As I’ve mentioned, I recently purchased a decent used boat. What’s the first thing you want to do when you buy something like this? Upgrades!
First up was safety issue number one. This trailer needed tires and it needed them bad. The guy I got it from said he experienced a flat while it was in the driveway and that he had replaced the tire. I assumed new tire and it kind of looked like it was. I guess I should have looked closer. That tire was a radial from 2012 and it had some interesting wear on it. The other tire was a bias from 2007 and it looked it. It was cracked all over.
The spare? Let me tell you about the spare. Well, it was round and it fit on the 14 inch rim. That’s about all that was correct with it. It was a Goodyear car tire and had a smaller outer diameter than the others, it was also much wider. So wide that I’m not sure it wouldn’t have rubbed the trailer. And, oh joy, it was flat and wouldn’t hold air. That’s not a surprise.
I had ordered some tires from Amazon for it. You can buy just about anything from them these days. When they arrived, I took them over to WallyWorld and they mounted them for $14 each, with new valve stem and a balance.
It cost $50 each for the tires, delivered. Total cost $192 and about 2 hours to replace all three tires. I think that’s a good investment in safety. The new tires are rated for 80 Miles per hour, not that I’d take them that fast *wink*.
Tires done. Now what? The winch didn’t work right and was only rated for 400 pounds. It was missing a spring and was pretty rusty. The strap on it had lost a lot of flexibility. Plus, somebody had mounted it off to one side. It needed to go.
Oh look, there’s the old wonky spare!
I wrenched it off to give me a clean slate. Looking at the box for the new winch, I’ll have to drill at least one new hole to mount it.
I could have, and probably should have, taken a wire wheel to it and put some primer and paint on it. I decided not to invest the time and money on it. A simple scraping would have to do.
Two new holes and some grade 8 bolts later, and it was mounted. The new winch is rated for 2000 pounds, which is way more than needed. It only cost a few dollars more than the 1400 pound winch so I figured, why not?
I ran the strap “under” the winch since it got a better angle to hook the eye on the boat. I may adjust it to “over” later. The area where the boat touches the front stop needs some help, but I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to do with it.
You can also see that I’ve added some grip tape to the front of the trailer. This is to help with getting on and off the front of the boat while on the boat ramp. The paint was a little slippery before. Another $8 for safety.
I think this is a major improvement. You can also see my issue at the front stop. The boat isn’t touching it and is only held on with the strap and a safety chain.
Let’s move on to the rear of the boat. The tie downs were in sorry shape. The strapping was hard and had broken on the left side. Somebody tied it back together again. REALLY safe there guys! I’m also not a fan of the cam-style straps. I much prefer a ratchet strap.
Enter the Boat Buckles!
The main reason I chose these is because they remain attached to the trailer when removed from the boat. They also auto retract to get out of the way. Putting them on and taking them off the boat takes seconds and I don’t have to find a place to stow them.
Next stop is the water.