trailers that fails so often. You can rally a truck for a decade and 100's of thousands of miles and the bearings will last without issue...but trailers fail in less then 10k. It makes me want to buy a few 14 bolt axle spindles or something and make a super heavy duty trailer axle that will never fail.

I've seen trailers built on the remnants of an old truck bed... maybe that's the solution?

 

[tBatt]

I should start tracking mileage of my trailer. I bet I did 10k miles minimum since I broke my last spring pack.

I got 44 days on the water this year. Call it an average of 2.5 days/trip and 600 miles per trip.. yeah that’s just over 10k miles.

@Electric-Mayhem I’m glad I didn’t have to text InReach-Zoleo to tell you I was headed to the hospital and bailing on the trip.

 

[Electric-Mayhem]

@Electric-Mayhem I’m glad I didn’t have to text InReach-Zoleo to tell you I was headed to the hospital and bailing on the trip.

Me too dude... especially because you had literally half the people on the trip in the truck with you are were carrying 3/4 of the boats on that trailer. Oh...and didn't wanna see you or the others get hurt either. Coulda been a very different and less enjoyable trip for sure.

 

[Electric-Mayhem]

I've seen trailers built on the remnants of an old truck bed... maybe that's the solution?

Those tend to be heavy for no good reason. Maybe just the axle out of it...but then you still have the differential housing. Probably better to just get a super overkill trailer axle for it. Maybe a 5000lb. axle would actually hold up or something. Kinda tempting to get something that uses similar stuff to the vehicle you are pulling it with so you have spares for the vehicle and trailer should something happen.

 

[Conundrum]

Kinda tempting to get something that uses similar stuff to the vehicle you are pulling it with so you have spares for the vehicle and trailer should something happen.

Only fools and weirdos do this.

 

[cupido76]

Fools, weirdos, and bad-ass-mothetfuckers?

Sorry @Randaddy

 

[lowrider1]

Driving to Lodore last week I got stuck on an icy hill. Rather than taking an out of control Subaru into my driver door, I slammed it in reverse and jackknifed the trailer off the road. That guy missed me by a couple inches at best. The trucker who slid off the road next to me said “hey I’m hauling toilet paper if you need any”.

The RAV4 chains didn’t quite work for my truck - the cam straps were rubbing on my brake lines. Abort.

Not sure if it was that or the driving like an asshole to the put in now that I was two hours off the back that blew my leaf pack again. Sorry & thanks to your crew @melmorr for limping me to the takeout.

View attachment 83145

Thanks to RiverBetty for the tools and spare bits in Jensen to get us back to SLC in a slightly safer manner.

View attachment 83147

anyways..

upon further inspection, 10/14 of the uprights holding the top rail onto the deck had significant cracking in them.

View attachment 83150

View attachment 83151

Two years ago I rolled over a Boulder on the Rainbow Park boat ramp and bent some frame members..

View attachment 83153

Time for an overhaul. Except the ski area is going to winter schedule tomorrow so I had exactly 72 hours before I lose access to shop space until May.

Pull the upper deck.
Pull the lower deckboards
Cut out the bent frame members
Sister up some 1/4” angle to the cracking uprights
Paint the frame
New lower deckboards, stained.
New conduit and conductors.
Oh an new suspension. Went with the 2400# leafs instead of the 1750# even tho it’s a 3500# axle. New shackle links, too, bc the old ones were so wallered out. Friday worked 8a-1a, Saturday 8a-4a, Sunday 10a-10p.
View attachment 83157
View attachment 83154

View attachment 83160

View attachment 83159

Tucked away and ready to hibernate until May.

View attachment 83158

I have pretty much the same nominal 7x12 trailer which is actually an inside 6'-6" x 11'- 9" with the fold up 4' ramp up. I have 6" high Erickson chocks set up with tie down points for my Honda SxS and 2 ATV's in the center and with a sheet of plywood on top of those I can run a snogo up there too. I was planning to do the customary side ramps for the 13' Outlaw but it looks like I can use removable 3/4" plywood on top of the chocks with a roller in place of the rear ramp and the boat will sit inside the rails and tie down to the angle iron rails. I'd go measure to be sure that plan will work but there is close to 3' of snow on the trailer and it's surrounded by 6-8' piles of snow which is about as high as my loader will dump. We're expecting 3-6" more snow today...Spring is coming!!

I also have an 8x14' tilt trailer that was my first plan but the smaller trailer is easier to pull and park. #1 son and I pulled a Cessna 170 with the wings off back from Ohio...that was a great conversation piece everyplace we stopped. In Rapid City we had 50+ 4Her's line up next to the plane to have their picture taken. Our boys were in 4H/FFA for years and it was great to see the kids interested in aviation.

 

[tBatt]

Hopefully the wings were off because it was cheaper than the ferry flight.
Luckily the Alder bush kept it out of the Minam River. This one got the engine flown out, rebuilt, reinstalled on site, and was able to fly out without any airframe work.

This one wasn't so lucky.

I had another buddy with an engine failure, landed back on the lake with skis, had a couple icefisherman tow him to the marina with their quads, and he got to trailer home. He now owns the first outfitter I worked for.

I think this thread is starting to drift..
Anyways.. 30-40" expected here in the next 4 days.

 

[lowrider1]

Hopefully the wings were off because it was cheaper than the ferry flight.
Luckily the Alder bush kept it out of the Minam River. This one got the engine flown out, rebuilt, reinstalled on site, and was able to fly out without any airframe work.

This one wasn't so lucky.

I had another buddy with an engine failure, landed back on the lake with skis, had a couple icefisherman tow him to the marina with their quads, and he got to trailer home. He now owns the first outfitter I worked for.

I think this thread is starting to drift..
Anyways.. 30-40" expected here in the next 4 days.

I was talking bout trailers but it had an airplane on it. I flew for CIA (Cook Inlet Aviation) SAR and LIFEGUARD out of Homer, AK back in the 80's. Too many didn't make it home and some we never found. We could usually find the ELT signal until the battery died but not always. Most of the LIFEGUARD flights were out of native villages to take expecting women to ANC to the hospital. Only lost one fellow who was cutting firewood with a chainsaw and fell with the saw running. He bled out on the way to the hospital and the nurse couldn't stop it. Lots of chainsaw accidents...back when the saw weighed 15 - 20 lbs....a drifting we go...we only got 8" today then rain on top so it will be frozen in the AM.

 

[tBatt]

Just repacked my bearings.
Follow me for more rafting tips!

 

[lowrider1]

AND...it won't rust!!!

 

[caverdan]

Just repacked my bearings.
Follow me for more rafting tips!

View attachment 83881

Wow......that looks pretty slick......🐴

 

[altaholics]

I've always wondered how to pack bearings. Thanks for the tip.

 

[tBatt]

I've always wondered how to pack bearings. Thanks for the tip.

I’ll be up in the Alta cat shop doing another set tonight. Stop by.

 

[altaholics]

I’ll be up in the Alta cat stop doing another set tonight. Stop by.

Good to know they've got the right kind of people working there. Do you know when they'll open Sunnyside?