Trailers by Indespension

F

fifi

New Member
Joined
19 Oct 2011
Messages
10
Location
Ealing London
Visit site
Hello

Hope I am doing this correctly it's my first time on a forum.

My question/problem relates to a brand new in June this year (2001) trailer from Indespension.
On Sunday 16 October 2011 just before setting off to come home from the coast I realised that there was a serious problem with my trailer. The bearings for one of the wheels have completely gone and I had to have my boat brought home on a breakdown lorry.
I am most shocked, scared and disappointed about this. If we had set off on the road I believe that this would most propably have turned into a very serious incident indeed.
My trailer is almost brand new and has covered only about 600 miles and been used to launch 7 times and been washed down after every launch. I built my boat, (a 13'6'' clinker ply Tammie Norrie gaff rig) at the Lyme Regis Boat Building Academy where she was launched in June this year.
I purchased a Coaster Swing Mini from Mobile Marine Engineers Ltd of Axminster who came to the Academy to advise us on the correct trailers to buy.
I have contacted Indespension who say it's all my fault, this is what they say:-

"Please find following an extract from our Technical Department with regard to action required following submersion in water:
There is a breather hole in the dust cap on the hub, so if the hub is immersed in water, then water will enter the hub. If the hub is immersed when warm, e.g after a journey, then the lower temperature of the water will cool the air in the hub causing water to be sucked in due to the effect of the reduced temperature on the air inside the hub.

If the hub cap is not removed after immersion then this water will remain in the hub. The result is that the grease and the bearings are partially immersed in water. Although the grease is water resistant, it is not suitable for constant immersion, especially not in salt water. Any steel items, plated or otherwise, when left immersed in salt water will corrode. Similarly, the grease will be adversely affected by immersion in salt water.

After immersion in salt water the hub cap should be removed and the inside of the hub lightly rinsed with clean water to remove any salt residue. A quick check to ensure the grease is intact after the rinsing is all that is required before replacing the dust cap.”

I do think this information would have been more use at point of sale rather than after point of failure. I received no information on any kind of maintenance at all when I bought the trailer. I have been washing it down with fresh water after each launch. But this is usually not at the launch site as I have only used one with a fresh water facility so far (Studland bay).

I have never put the trailer in the water warm not because I knew not to but because I am a new sailor and take so long to rig the boat and get myself ready to go. That at least an hour goes by before she is pushed into the sea.

Does everyone always take off the hubs after every trip? No one I know seems to. Are Indespension saying that failure to do this means the bearings will fail so quickly????? In which case there will be wheels and boats bouncing all over the roads and surely if this is so safety critical it ought to be stamped all over the trailer.

Any advice or thoughts from someone with more experience than me would be most welcome.

Thanks in advance
 
Asking for trouble I am afraid immersing a standard road trailer in salt water! No words of sympathy forthcoming :( but welcome to the forums nevertheless :)

Not only can water get in thorough the vent hole in the cap but very probably through the seal in the back of the hub which primarily keeps the grease in rather than water out.

Also very bad news for the braking system of a braked trailer.

I have dunked mine a couple of times but each time have straight away stripped, cleaned out and re-packed the bearings and also flushed the brake mechanism.

Mine seems to let water into the hubs even without being dunked! .... but they a Mini hubs not Indespension ones. I know for a fact that they are unserviceable at present despite being all replaced and not used after the last time I used the trailer.

Bearing savers may be the answer in the longer term to your problem. They replace the bearing caps and maintain a slight pressure in the hub.

Google for bearing savers

BTW Trailertek.com is a useful source of trailer spares, but buy bearings from one of the on line bearing suppliers eg bearingboys.co.uk
 
Last edited:
If you've dunked it in salt water you really need to clean and repack the bearings when you get home. It's the standing unused and unmoving that allows the corrosion to attack the bearings. Many people count on doing the bearings every year. The bearing buddy things are a bit marginal anyway and it's cheaper to replace the bearings. It's not difficult. Hammer and a longish punch are all that's needed. You can buy a hub fitted with bearings, studs, nuts and a dust cap for about £14 from Trailertech. I've just bought 2 as it was as cheap as buying the bearings. It also means you can carry one with you to avoid having to have the recovery service bothered.

It's not something you can complain about to Indespension really. It's just part of trailing a boat.
Welcome to the world of fettling.
 
