Trailer Protection

[DALEPRICE]

Gday guys,

just thought i may ask around to see what everybody else does to
keep there hot dip gal trailers in good condition.

i usually spray the trailer at home a few days later with a coat of diesel and a bit
of automatic transmission fluid mixed in and seems to stick well.

On the wobble roller brackets and bolts i mix up some bearing grease with a little motor oil and the paint it on.

seems to work but just wanted to no if any other people had some special mixes
or brews that are the go. :-X

when going out i try to minimize the amount of trailer going into the water as well
as nothing anoys me more than a rusty trailer. I think a lot of people spray inox on the trailer and rate it well but a bit expensive when doing a big trailer i thought.

cheers dale

look foward to hearing other peoples rust stoopers!!!!!

[Blackened]

G'day

Tectyl 506

Dave

[Gilli]

fisholine mate, its cheap and sticks to your trailer like shit to a blanket. Not only does it stick but if applied then left in the sun for a couple of days then it wont come off for quite a while. quality stuff at a cheap price of 7 bux a can. i bought 2 cans and did everything on my trailer of which i still have half a can left over and my trailer is 5 meters long.

[foxx510]

Gday guys,

i usually spray the trailer at home a few days later with a coat of diesel and a bit
of automatic transmission fluid mixed in and seems to stick well.



Not having a go at you, but wouldn't this leave some behind in the water each time the trailer is dipped? I wonder if something like the lanolin sprays or fishoils are better environmentally.

[Gilli]

The fisholene(fish oil) seems to not come off when water is applied to it.
Been an oil based paint on substance, it sticks to the frame of your trailer with no effort at all. All i did was simply remove my boat off the trailer and lay the boat on some old tyres, then gave the boat about 2 or 3 layers of this fish oil, making sure that i got in every crevice as far as i possibly could.

Then left the trailer out in the sun for the rest of the week.
Putting the boat back on the trailer was simple, just dont have the trailer connected to the car, simply winch it on and let the trailer pull itself under the boat and it does it really easy.

any questions dont be affraid to ask, i got 2 very good mates who r marine mechanics at local boat yards up here in tville and they supply me with all i need to know.

Regards
Chris

[tunaticer]

Best protection you can possibly do is keep your boat in the shed forever like so many other boat owners do.
Second best thing is to wash it down completely after every trip inside and out making sure to disolve any salt deposits anywhere. Reversing the boat and trailer into fresh water and leavign it there for a few minutes is about the best you can do. Hosing a lot of time just pushes salt further into hard to get to areas.

[Gilli]

yeah washing it is a definate,
But i dare say he wouldnt be asking about best trailer protection if he didnt care for his trailer and washed it thoroughly after every trip.

[DALEPRICE]

Thanks for the replys guys,
i have used fish oil before and i wasnt really impressed with it to be honest but
i maybe should have put a few more coatings on it.

the trailer is the thing that gets washed the most usually but when you sink the darn thing over the second axle salt just gets in everything.

Had the good oil on some of this tectyl from another member so it well may be worth a blast.

thanks dale

[Roughasguts]

Hi Dale, mate I just bought a car cube a 12 volt pressure washer to wash me trailer after dunking. Then when I get home it gets the soapy water and bigger pressure washer for cleaning.

For any touch ups I intend using Duragal touch up spray for any worn off gal it's a better colour match than cold gal.

[BilgeBoy]

Hi Dale

Biggest tip I was given is to disconnect the trailer light plug before putting it in the water. Saltwater and voltage are great corrosion buddies. I have heard yarns of bubbles coming off trailers (that are in the water) while the brake lights are on.

Wind your jockey wheel as high as you can and hose down the rails after each use. I pour a bit of old sump oil down the rails periodically and I give the externally surface a wipe down with a cloth soaked in WD40.

I guess ultimately the trailer will corrode in it's own good time depending on use and exposure. I just do as much as I can to try and prolong the life.

All the best

BilgeBoy

[Vitamin Sea]

Gidday Dale

Like Dave mentioned, tectyl 506, works well.

Cheers

Bill

[DALEPRICE]

Thanks guys,

sounds like a good coating of tectyl will be the go!
cant find a bad report on the stuff.

cheers dale

[fairpractice]

hi dale. tectyl imo needs to be diluted with innox or "my favourite Drycleaner"...
then sprayed into trailer with an Engine cleaning gun from super cheap on your compressor. do this down wind of the mercedes/washing as quite a cloud is produced. reapply when first coat is tacky. cheers john

[Lucky_Phill]

Dale,

I used Tectyl 506 on the Skanky's trailer over 7 years ago and you may have noticed no sign of rust.

