Attention all Bar Crusher owners!

[rwells9999]

My beloved Bar Crusher is just fine, but I cannot say the same for the trailer that came with the boat. Lately I noticed rust on the main frame of the trailer, so I pulled the boat off for a closer inspection. As you can see from the photo’s for a trailer that under 3 years old, and is power washed the same way as the hull, I’m bloody fuming. I have sent Bar Crusher some of these photo’s and have received a reply listing these possible causes:

Aggressive alkali detergent used to wash boat ?
Minerals in water that are reacting with galvanizing ?
High pressure washing could be impacting galvanizing ?
Trailer staying damp during storage ?
Detergent / chemicals adhering to gal inside and underneath frame ?
Towing over high mineral content roads ?
Local phenomena air born / water born problem / on road ?
Combination of these causes ?

I’m now facing a $600+ bill to have the trailer re galvanized. Are there any other Bar Crusher owners out there with this sort of problem? Would love to hear from you.
Robin

[wags on the water]

What was the warranty on the trailer? If 3 years then contact consumer affairs. These cases are too frequent. Why aren't these companies taking responsibilities for their products??

[Mr__Bean]

Given that the rust is along the inner and the lower faces of the steel tube it looks to me like it is being caused by salt residue.

For it to happen after 3 years I would say you either get very good use out of your boat or you got a sh$t galvanising job.

Keep in mind it will be happening inside the tube as well.

Whilst power washing is great for removing stubborn grime, I am not to sure it provides a real good rinse for the salt.

- Darren
(who is also starting to see the first signs of gal breakdown on his trailer)

[Giffo7]

My trailer has similar rust but is 7 years old and its gets a lot of use in mackeral season(3-4 times a week).I made the trailer and had it galvanised in Brisbane.I wash it with only garden hose and does not have any type of coating on it.Galvanising would be like anything else ,there would be good and bad quality !

Cheers
Giffo

[Noelm]

agreed, that because the rust is on the very bottom of the Metal, it would seem to be salt left in the water that has dripped/run to the lowest point, however it probably should last more than 3 years, but I think you may be pushing poo uphill to convince any Dealer that it is faulty in some way, I am sure it will be somehow considered to be normal use or something like that, but best of luck and give it a try to see how it all works out.

[Coontakinta]

Gotta agree with wags. Its disappointing and ALL too common. Materials left in the weather for an infinite amount of time, then not cleaned or finished off properley and the blemishes simply covered up with paint or galvanising or similar.

As Noelm has eluded too unless you can find others with similar problems after the same amount of time your faced with an uphill and possibly costly battle to prove anything other than "normal wear and tear" or "misuse" I'd suggest a call to your consumer advocate in the hope that they may assist you in dealing with Barcrusher, but they really are a toothless tiger. "Fit for purpose" may be an issue with this trailer, but it would be a hard one to prove and a "negotiated fix" where you both agree to have the issue sorted and split the cost may be something you may wish to discuss with them. Remember, dealers and alike usually can have these things done at a fraction of the cost you or I can, reducing your loss conciderably.

Good luck with your endeavours

[backlash08]

when I sold my BC, it and trailer were only 18 months old but no issues, trailer was good as new, medium pressure wash, neutral PH detergent and power flush inside chassis
good luck with it

Craig

[ozbee]

give it a coat of sump oil on the rust area regularly will slow it down . cheap and as good as anything else though doesn't look as pretty. caused by salt water laying in the bend. cant stay new for ever actually new a bloke who made a trailer for a 23 footer out of ordinary steel . he filled with used sump oil and sealed it and coated the outside regularly . it was the most dirtiest trailer as all the dust stuck to it which he did not wash off butt only re coated with used sump oil that trailer is still in use today 30 years on. it just makes you wonder if trying to keep a trailer looking brand new maybe the worst thing for it.?????????.

[Spaniard_King]

Don't there is a boat trailer manufacturer on this earth that gives a 3 year warranty :P Flat out getting them to honor a 1 year warranty.

It's a maintenance issue plain and simple... suggest you either regal or repair the bad parts and move on.

[griz066]

give it a coat of sump oil on the rust area regularly will slow it down . cheap and as good as anything else though doesn't look as pretty. caused by salt water laying in the bend. cant stay new for ever actually new a bloke who made a trailer for a 23 footer out of ordinary steel . he filled with used sump oil and sealed it and coated the outside regularly . it was the most dirtiest trailer as all the dust stuck to it which he did not wash off butt only re coated with used sump oil that trailer is still in use today 30 years on. it just makes you wonder if trying to keep a trailer looking brand new maybe the worst thing for it.?????????.