For 4 years we owned and trailed a very small cruising motor boat. The twin-axle, 2000kg capacity trailer was bought new, from SBS. Each year the boat was launched into and retrieved from salt water about 6 times. During our ownership the trailer was serviced once. Total trailed distance on the road would have been at least 7000 miles.

We never had any problem with the trailer bearings. They may have been changed when the trailer was serviced but I can't be certain. The original trailer specification included "sealed" bearings, as far as I can remember. Apart from making sure the bearings were reasonably cool prior to launching we took no special precautions.

Taking our experience into account I'd have thought that the OP's mistake was not specifying appropriate bearings. Perhaps more knowledgeable forum members will comment.
 
My dad would never ever ever let any road trailer of his get anywhere near the water under any circumstances. We always had combi-trailers, with a launching trolley riding on top of the road part, which separated for launching the dinghy and could be dunked with impunity. I'd have thought that was the best answer for a 13 foot boat (they can be problematic for bigger boats where you really need the car to control the weight) but I guess that's a bit late now you've already bought the trailer.

At least it sounds like it won't be too expensive to replace.

Pete
 
I very much agree with Pete's dad - if it's possible, keep trailers away from salt water and use a launch trolley instead - a combination trailer/trolley is by far the best solution for boats up to 500 lbs or thereabouts.

I would take up any criticism with those who badly advised you - or at least tell the Academy what has happened - it's not really Indespensions's fault ...

Sorry it's been such a traumatic learning curve for you - but as you say yourself, the outcome could have been so much worse.
 
Thanks for your knowledge everyone.

The point was that I bought what is advertised as a "Marine trailer making the famous Indespension easy launch and recovery system available to owners of smaller craft"

So in that case I reckon Indespensions brochure is misleading and the agent gave me (and the other 6 or so on the course who purchased trailers at the same time) no instructions on maintenance. It was clear we were going to launch in Lyme Regis harbour.

I will take it up with the supplier next.
 
Reading various threads on this forum I have modified my procedures.

I LAUNCH my boat at the start of the season from the slipway. Then I can take the empty trailer home and quickly strip down, flush and re grease the bearings.

But at the end of the season I use the club crane out to recover the boat onto the trailer, so I can take it home and just leave it for the winter.

If I used the slip to recover, then I would have to strip, rinse and re grease the bearings, not so easy with the weight of the boat on the trailer (still possible but not so easy)

If you have launched and recovered 7 times without re greasing the bearings, then I am not totally surprised you have had problems. I'm willing to bet the original grease was probably not a great deal, and probably was not even "water resistant" grease.
 
Sounds like they should have added a few 'hints' in their brochure. As a newbe, a little info would have saved you much grief.
I make my own trailers, but I never let the hubs get wet for these reasons. Friend had an indespension type trailer. The seals ran on ordinary steel bushes, which rusted ,wrecking the seals and letting the water in and ruining the bearings. Lousy design. I used to build them commercially (a long time ago) and used chrome sleeves for the seals to work on. This held off the problem for longer. It cost pennies, but was well worth it.
Friend now is careful to keep the hubs out of the water, but had to buy a new axle (€320) as the rubber bits failed. Frankly, I don't have much time for the system used by Indespension. It gets by the legal need for suspension, but is a poor and rough substitute for a decent system. Just cheap. (rant over..)
 
Welcome to the forum.

I will never buy an Indespenion trailer again, learnt the hard way.

It's the only trailer I've had problems with.

After the bearings cooled I'd slowly pump grease in till it escaped from the cap hole.

Tried 2 makes of bearing savers, they work but the rear seal has to be in good nick.

Used to carry spare bearing kit, puller, drift, spare bearing hub assy, and all the tools.

When you have this kit with you, you never need it, sods law.
 
Don't understand that. Indespension is the rubber block axle and stub axle assembly.
You can fit whatever make of bearing and seals you wish. As long as they are the right size.
I was after some in Barrow and was quoted £90 per bearing. Their excuse was that all their bearings were of marine grade as nuclear subs use the best.

You get what you pay for. If you expect them to corrode,pay as little as possible.
 
Last edited:
Fitted brand new unbraked hubs on my old trailer from indespension. They lasted 5-6 launches until the bearings were dead. So changed the bearings over myself (About £20 or something) and fitted bearing savers. Then pressurised the bearings before every launch.

Then after that season took them off. It worked a treat, they still looked like new. Job done!
 
