I have an aluminum I-beam dual axle trailer, and it floats. This is a PITA when loading the boat, what's the best way to stop? Is there any way to do it w/o adding lots of weight?
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10-24-2008 01:37 PM
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10-24-2008 07:48 PM
I was backing a friends trailer in the water for him last year and I thought that something was submerged under water on the ramp whne the trailer went up on one side only. I got out to look and nothing. So acked back in and it did the same thing. Then I pulled out and went to the next ramp over and it did it again. My buddy laughed and told me it was floating. I had heard of that but never experienced it before so I know exactly what you are dealing with.
After doing some research I found this to be very common and there only seems to be two fixes.
1) Add weight to the trailer. Some add lead and some steel.
2) Replace the large wood bunks with an aluminum bunk that has a small piece of wood on top with carpet over it.
I like option #2 best.
Good luck
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10-24-2008 08:28 PM
My aluminum had dual storage boxes. That ***** would float like a PFD.
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- Join Date
- Oct 2008
- Location
- New Jersey
- Posts
- 39
10-24-2008 08:36 PMIt would be nice on some of our South Jersey ramps that drop of all of a sudden. I've seen many axles lost trying to pull the trailer out. You have to pick the back of the trailer up while someone pulls it out. Be easy if the trailer floated.
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10-24-2008 09:23 PM
I posted a great remedy for this on OSO some time ago. I bought dumbells and u-bolted them to the inside of the I-beams. I'll look for the info when I have time, but anyone else is welcome to find it as well.
It worked great. I went with 4-50 lb. dumbells to start, and was able to take two off eventually after adding more brakes and redoing the bunks.
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10-25-2008 12:40 PM
Thanks.
I guess the dumbells would be the easiest fix, as long as a couple hundred lbs. is all it would take.
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10-25-2008 01:10 PM
growing up in miami I have had that problem for years. Here is the simple way to fix it. Go to home depot and buy some pvc pipe about 4 to 6 inches round and 3 to 4 foot long. buy the end caps also. Fill the pipe with cement and then attach them to the inside of the bunks. Has worked for me with every trailer. Good luck. you only need about 50lbs of weight to cure this problem.
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10-28-2008 10:56 PM
From my post on OSO:
I bought 4-50 pound dumbells, and added them via U-bolts to the inside of the Aluminum I-Beams. Make sure to use a piece of rubber between the aluminum and the iron dumbells to prevent dissimilar metal corrosion and vibration. I used an old truck mud-flap cut into strips. I coated them with about 5 coats of black Rustoleum spray paint before I mounted them. If you wanted, you could use large threaded rod, and use barbell/free weights, with large nuts, but I think that would be more gawky looking.
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=82990
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=96969
First pic is where I added them on the trailer. Eventually I took the forward pair off.
Second pic is of the dumbells I used. You can get large SS u-bolts at any serious HW supply or trailer shop.
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- Join Date
- Oct 2008
- Posts
- 3,107
10-29-2008 02:16 PMI've seen guys use large PVC tubes that they fill with water. Then they use the water to wash the boat down or flush the engines afterwards.
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10-29-2008 04:44 PM
Dumbells are a great idea.
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10-29-2008 05:53 PM
Skip the PVC tubes. If they are only filled with water, they are not going to weigh the trailer down when its in water. Filled with solid concrete; maybe; but not worth the effort compared to the dumbells.
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10-31-2008 04:26 PM
I used 4" PVC filled with gravel. Then got rid of the stupid trailer.
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- Join Date
- Nov 2008
- Posts
- 32
11-02-2008 10:20 PMLead ingot bungeed to the channel when launching. I keep 10 in the back of my F-350 for "ride control".
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11-02-2008 11:32 PM
I have a customer that used a couple of tractor weights. They are the rectangle ones that hang on the front of a tractor. He puts them on a bracket on the rear of the trailer. When the boat is on and the trailer is out of the water, he takes them off. They are about 50 lbs each, one on each side. They even have handles. He used ones from John Deere.
Eddie
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11-04-2008 08:33 PM
We melted some lead and bolted it to the trailer , Before and after the wheels about 40 lbs .