Dunking a trailer.

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fredrussell

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What are the panels thoughts on completely dunking a trailer to launch my trailer sailer? I don't mean down a ramp - I'm talking about driving trailer and boat down the hard at low tide and collecting trailer at next low tide.

I have a removable light board so electrics can be removed easily, but its a half decent twin axle braked trailer. My mooring owner can crane me in for £60, but money is a bit tight as I've been laid off for a couple of months (yay!).

My gut feeling is that its not a good idea to submerge a nice trailer in salt water. Anyone else out there have a trailer that has survived this sort of treatment?
 
I had to reluctantly dunk my 3500kg trailer recently for the first time in 14 years ownership having been let down by Bristol Harbour Masters office. Luckily it's brackish water so not too corrosive. Still stripped and serviced all hubs and brakes afterwards. Personally, if you've got the choice I would spend the £60 and be glad to have the option.
 
My SBS trailer has watersealed bearings so hopefully they will survive dunking. The brakes arevvulnerable though and I flush them out with fresh water as soon as possible. It's a fact of life with trailer boats. If I had the option of a 60 quid launch I'd take it.
 
ghostlymoron said:
If I had the option of a 60 quid launch I'd take it.
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I would too.

I have dunked my trailer several times without drama but I jetwash the hubs and trailer after a salt water dunking, not much point @ Windermere.

I then strip the bearings and replace the grease each time. The bearings have survived 10 dunkings, half of them salt water.

A new set of bearings, which I always carry with me when trailing, costs £30 for a single axle trailer so more for you.

The difference between your £60 lift in and my £30 dunking is well worth the cost. I was quoted ~£120 for a lift in so continued dunking.
 
mlines said:
Doesn't leaving the trailer in the water prevent anyone else launching from the hard??
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And puts an unexpected underwater hazard in the way of someone else coming in at HW ......

As others have said, £60 is moderately cheap for a lift in and preserving your trailer.
 
No not unanimous. I always dunk my trailer as do tens of thousands of local trailer boat owners. Cranes are not seen as an option here though I envy you having one on hand. I like the freedom to launch or recover when I am ready not depending on other people. You worry about your trailer in the water but I will bet it is left out in the weather all year round. Just hose it down after dunking with fresh water and dismantle and service the bearings and lubricate brakes. good luck olewill
 
One other possibility: do as you suggest, "dunk" the trailer, but as soon as the boat floats off and is out of the way, tie it up somewhere. Then rush back to where you left the trailer, take a hold of the long bit of rope you have previously attached to the hitch running up above the high-tide mark, then pull the trailer up out of the water. Then give it a quick spray down, or just go sailing, whichever seems best.
 
William_H said:
No not unanimous. I always dunk my trailer as do tens of thousands of local trailer boat owners. Cranes are not seen as an option here though I envy you having one on hand. I like the freedom to launch or recover when I am ready not depending on other people. You worry about your trailer in the water but I will bet it is left out in the weather all year round. Just hose it down after dunking with fresh water and dismantle and service the bearings and lubricate brakes. good luck olewill
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+1. When we had a trailer sailer dunking is what we did most weekends. Just make sure the bearings have cooled down first, Afterwards take off the hubcaps, to let out any water and re grease, then wash down everything with fresh. Do NOT leave it with the brake on or the pads will seize to the drums (don't ask how i know). Before you do this the first time make sure the winch, rollers and all moving parts on the trailer are well greased.
 
Buoyancy from tyres, tidal currents and wave action. Are you confident it will still be there when you get back? We used to beach launch at low water using really old (basically disposable in those days) tractors, we got one stuck in the mud and were unable to recover it, never saw it again.
 
You dont say what the trailer construction is. In Aus and NZ there are thousands and thousands of boat trailers designed as such with marine sealed wheel bearings, stainless steel break assemblies and LED light sets that are designed to be fully immersed - as far as the coupling anyway each time they are used.
In the UK there seems to be a collective horror of the notion of dunking a trailer, but here it is the expectation. I myself only dismantle and re grease my wheel bearings once a year in the off season and they are dunked every time i use the boat. I do fresh water wash the externals and squirt CRC on the wheel nuts and threads each use though. Right Kit for the job - no worries mate!

As for your specific plan, i am told of a creek somewhere in NZ where the locals like to launch their fishing runabouts. Problem is a severe lack of parking so the practice is to add flotation to the trailer so that it just floats. They reverse the boat trailers into the water as normal, but instead of letting the boat off the trailer, they uncouple the boat plus trailer assembly from the tow vehicle and motor slowly over to the other side of the creek where they anchor the trailer, reverse the boat off it and head out to sea for their fishing. On returning they reverse the process.
I have not seen this myself, but can see the idea working for you.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9u4whYT7cA
Good luck.
 
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I bought a boat on a trailer, the previous owner had obviously not cleaned the hubs with water following use as the regular immersion in the sea had made the brake linings slightly porous, the linings then, being soaked in sea water then separated from the glue holding them to the shoes and started to move round the hub, getting trapped between the shoes and the hub causing the wheel to come to a complete stop. (at speed)
The next time I buy a boat on a trailer I will remove the hubs before I set off.
 
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