I think that some posts here overstate the case in respect of salt water and trailer bearings. I've launched boats into sea water from 3 different trailers at least a dozen or more times per year, and while I try not to immerse the hubs too much, this is in deference to the brakes, rather than the bearings. I've never had a bearing fail or even show signs of rust. Bearing savers do help, and pumping grease in at regular intervals is also useful. Every year I would take out and clean the bearings and regrease. Never saw any rust.

You can fit flushing systems to irrigate the hubs with fresh water, but again this is more useful for the brakes than the bearings. Spray the backing plate, springs and adjusters with spray-on motorcycle grease, or just paint on a marine grease with an old paintbrush, and the brakes will be good for several seasons. Once, rust on the shoes lifted the linings off the brake shoes and locked the wheels, which was inconvenient. Brake cables have corroded, locking the inner cable to the outer sheath which also locked the wheels. Brakes, rather than bearings have always been my concern.
 
I think that some posts here overstate the case in respect of salt water and trailer bearings.
Click to expand...

May be the case, but I had exactly the same problem as the OP and was solved with bearing savers. On this basis I don't think its being made worse at all. :)
 
When I used to trail and sail I never had much joy with keeping the water out. The trailer had to be completely immersed - even with the lift-keeler. I ended up just treating the bearings as a "service item" and replacing every year (cheap enough from an online supplier like "bearingboys"). I replaced bits of steelwork as and when they got too rusty. The "Indespension-type" (cheap Indespension coipes) suspension units used to seize up too - I'd maybe get 3 seasons out of one of those. The proper answer, of course, is a launching trolley. They have the added advantage of sitting lower too - so your boat doesn't have to go as far down the slipway to float off.
 
I had a Euro Spec "Sattellite" Boat Trailer which had a grease nipple in the bearing cap which would allow a boat owner to grease the hub with a grease gun. The other side of the hub was a valve which when you pumped the grease in would eject the grease which had previously been in the hub, (thus flushing through)
Anyway when I changed my boat and trailer I went to Indespension and they dont sell bearing caps with grease nipples. In fact they dont even sell Grease Nipples.
If I was new to boating I would expect a boat trailer to be "Dunkable" not everyone has the mechanical knowlege to take off a bearing cap and check the bearings.
Certainly I would raise the matter with "Trading Standards" as to whether the trailer you bought was "Fit for the purpose" unless the trailer had a warning stating that the trailer was unsuitable for immersing in water you could have a case.
 
I used to expect to have to replace all cables,shoes and bearings each year on sea dunked road trailer. Bit pricey on twin axles.
One question.. you dont put the handbrake on when storing, I hope? That tends to get locked onto the shoes, so when you move the trailer you end up boiling the grease out of the bearing and then.. crunch.
You can try flushing the braking system each time. One way is to remove a wheel bolt and ram the hose into the brake drum. I wasnt convinced in made alot of difference.
But in the end the braking system is a big "consumable" in my experience.
 
Unfortunately, the boat trailer market is probably small in comparison to the general market. Anyway, why should the suppliers care if they can sell more replacements for rusty bits.

I did once look into fitting stainless steel bearings - they are available, if you can buy a thousand pairs........

Brake cables with a twisted strand mild steel cable are just asking to rust, swell and jam in the outer.......(I think Alco sells a stainless cable, but my brakes were Knott)

As for bearings, the only recourse is to use bearing savers and pump in a good quality waterproof grease regularly and take them out at least once per year to clean and check. The last thing you want is for them to fail on the road. I have always meant to take a spare complete hub on a long tow, but have never got round to it..........
 
Last edited:
Neil said:
Unfortunately, the boat trailer market is probably small in comparison to the general market. Anyway, why should the suppliers care if they can sell more replacements for rusty bits.

I did once look into fitting stainless steel bearings - they are available, if you can buy a thousand pairs........

Brake cables with a twisted strand mild steel cable are just asking to rust, swell and jam in the outer.......(I think Alco sells a stainless cable, but my brakes were Knott)

As for bearings, the only recourse is to use bearing savers and pump in a good quality waterproof grease regularly and take them out at least once per year to clean and check. The last thing you want is for them to fail on the road. I have always meant to take a spare complete hub on a long tow, but have never got round to it..........
Click to expand...

Yea, good point. The cables also start to jam.. and then seize the brakes and then its boiling time again !!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

D
No Raw Water Strainer - Trapper 500 Nanni 2.14
Replies
3
Views
204
Dulaman66
D

Share this page

Top