Trailer washdown

[scuttlebutt]

Probably a bit late to the party on this but for a while I've been pondering on how to flush the cross-members of my trailer. Each time the boat is launched they get filled with salt and there's no easy way to wash it off. I considered sealing them up and filling them with oil but that's not without its own problems.

Anyway, this is what I've come up with. A few bucks worth of irrigation hose and fittings running down each side of the trailer. I have branches running into each cross-member using a t-piece at the entry and a sprayer about 40cm in (as per photo).

http://i918.photobucket.com/albums/ad27/cairnshack/003_zps0d799867.jpg (http://s918.photobucket.com/user/cairnshack/media/003_zps0d799867.jpg.html)



Also 360 degree sprayers at each brake assembly.

It all appears to work well. Next job will be to remove the set-up, high-preasure spray tectyl into the cross-members and paint trailer with the stuff, then re-fit the sprinkler system.

Hope all this makes sense.

http://youtu.be/fumxhMwf_-g

[Pazz01]

Looks good mate. Especially for a relatively newish trailer would be a very good idea. Ours is getting on a bit now so it's a bit too late. Do you know how much of the box section on the rails is actually getting wet in the centre? It's not just wetting the outside bit and running on the bottom of the channel and then out? I suppose that's where you get most of your corrosion anyway.

Pazz

[Darren Mc]

If you can get hold of three or four rubber bung's to block off that center drain hole it will fill the whole cross member up full. Of course you'd have to climb underneath the trailer to install and remove the bungs, but at least you'd know it's been fully flushed. Just a thought..

For the main chassis, I use one of the Gardena hose connections( the one that shut's off the water when you unclip the hose attachment).
I drilled holes all around the connection in the right spot before the shut off valve, wack it on the end of the hose, tighten it up good and tight then turn the hose on flat out and feed it up the chassis nice and slowly as far as it will go a few times. Then go to the other end of the chassis and do the same. You can tell how far up it goes by the amount of hose you feed in. I just make sure I take it easy so as not to damage the wiring or pull the connection of the hose.

[scottar]

For the main chassis, I use one of the Gardena hose connections( the one that shut's off the water when you unclip the hose attachment).
I drilled holes all around the connection in the right spot before the shut off valve, wack it on the end of the hose, tighten it up good and tight then turn the hose on flat out and feed it up the chassis nice and slowly as far as it will go a few times. Then go to the other end of the chassis and do the same. You can tell how far up it goes by the amount of hose you feed in. I just make sure I take it easy so as not to damage the wiring or pull the connection of the hose.

I made up something similar using a length of electrical conduit, a hose fitting and a 360 degree sprinkler head. Just clip it on and pass it up into the main and side beams. All done in a couple of minutes. For the cross beams I have individual fittings with clear hose that fill the beam to overflowing in about 30 seconds per beam. The rest justs gets a good hose. As for the rust proofing, I recently bought a rust proofing gun from Access Industrial Products at Hemmant. Makes giving the inside a good hit with fisholene or similar a breeze - just remember to put a container under the centre of the beam because getting the sh*t off the concrete aint quite so easy. Guess who felt like a d*ckhead that day.LOL

[AndrewB]

I just put a small piece of bent copper tube (I work in refrig industry) up the garden hose and into the holes at the bottom of the box section and wait for the water to come out the top hole.