Check your trailer.

[FINICKY]

Hey guys, just putting a reminder out there to everyone to give the good old trailer a good check over every now and then.
This reminder comes after I recently did the 7hr drive home from 1770 to Ipswich to pull up in the driveway to find the winch post had snapped off my 2009 Brooker trailer.
Was shocked to see the only thing holding the boat on the trailer was the tie down strap as the safety chain is attached to the same post.
After a close inspection it looks like the post had cracked at the weld previously and had torn the steal away.
Not impressed.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160806/06c2a1ce7834c0026d9d308d47734178.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160806/edf1129ae2ffd85574bd1e3eca52f962.jpg


Plastics fantastic but bait is better.

[Back In Black]

Man, that could have been ugly!!

A local bloke put his 6+ metre glass boat in the middle of a roundabout a week or so ago. Reckons he just put a new strap on the winch handle, but it snapped & the safety chain gave way, leaving his tub on the bitumen.

[sportfish58]

G'day Finicky, I notice you don't have a bow chain(bow eye to drawbar). I am not sure if they are a requirement for all boats to have them, but I can see in this instance it would help as well as stopping boats going over the top of your vehicle in a accident. Can someone verify if these chains are required.
Cheers

[Cape Crusader]

Wow, glad nothing bad happened, could have been a catastrophy.
Cheers
Rod

[shaungonemad]

That's definitely nasty luckily you had a good strap.

[Crunchy]

G'day Finicky, I notice you don't have a bow chain(bow eye to drawbar). I am not sure if they are a requirement for all boats to have them, but I can see in this instance it would help as well as stopping boats going over the top of your vehicle in a accident. Can someone verify if these chains are required.
Cheers

i thought they were required too

[FINICKY]

I bought the boat and trailer package new in 2009 and it would have passed a roadworthy for its time.
They might be a new thing....
Do you have one on your trailer? Can you post a pic for me?

[Dignity]

How lucky you were. That looks like an extension was welded on as the original post was short. A large corporate place I worked for couldn't understand why 600 mm eye bolts kept snapping, turned out the new supplier sourced his material in China and they had lots of 300 mm offcuts so they welded them (very shallow welds at that ) to make 600 mm, ground them back then galvanized them. Needless to say no more from that source were used.

I have a chain on my boat from post to drawbar although I worked out that if the winch post broke or the winch rope itself broke the boat could roll back nearly 600 mm before the chain took effect. Yes I don't have a rear strap on the boat as I generally only travel a couple of kms but on longer trips do use one. Still I'm not sure they would stop that much movement backwards and thinking 2 tones at speed even for 600 mm would snap something.

[Moejoes]

Here's a pic of my so called difficult set up on another post ;)
Just ask Tony.....;D
Small bottom chain is connected to the bottom hole of boat and connects to the winch tower just below the winch with shackles.
I then run a triangular chain set up to either side of the trailer rails with shackle and a centre turn buckle to fully tighten up the rig with lock nuts as it tends to work loose on bumpy roads like the one to 1770.
This also holds the bow down.
Solid as once tightened up.
You will find that most fatigue fractures occur directly besides a weld as the weld is generally stronger than the metal being welded and the metal also tends to loose some of it's original design strength due to the heat of the weld.
Your photo demonstrates that.
I would be more inclined to check around welds on your trailer for signs of fatigue cracks.
Cheers Rob.
. 113859

[Moejoes]

Finicky,
I think you need a bracing bar running forward that extends up around the winch to help support the winch post.
Does your boat fully tighten up against the post or is it slightly loose?
Your boat would give that post a flogging on the 1770 road if loose.
I tighten mine fully up and strap the arse end.
That way the trailer and boat are one.

[scottar]

Tend to agree with Rob. Looks like the post simply wasn't up to the constant motion, fatigued at the point of flex and ultimately broke. There may have been a weak spot courtesy of the weld but ultimately it was the motion and flexing that did the damage. As well as the safety chain, my rig has a single chain that goes aft from the connection point on the hull to the drawbar that is tensioned by a turnbuckle at the front and straps that come forward from the transom so in theory the winch post could be removed and the boat would stay in the same spot. It also has a much heavier front brace to the winch post as Rob has suggested - comes about half way up the post made out of heavy gauge right angle.

Even though you have had the trailer a few years, if there were no additional anchor points for chains as described, I would be getting in touch with the manufacturer. Provided your boat is under the weight allowed on the trailer, ultimately what they have provided isn't up the job. If the chain anchoring points were there and not in use (can't really see from the pic) then unfortunately it's probably your bad.

[FINICKY]

Thanks for the advice guys.
I have redesigned the post with a support from the top of the post to the draw bar to take the flex out of the post and I'm fitting a chain from the boat to the draw bar as a secondary safety chain/anchor point. The trailer doesn't have any allowance for this so I will be modifying to improve the original design.
The Brooker engineering plate on the boat is stamped as being rated to 1995kg so from factory it should have been up to the task.
I always have the winch done up as tight as possible and a thick ratchet tie down strap across the back so minimise any movement.
I do however winch my boat onto the trailer rather than drive it on so this may have weakend the weld over the last 7 years.