Must look like the EXON VALDEEZ has been at the ramp when he leaves a sump oil slick.>:(

[Noelm]

I see this is on another site as well, I kind of think it should have been better titled and worded, now I do not own a Bar Crusher, and do not even consider one in the future, but I doubt that the manufacturer of the Boat actually built the trailer (but they may have) so unless that is proven to be the case, then you are defaming Bar Crusher unnessarily!! just because you have a perceived rust problem caused by faulty workmanship, I think it would be best taken up first with the Dealer who sold it to you, then to the Trailer Manufacturer (if not Bar Crusher) and leave them out of it!

[Manjilad]

Yes Nolem is right - what brand Trailer is it?
When I replaced mine (with a dunbier) 2 yrs ago I got a vic maufactured one as the rumour was qld and NSW galvanising was natoriously THIN.
Me ? ... well trailer is loverly like new ..... just many of the bolts are rusting away ..... heheheh ... s'pose I should clean 'em up ... just to be in sympathy with your issues ....!::)
Seriously, I am sure measurements can be done to PROVE your trailer was undercoated with gal ... check with a uni mech eng dept etc ... of course u need to know what the gal coating was supposed to be B4 u accuse anyone!

By the way, Crusher did give some reasonable if not too helpful answers to u!

[peterbo3]

Robin,
I think the Gerni does not put out enough volume of water to totally rinse the salt off the frame. And whilst the hot dip gal process chemically bonds the zinc to the steel, using a pressure washer may be akin to sandblasting the trailer.
I would attack the rust with a grinder/wire brush until clean metal was visible then apply mild heat with a butane torch a section at a time. I would then apply cold gal paint, not spray, to the hot area. Work a section at a time. Don't inhale the fumes.
The cold gal applied to a hot, clean surface seems to adhere well. Follow up with another coat of cold gal when dry but do not reheat.
Trailers normally start to rust from inside the frame. If the inside is still good then the Gerni would have to be the main suspect.

[megalodon]

Sorry guys for either being stupid or slow. Im missing something here or i just don't quite get it. To me putting sump oil on a trailer sounds like a great idea to stop rust and normally you use only a mix of about 75 / 25 sump oil and diesel so this makes the oil creep and coat everything. What i find is if someone flicks a ciggy butt in the water people yell at them for pollution but coating a boat trailer in sump oil and dumping it in the river isn't? By the time you got the boat off you would have a 100 meter oil slick. Even months after with all the dirt on it you want you would still be letting off oil pollution into the river. Just cut the hard work of painting the boat trailer in oil and save time just throw a 20 liter drum of oil in the river with no cap.
Want to stop rust coat the inside and outside of trailer frame in tectyl ( spelling might not be right ) and give it a good wash out after each use. Also keep a good coating of Marine grease on all your rollers, joints or bare parts. It is made for use in water.

[rwells9999]

Thanks fellas, The trailer is made by Easy Tow trailers, and they have sent me via Bar Crusher a list of possibilities:
Aggressive alkali detergent used to wash boat ?
>Minerals in water that are reacting with galvanizing ?
>High pressure washing could be impacting galvanizing ?
>Trailer staying damp during storage ?
>Detergent / chemicals adhering to gal inside and underneath frame ?
>Towing over high mineral content roads ?
>Local phenomena air born / water born problem / on road ?
>Combination of these causes .

They missed the position of the moon!. Anway I know that I wont get anywhere with either of them so I have stripped the trailer down, and tomorrow it will be going to the galvanizers. When I get it back I'll get the inside of the box rust treated and then fit a irrigation system into all the box sections. Have thought of sealing the box sections up too.

Robin

[frank100]

Robin,
My BC will be 5yrs old in 2 months time. The only 'rust' I have is the jokey wheel outer case & the folding bracket for it. This is because the carport where the boat is parked is about 1M too short & the weather gets to it. I am about to replace the brake pads (tandem trailer) due to rusting backing plates.
I usually launch in to the Mulgrave river at Deeral where the ramp is into pretty much fresh (even at low tide) which probably has a lot to do with it.
When I do launch into salt I wash down the trailer & boat (hoses allowed in Cairns) including the inside of the box section.
Sorry this wo'nt help your cause.