The vehicles on Fraser ( resort ) use a mix of 50 /50 Lanotec / Tectyl 506.

The Lanotec provides the ' living ' grease and the tectyl drys it out.

I sprayed under the Nissan with Lanotec and you know how many times it has seen beaches. Still good.

There is 2 Lanotecs,,, HD and GP21. The HD ( Heavy Duty ) drys.

It is my experience that the tectyl 506 is streets ahead of any other method.

Cheers Phill
.
.
.
.
.

[bg1000]

It's a bit of effort but i have sealed my trailer so it is air tight. then i tapped back into poured some sump oil and innox fluid. so thats the inside covered. then i have done the trailer with a mix of tar, innox, and tectyl. the trailer looks dirty but it's perfect underneath. cheers

[castlemaine]

Good post! What about around the hubs and brakes so its not sticky and slippery??? Does Tectyl 506 work alright??? Cheers8-)

[DALEPRICE]

some great stuff getting thrown around here,
castlemaine, i usually only spray the break calipers and drum
with the diesel mix. The diesel usually makes the breaks a bit chirpy when
they come on but never had a proublem yet. when we do the wheel bearings
we usually just give the break pads a rub on some heavy sandpaper to clean the crap off and bring a pit of fresh pad up.

phill, will look into the lanotec !

cheers dale

[captain rednut]

tectyl 506 'aswell'

[Gilli]

Give your rotors a hit with some 1000 grit sand paper, just a real quick rub over, it removes the squeel when braking. As for stopping rust on them, you will never stop the rust on a caliper as they are tempered way to high and when a tiny bit of water, or even the cold night air hits them, it puts a really small coat of surface rust on them.

Just coat the parts that dont move, E.g:trailer, springs, hubs...

[Meherio]

Whats the best way to thin tectyl down so I can spray in on with a spray gun?

[deckie]

Recently overhauled a 25yo trailer recently in vv good nick.
Longevity down to being a combo of
1. good original gal job (this one was made by "Tracer Trailers")
2. marine penetrol used as a water repellant
3. most important...LOTS and regular fishoil over the yrs.

You couldnt buy a new one in any better nick after a thousand odd dunkings and outlasted the boat on it.

Ask any pro trailer guy and most will tell u that Fishoil is still the number one weapon of choice (other than a new hot dip gal)...it just works and its easy to whack on so we dont have any excuse for periodic maintenance.

Replaced springs/fishplates/ubolts as always ..u cant get around that periodically...and simply used spray cans of tectyl (from supercrap auto) to coat them after installing. Not on the box or c sections. There's a thousand things u can whack on the gal but if using cold gal remember it must be in direct contact with the old gal. Good fishoil sprayed or painted on will do the job and is a bit less messy than petroleum based products like tectyl (a petroleum wax), diesel/sump oil which many swear by and definitely does the trick too.

Think about the reality of it tho...WHEN u are washing the trailer as much as what you're protecting it with...the damage is actually done to it whilst u are out on the water !! Washing down later is essential with freshwater but the best defence is actually making a vv quick freshwater spray part of the routine when parking the trailer...a busy ramp on a busy day will obviously influence this tho . I carry one of those garden sprayers with a bit of f/water and a squirt of dishwashing liquid in the boot to go out...and when parking the trailer just squirt the back end that got dunked...takes 30 seconds max. Only if it aint too busy tho. Never like the submersible lights for two reasons...1. they always end up failing and are expensive 2. electrics/saltwater/steel.....hmmmm does corrosion sound inevitable ? Surely it doesnt take much to take them off old school style...u take off tiedowns and fuss about so dont get lazy with the lights.
To go boating u dunk it twice...the vast majority of trailer corrosion is done on the first dunk coz u are leaving it for 6 hrs with s/water on, out in the elements, and with the lights hooked up to a residual current...at least that's my theory and i'm sticking with it till told i'm a goose.;D Usually the after retreival dunking trailer wash comes pretty soon after getting her out.

Hell i dunno if its all crap or not...just got my own silly ideas but they seem to have saved me maybe 2-3 trailers over 25years...this particular one looks like she'll outlast me.

keep it under your xmas hat....Blue Horseshoe still lurrrrrrrvvvs fishoil

[sparky54]

I heard a good idea the other day where this guy has a sprinkler system setup on his trailer, brakes etc and has an old beer keg on the back of his ute which he half fills with fresh water and pressurises it. When he leaves the trailer after launching the boat he simply opens the valve on the keg and walks away. Brilliant I thought.

[TimD]

Lanotec Type A grease, melt it down to liquid form and paint it on with a brush

http://www.lanotec.com.au/?link=3

cheers tim :smiley: