Dunbier trailers

[jacksrbetter]

Hey guys can any one give me some of their experience with dunbier trailers, My boat builder, col, is recommending a dunbier centreline with 14's, has anyone had any experience with these
Cheers
O

[Troy Wood]

Dunbier build a good quality trailer. You will find they use good products and most of the time thicker wall
Steel in their frames. They have been around for a while and have very good access to parts and accessories.
Definately one of the better mass produced trailers on the market.

[Jarrah Jack]

I'll beg to differ. Dunbier are ok but nothing special. They use a lot of chinese parts and have been known to rust out very quickly. I've got a dunbier super roller so I'm not bias

edit I'll be filling it with oil soon which should stop any rust from forming where you can wash it.

[Smithy]

In this day and age if you want longevity I would be looking at C channel or similar designs or an alloy trailer. The hot dip gal process these days doesn't seem to be as good as "the good old days" for whatever reason.

[johncar]

They are probably as good as any of those styles of trailer, better than some but most trailers like this are built with a predetermined life by their design. You can however extend their life and serviceability by taking some fairly simple steps before it hits the water and regular maintenance.
You can make make a decision to either treat and fully seal all the tube sections or put large drainage and flushing holes in everything, I have always chosen the latter and then give the whole trailer a spray of INOX periodically particularly around the springs, brakes, roller brackets etc and have had good service.

As Smithy said open C section either in steel or Ally is a better option but not many manufacturers offer it except in their upper end stuff and it is perhaps better to look at a custom build which may cost a bit more or build yourself.
I plan to start a build shortly and it will be all C section steel except for the Drawbar.

[ericcs]

i'm in the process of rebuilding/repairing a dunbier glide on trailer. it's 10yo and one of the cross members snapped in the middle, so i will replace them all. you would think they could seal off the cross members after they gal them to stop them filling up with water, but this is an issue with all trailers. the rest of the trailer is ok, the rest of it has rust in various places, but not to bad. overall, it has been a good trailer to tow, unload and retrieve.
but!, the dunbier on our work boat completely rusted out after 5yrs, and it got rinsed after use and weekly regardless. i agree with smithy, the galvanizing process is not the same these days, as last year, i sold a boat with a jawar trailer from 1979, and it has no rust what so ever

[Floating Rib]

Mine tows nicely but dont know about longevity as only 1 yr old, initially it was setup very poorly for my boat and i was removing plenty of Gelcoat off the keel, went back for adjustments twice and Dunbier didnt want to know about the damage, guys at Sirocco marine were brilliant and fixed the gelcoat gratis for me, also the jockey wheel is rubbish.

[TheSaint]

I had dunbier trailer under my last boat which i used from new for about 4 years & had no issues with rust. I only had to changed the bearings once as they used to last really well. I would put one under another boat without thinking twice about it.

I used that boat only in freshwater & did alot of kms on it to get to dams to fish I guess if i fished saltwater more with it i could of got some more issues but you will only always have more issues with saltwater used boat trailers..

[nigelr]

Looked at that style of Dunbier trailer for my 17' tinnie a few months ago; went with a Marlin Saltwater Skid instead. Larger frames, Aussie steel, great design (not unlike an Easyloader) and for the price of the Dunbier I got a swing-away beach launch bar as well. The jockey wheel and winch were pretty ordinary but I swapped them out for the ones on my old trailer. Runs like a dream and very easy to use, which is important to me as I self-launch and self retrieve. Marlin are at Heatherbrae near Newcastle, bit of a distance unfortunately.
Not saying Dunbier aren't good, but I'm stoked with what I got for the same price.

[stevej]

had a 4.2m centerline under my 385 explorer, all steel dimensions were better then any of the chinese or no name brands 75x75 draw bar etc
i filled it with fishoil and it would be 5 years now and the guy i sold it too leaves it on his beach front up in darwin on the sand
saw it last xmas and no rust in it and its left in the elements all day, all he does is liberally soak in inox every now and then

[propdinger]

i would hit it with tectyl 506 or something along those lines i have had 2 dunbiers now and both were ok no better or worse than others but i would take the time before the boat sits on it to coat it to stop rust from happening too quick. i sprayed inside and brushed the outside with a heavy coat looks crappy but better than it rusting


cheers
Jeff

[Hossfish]

Good morning all.

Would have to agree with floating rib. My trailer is ok but the jocky wheel is shite.

Safe boating to all.

Regards Greg

[Matt76]

they arent bad for a mass produced trailer, FMS are far better in my opinion, best trailer ive had by far.

[Chimo]

Very basic looking trailer those centrelines.

How long such a trailer will last depends whether if your a dunker or a dipper. If you buy a decent winch and only dip whatever you buy will last a lot longer.

Cheers
Chimo

Or
AMLKR5000-14-M

More information (http://www.mackaytrailers.com/boat-trailers/ml-series) regarding this modelhttp://www.mackaytrailers.com/images/specials/amlkr5000-14-m-180w.jpg (http://www.mackaytrailers.com/images/specials/amlkr5000-14-m-800w.jpg)




Mackay Multi-Link Series Trailer.
Suits Aluminium Boats 5.0m - 5.4m.
Keel roller support and side wobble rollers.
Single Axle 14" with Mechanical cable Brakes.
LED lights and side Lights.
1480kgs GVM
Discounted Price Normally RRP $4649.00

5.5 metres

18 feetChelsea Heights
VIC$38301 only

[Mike Delisser]

I have a Dunbier under my 4.35 Bluefin, like others have said the trailers are ok....but heaps of the add-ons are cheap imported crap (from China maybe). Mine was only 2 years old when all 3 leafs of the gal springs cracked, the other side had 1 cracked leaf also. Collapsed at 100k on the highway, could have been very bad but we were lucky. Axel was cheap and bent too, replaced both springs & axel with Aussie gear 4 years ago and all has been good. Original lights and wiring was rubish also, I hope they come with waterproof LEDs now.

83555

[bigjimg]

Dunbier build a good quality trailer. You will find they use good products and most of the time thicker wall
Steel in their frames. They have been around for a while and have very good access to parts and accessories.
Definately one of the better mass produced trailers on the market.
G'day Troy,mate that would have to be the tallest statement i have read with the word 'Dunbier' in it.
Quite obviously from your statement you are in business within the boating industry but please keep to the facts.Of all the Dunbier trailers I am currently involved with all of them are rusting prematurely for the attention they get and require constant attention to detail to keep all parts where they should be.
I was recently in communication with a party that wanted to know what these problems were and when given the information I never heard back.For your information I would think that 12mths from a set of tyres is rediculous and for $700 I replaced the lot.Hopefully they put better tyres on their trailers these days,having blisters on the sidewalls and tread area go pop at 90km/hr wouldn't be nice.Lucky for me i caught it before that happened.So for me after all was set up properly[Haines Group fixed the damage caused] for the boat I was only out of pocket about a lazy $k.Just saying it for how it is.Jim

[dblaj1]

Facts - Got a 2006 build year Dunbier tandem - replaced 2005 year of manufacture 'dunbier' tyres early this year only due to age / cracking. Only had to do normal maintenance - new discs. It goes in to the top of the guards when launching / retrieving in saltwater. Average trip out is 2hrs return towing over crap roads.

Maybe their quality control is poor but mine has been perfect. (Or maybe I 'obviously' work in the boat industry too......)

[Jarrah Jack]

Maybe their quality control is poor but mine has been perfect. (Or maybe I 'obviously' work in the boat industry too......)

What that supposed to mean? BJ was stating his experiences. He's got a lot more cred on here than you. Troy's post did seem sus to me too.

[bigjimg]

Facts - Got a 2006 build year Dunbier tandem - replaced 2005 year of manufacture 'dunbier' tyres early this year only due to age / cracking. Only had to do normal maintenance - new discs. It goes in to the top of the guards when launching / retrieving in saltwater. Average trip out is 2hrs return towing over crap roads.