Frank

[Wear the fox hat]

Spray your trailers with Penetrol. Keeps them looking new plus prevents & treats any surface rust. Oil on trailers is a no-no as you can receive on the spot fines at the ramps from authorities for water pollution.

WTFH

[Far side]

Gudday Robin

The easy tow trailer is the unit supplied with my bar crusher
I don’t think that you can get a trailer with a boat and not have to do any maintenance
I actually dropped the boat off the trailer and then treated the whole frame with a lanolin mix via a spray gun inside and out. The springs I treated with lanolin grease and then used a gas burner to heat the grease into the areas between the springs so the grease would solidify after running. The plastic slide strips I greased and heated the grease into each of the screw holes. The brakes were treated with Repco brake spray and I replaced the brake cables with 316 stainless wire which I then lanoline greased I also replaced the clamps with 316 stainless
The trailer has been dipped in the water approximately 200 times and I drown it. When I get back I rinse the inner tubes with hot water and the surface of the trailer and the boat with hot water
I have no rust at all and the trailer is as new
Looking at your picks I can see that you are going to have some rust problems also in the plastic strips you need to get onto this ASAP whatever you do don’t put sump oil on the trailer use lanolin.
Trailers are all the same and these problems occur in all of them the next boat trailer I will be doing the same treatment Good luck with the manufacturer but dont hold your breath

[Fido]

The answers that you received from the company are reasonable from their perspective. My observations are that the you need to find out who did the galvanising and have a thre e ay meet with Barcrusher, the galvaniser and yourselves. The galvaniser compan willbe best to tell you what the problem is

[Noelm]

OK then, we now know that the Trailer is an Easy Tow, does anyone know if they are made by Bar Crusher??? if not, then their name should be left out of this, as well as the thread on the other site! as it is defaming Bar Crusher, BUT if they are made by them it is a whole different ballgame.

[FNQCairns]

Gudday Robin

The easy tow trailer is the unit supplied with my bar crusher
I don’t think that you can get a trailer with a boat and not have to do any maintenance
I actually dropped the boat off the trailer and then treated the whole frame with a lanolin mix via a spray gun inside and out. The springs I treated with lanolin grease and then used a gas burner to heat the grease into the areas between the springs so the grease would solidify after running. The plastic slide strips I greased and heated the grease into each of the screw holes. The brakes were treated with Repco brake spray and I replaced the brake cables with 316 stainless wire which I then lanoline greased I also replaced the clamps with 316 stainless
The trailer has been dipped in the water approximately 200 times and I drown it. When I get back I rinse the inner tubes with hot water and the surface of the trailer and the boat with hot water
I have no rust at all and the trailer is as new
Looking at your picks I can see that you are going to have some rust problems also in the plastic strips you need to get onto this ASAP whatever you do don’t put sump oil on the trailer use lanolin.
Trailers are all the same and these problems occur in all of them the next boat trailer I will be doing the same treatment Good luck with the manufacturer but dont hold your breath


Holy crap! You are keen, at least to me your washdown procedure would be my best excuse to stay home!

if I did what you do my trailer would stay spanking also but for an entirely different reason:-[

cheers fnq

[ozbee]

megaldon thing is when you use used sump oil it dries to a sticky gel and in fact doesn't wash off very easily at all remember sump oil tar etc is a far heavier hydrocarbon than fishelene or many of the other products out there its just that it has colour.

[Far side]

FNQ
Mate I spent one day doing the trailer treatment that was about 7 months ago it still sheds water really well
The weather was crap and the fishing gear was in order and it seemed the thing to do at the time.
PPS the worlds best kept secret is to wash the boat using a hot water hose the salt just dissolves off and no rubbing required

As for Nolem your right mate the Barcrusher name should not be mentioned the trailers are the easy tow brand the problem is with the trailer not the boat.

[pursuit001]

hi doesnt look to good id be inspecting the inside gal also as there must be excess salt in there and is most likely rusting in there as well good luck with getting her fixed up mate .
cheers

[rwells9999]

Some of you guy's are getting you nickers in a twist, I only named the thread with the name Bar Crusher so that people with that boat would see it along with all the other threads. My Bar Crusher is fantastic and I wouldn't swap it for any other boat / ship. Hope this puts the issue to bed....