[Barry Ehsman]

My winch post broke in exactly the same place winding my boat on & it was a brooker trailer, the crossbar at the back holding the rollers also snapped on a trip up to the Territory. Piece of shit.

[Back In Black]

Here's a pic of my so called difficult set up on another post ;)
Just ask Tony.....;D
Small bottom chain is connected to the bottom hole of boat and connects to the winch tower just below the winch with shackles.
I then run a triangular chain set up to either side of the trailer rails with shackle and a centre turn buckle to fully tighten up the rig with lock nuts as it tends to work loose on bumpy roads like the one to 1770.
This also holds the bow down.
Solid as once tightened up.
You will find that most fatigue fractures occur directly besides a weld as the weld is generally stronger than the metal being welded and the metal also tends to loose some of it's original design strength due to the heat of the weld.
Your photo demonstrates that.
I would be more inclined to check around welds on your trailer for signs of fatigue cracks.
Cheers Rob.
. 113859

Rob, your picture doesn't due justice to the mechanical complexity of your set up;D;D

If you just fitted a boat latch like I have on my tub, life would be sweet & less stressful. I have my boat off the ramp in under a minute, but yours, well, 15 minutes later with a stress headache building from you yelling at me not to be a moron, life is not so much fun:smash::smash::smash:

Then add to it those dinky little side mirrors, & your foot activated park brake being on the wrong side, well, what can I say??

[The Black Unicorn]

I feel for you Finicky. They are a piece of shit those Brookers. I had one under my Yalta for a few years and had nothing but trouble. I eventually bit the bullet and bought a new Redco. Waaaaaay better!

[Moejoes]

Rob, your picture doesn't due justice to the mechanical complexity of your set up;D;D

If you just fitted a boat latch like I have on my tub, life would be sweet & less stressful. I have my boat off the ramp in under a minute, but yours, well, 15 minutes later with a stress headache building from you yelling at me not to be a moron, life is not so much fun:smash::smash::smash:

Then add to it those dinky little side mirrors, & your foot activated park brake being on the wrong side, well, what can I say??

Oh, come on.........
There is only 1 turn buckle to loosen, and really 1 shackle to release.
You only tow your tub 5 kms down the road.
Try towing it up north with that setup of yours on that great national highway of ours and see what happens ;D
What else can you say?
Hmmmmmmmm............ :P

[scottar]

Te He....113881. Thought I'd seen this play out before.

[Moejoes]

Te He....113881. Thought I'd seen this play out before.

Scottar, how did you get hold of that photo of me & Tony at the ramp :thumbsup:

[scottar]

113882 LOL. Not sure I would carry it like that into an airport any more.........:stop:

[Moejoes]

113882 LOL. Not sure I would carry it like that into an airport any more.........:stop:

Is that the zoom you needed to snap us at the 1770 ramp from Brisbane :o
That's crazy!!!!!!

[Back In Black]

Scottar, how did you get hold of that photo of me & Tony at the ramp :thumbsup:

And you are the grumpy one Rob;D;D

[Back In Black]

Oh, come on.........
There is only 1 turn buckle to loosen, and really 1 shackle to release.
You only tow your tub 5 kms down the road.
Try towing it up north with that setup of yours on that great national highway of ours and see what happens ;D
What else can you say?
Hmmmmmmmm............ :P

At least if I towed mine to 1770 I wouldn't miss the turn off & end up in Miriam Vale:hammer::hammer::hammer:

[Moejoes]

At least if I towed mine to 1770 I wouldn't miss the turn off & end up in Miriam Vale:hammer::hammer::hammer:

Hahahhahaha
Hang on a minute.............It was Lowmead
I said we missed the turn off and you said nah, I've been keeping an eye out for it.
Your words :-X
Don't know what you were keeping an eye on tho because it wasn't the turn off????
At least we found another way to get there along a windy dirt road ;)

[JulianDeMarchi]

Hey guys, just putting a reminder out there to everyone to give the good old trailer a good check over every now and then.
This reminder comes after I recently did the 7hr drive home from 1770 to Ipswich to pull up in the driveway to find the winch post had snapped off my 2009 Brooker trailer.
Was shocked to see the only thing holding the boat on the trailer was the tie down strap as the safety chain is attached to the same post.
After a close inspection it looks like the post had cracked at the weld previously and had torn the steal away.
Not impressed.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160806/06c2a1ce7834c0026d9d308d47734178.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160806/edf1129ae2ffd85574bd1e3eca52f962.jpg


Plastics fantastic but bait is better.

I got the same POS trailer. Replace the winch mount too mate. I had to stop quickly, my boat jumped forward and bent that f ucker like a bit of paper, only just got boat back on trailer yesterday after a full trailer rebuild. While your at it as well, on the last cross member at the front, put another safety chain up to your boat, so if it does move forward, that chain stops it.