Maybe their quality control is poor but mine has been perfect. (Or maybe I 'obviously' work in the boat industry too......)

Your hilarious.I don't really know how to respond to your remark so ....I won't.JJ thanks for that appreciate the sentiment.Jim

PS>>>Look just for the record,Dunbier are a trailer brand,for better for some worse for others thats it.Being put up on some kind of elite benchmark just doesn't sit with me,end of story.I have had a FMS trailer built for work purposes and if anyone is going to put up there then put them there.Jim

[dblaj1]

Meant to mean what it said - someone posts something you don't agree with they either must have a vested financial interest or not enough 'cred'. Like you two - I have simply said how it is.

[stevej]

guess i must be in business too as mine was fine, and i could less what credibility people think i have but a dunbier is a ok trailer same as mackay and others
yes duro tyres are crap, but its priced accordingly duros are like $30 each to buy in bulk in 13 inch

[TREVELLY]

I know this isn't a gal trailer - but you might get something out of it

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?176813-Improving-a-Dunbier

For my money I reckon trailers are very expensive and you don't seem to get a lot for what you pay - just my opinion.

Also i do get frustrated with penny pinching in manufacture on such expensive trailers fitted with very sub-standard components that fail prematurely - when to do it right is not much more cost to them - ie low quality chinese bearings rather than good jap or US ones, thin copper wiring rather than good quality tinned wiring, plain steel split pins rather than stainless to rollers, as others have said rubbish jockey wheels, crap tyres - I could go on.

[jacksrbetter]

Hey thanks for all the responses, some +ve some -ve, I think I will go with the dunbier and any maintenance required is what it is. Some good ideas in there too trev, I reckon I might do something similar with the boat catch,
Cheers
O

[Jarrah Jack]

Thats what gets me too Trev. My dunbier is a 6 grand jobbie and I wash it religiously but I know and worst of all the manufacturer knows that I can'''t wash out the salt from the cross members so they will rust out from the inside as has been mentioned on this thread. I can't afford 6 k every five or so years.

Why can't a manufacturer like Dunbier simply weld on some nuts before gal then oil fill and seal up with a bolt after gal. How much would it cost them to do it? But they don't do it and don't offer it. Same goes for all those cheap parts when better ones will cost very little extra. Where is their integrity?

[Dan5]

Not a really good photo but i had mine built with "C" channel crossmembers so it could be washed out......Using "C" channel all the way around usually means they flex a bit too much IMO so i stuck with the RHS 50x100 as the outer frame and installed a garden sprayer system inside the frame with a hose connection.

BTW the trailer is a Voyager custom built with roller rocker springs,14'' alloys with LT tyres Durahubs and dyneema winch rope.....6k.......with rego........shop around.
Dan

[Noelm]

I guess you need to look at price, there is cheap trailers, there is mid priced trailers and there is 'good" trailers, Dunbier sort of fit in the mid range, pretty good for what you pay (in my opinion) the real cheap stuff is really crap, so unless you are going for an almost one off custom type, then Dunbier is around as good as you will get for the money.

[Fed]

If I ever buy another new trailer I'm going to supply my own nuts, bolts & split pins.

[Mike Delisser]

If I ever buy another new trailer I'm going to supply my own nuts, bolts & split pins.

Ditto.......and springs, tyres, wiring and tail lights

[Blusta]

Have a Dunbier 5.3 HD with rollers (2006). I have had no issues with it but when i get home the trailer is always washed down (anytime day or night) including the inside of the cross members before anything else is done including cleaning fish. I don't know what the crossmembers are like on the inside but I have tried to counteract rust with rustproofing etc. Replaced the lights this year with LED from Whitworths; don't know how long they will last. Excellent to tow. Would buy another one or a Tinka/ Redco(17 yrs) which I had for years and also a Belco(6 yrs). All about suitability for the purpose I guess.