trailer improvements

[yamp]

just got back from road trip mackay to cairns towing 4m hornet trophy,I had a broken slipper spring found at ingham,lucky I got one just before shops shut and bought a spare in case,got me thinking about what improvements I could do for my standard redco res 1213, shackle to shackle springs or alko type suspension, full length hard wood along keel line instead of rollers,matching tyres to my tow car (4x4 05 rodeo) looking to possibly do trip further north weipa maybe?wondered if anyone has done similar setup or good advice thanks Yamp

[PADDLES]

g'day yamp, one thing i'll recommend for rough roads is to weld all your brackets that hold the rollers/skids up off the trailer frame. i've had them fail from the pressure of the bolts in them. i don't mean weld the the bracket to the trailer frame (leave that clamped) but weld the pin that points downwards to the bracket so it can't slip downwards. i also used chain/turnbuckles to hold the hull to the trailer so there was no pressure on the winch. best thing is to have a heavy duty trailer too, don't skimp and buy the lightweight ones. keep weight out of your boat whilst travelling too, i mean chuck in bulky but light stuff like swags, tents etc.

[dnej]

Do you have a pic you could post.That would help
David

[Lovey80]

This is zoomed in picture of my winch/Hitch set up. When Traveling any distance the (forget what it is called) metal hook that tightens goes into the D shackle. Ive seen them used to tension steel wire rope. I'm sure someone will know what it is called. Works very well to the point that the top rollers that the hull comes up against have slowly worn a V grove into them.

Hope this helps.

Cheers Chris