Robin

[FNQCairns]

FNQ
Mate I spent one day doing the trailer treatment that was about 7 months ago it still sheds water really well
The weather was crap and the fishing gear was in order and it seemed the thing to do at the time.
PPS the worlds best kept secret is to wash the boat using a hot water hose the salt just dissolves off and no rubbing required

As for Nolem your right mate the Barcrusher name should not be mentioned the trailers are the easy tow brand the problem is with the trailer not the boat.

OK that's less scary, was thinking of a warm bucket of water and a rag!

I built my trailer myself and painted it in a qood quality cold gal, expect almost an indefinate lifespan out of the frame with a few more coats over time (triple welded, pressure tested and fully sealed with a marine polyurethane sika over all welds), if I could find old style quality fittings that would make me happy.

cheers fnq

[marty+jojo]

I just spray a whole can of lanogaurd over my trailer once every 2-3 months, it repells the water and the rust.
Marty.

[Lucky_Phill]

My Special Trailer is now 7 years old and shows minimal signs of rust. ( bolts and springs )

The day after I bought it I sprayed it with Tectyl 501 ( spelling ) and this, I believe has done the job.

While working on Fraser Island, company cars were sprayed with tectyol and a lanotec combination. The tectyl dryed the lanotec and no rust is seen.

My Nissan has had its underbelly sprayed with lanotec and no signs of the cancer yet.

In regard to the trailer issues, I did not for minute, trust the galvanising. I firmly believe they need more protection than that.

Cheers Phill

[Wahoo]

OK then, we now know that the Trailer is an Easy Tow, does anyone know if they are made by Bar Crusher??? if not, then their name should be left out of this, as well as the thread on the other site! as it is defaming Bar Crusher, BUT if they are made by them it is a whole different ballgame.



but if he brought the boat and trailer from B/C, would it be not up to them to do something about it:-/


Daz

[Pride-Pride]

Hey Robin,
If you have it apart then give this a go.
In any boxed sections drill a big hole close to the end where there isn't so much support needed. Weld a big nut over the hole. (you can do this to the whole trailer if you don't have open ends on it).. Now get it galvanised again. The idea of the big hole and nut is so that the hot gal can run inside the trailer and then run back out again. You don't want the gal to run in and not run out as you pay for it by weight. when you get it home just put 200 mls of hydraulic oil inside the hole and get a galvanised bolt and screw it in. I have been told by a mechanic who is also an engineer that hydraulic oil is the best to use as it tends to penetrate the steel better..
Also... when you park the boat put one of those soaker hoses under neath it.. The ones that look like a flat hose with hundreds of holes in it.. Turn it on for a while and it should shoot water in all directions under the trailer and clean it thoroughly for you.. I don't think the pressure blaster will be causing it as much as the lack of water that the pressure blaster allows to use..
Anyways good luck with it..
Shane

[Lucky_Phill]

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[Holy Ghost]

I to have recently had Bar Crusher management tell me that all the defects on my boat are my fault. I admit that the faults are relatively minor but when you purchase a $40,000 boat you expect (I expect) some reasonable after sales service. Which I haven't received.

With regards to the trailer (which is supplied by Bar Crusher) The brake cables are set up in such a manor that they rub at the cable guides and the back bar supporting the rollers. While this is obviously not the cause of your rust problem it will cause you problems one day especially if you drive your boat on and off the trailer.

I have made the suggestion to Bar Crusher that an electrical cable gland could be fitted to the cable guides (about $2 each) which will prevent the cable rubbing the galvanizing away. I have also siliconed a strip of plastic across the back support bar where the brake cable also rubs.
To ensure I don't have your problems I think I will start to winch the boat onto the trailer and submerging the trailer as little as possible.

My opinion of the rust is that you should start talking to consumer affairs at least let them know the sort of response you have been getting from the bar crusher people. It is not reasonable that the trailer rusts to this degree in 3 years especially if you are washing it.

Thanks for the warning let us know how you get on.

[wags on the water]

The trailer that comes with a new Stacer boat has stacer stickers on in, so one would assume it's made by stacer.....wrong....made by d****** but sold by stacer.

[timddo]

Yes , made by dunbier for Stacer. So in actual fact the Trailer is a barcrusher trailer made by someone else to their specifications. There'for the heading All bar crusher owners is correct.

[Blista]

Hey guys, you need to finda product called ECO LUBE, a lanolin product, wont harm the fish you are trying to catch. Coating the trailer with sump oil and diesel will harm the area that you put your boat in.