Trailer overhaul

[mwardncsu]

My boat hangs in a lift 99.999% of the time so the trailer just gets weather beaten and neglected.

I’m taking the Sea Hunt on the road his month so decided it was time to get the 8 year old trailer ready. I put new tires on it a few months ago and this weekend I got around to the rest...

New carpet (second time I’ve put carpet on it - the sun does a number on carpet when there is not a boat covering it) and new stainless bolts for the bunk boards on Friday night and then Saturday saw a total rewire (including a junction box & 7-pin plug), new LED lights all around, new strap and bow roller, some anti-slip strips on the wheel steps, rust removal on some spots and cleaned & polished the aluminum frame. Just need to install one last light and then tidy up the wiring with split loom & secure and it’s ready to roll.

For the rust I scrubbed it with a wire brush to get as much loose rust off as I could and then used “naval Jelly” - let sit 10 minutes, rinsed off, did another coat and rinsed - once dry I sprayed with Bright Galvanizing Compound.

On the lights I ran a dedicated ground wire and used marine grade wire (tinned stranded copper wire) and heat shrink terminals at all connections. Finally got rid of the terrible 5-Pin flat connector that the boat had and replaced it with a proper 7-pin round that goes to a wire junction box which will make future wiring updates easier.

I’m beat......

[hotdog]

Nice job Mike. It looks great.

[keninva]

Looks good. Where did get the strap and front roller?

[mwardncsu]

Apr 1, 2018 12:55:10 GMT -5 keninva said:

Looks good. Where did get the strap and front roller?

I got the strap from etrailer.com (along with the lights) and picked up the roller at Academy Sports on a whim while looking for some new transom straps

[keninva]

Thanks

[31Airborne]

nice work, mike. trailers are often taken for granted, forgotten.

[mwardncsu]

After getting the trailer up to the lake it seemed liked the brakes were not working - the disc still had some rust. Pulled the master cylinder cap and there was probably 3/4” - 1” of “water” on top of dingy fluid. Trailer is about 8-9 years old and I’ve never changed it. Not sure if the brakes were not working because of the fluid or just not enough weight on the trailer, but with a long trip ahead I didn’t want to take chances.

So, with the help of Gator on Friday afternoon we flushed out all the old fluid for new and this morning the trailer got to do work.....

[ajrod88]

Looking good! I see you have a fancy prop nut on your trolling motor....are those things worth the money? Thank you.

[mwardncsu]

Apr 7, 2018 15:53:45 GMT -5 ajrod88 said:

Looking good! I see you have a fancy prop nut on your trolling motor....are those things worth the money? Thank you.

Idk to be honest - was a gift.... they claim to dampen some vibration which I could see with the added mass but as with anything in boating - will it help me catch more fish? Probably not

[31Airborne]

Apr 7, 2018 15:53:45 GMT -5 ajrod88 said:

Looking good! I see you have a fancy prop nut on your trolling motor....are those things worth the money? Thank you.

Yessir, worth every penny. Definitely dampens the noise. Also makes it easier to cut thru grass.

[hotdog]

That is a great looking rig Mike.