Trailer Maintenance

[gropeher]

Just curious as to what other people do when they get back from a days fishing re hosing the trailer down to keep it rust free, I generally just give it a real light hose off and it got me to thinking, am I going to be left with a hefty bill for a new trailer in the shorter term of things.

Ryan.

[TonyM]

For the boat I'm selling at the moment I only hose down the springs and rollers as the rest is stainless steel ;)

For a gal trailer I have always given them a good hose down at high pressure as salt is nasty stuff and better safe than sorry. (be carefull around your bearing seals when you're hosing it down)

[littlejim]

I give the boat and trailer a good hose down, as well as running the motor on the earmuffs for a good five minutes. Seems to be working. On this forum have seen some fishos say they use detergent and hot water, which would be better still but not what I do.

I also spray or paint the springs and bits prone to rust with chain lube. It seems to repel water for a longer period than other things I have used. But you'll find many swear by Lanox, fish oil and other water repellants. Cheapest is kero and old sump oil, but it doesn't stick fot long.

[gropeher]

Is this lanox stuff a spray or grease, (I have heard of it but never looked into it when I've seen it at the shop) and other than hosing down the trailer galv body does anyone use this lanox on the bodywork itself, if its a grease it must get messy or even as a spray it would still be messy if people are using it to spray onto the body work/frame work of the trailer.

Cheers Ryan..

[FNQCairns]

Used to flush the engine etc then place the sprinkler under the trailer for half an hour on the lawn, not sure if that option is PC today. fnq

[Mantaray]

Why does everybody only give it a good hose down at the end of the day, late PM? especially after dunking it in the salt stuff early AM, then leaving it sit in the hot sun all day by which time all the damage has probably been done?

[TonyM]

Why does everybody only give it a good hose down at the end of the day, late PM? especially after dunking it in the salt stuff early AM, then leaving it sit in the hot sun all day by which time all the damage has probably been done?

Firstly because not all boat ramps have a tap available.

Secondly (and main reason) - laziness combined with a burning desire to go fishing ;)

Agree with you though - obviously in a perfect world that would be sensible, but fishing time is fishing time :)

even better would be if totally rust proof options were more widely used - eg Poly/Stainless Trailers. I know both those materials have limitations depending on the application but maybe there are other viable alternatives as well? Pity gold plating is so expensive :D

[bidkev]

Why does everybody only give it a good hose down at the end of the day, late PM? especially after dunking it in the salt stuff early AM, then leaving it sit in the hot sun all day by which time all the damage has probably been done?

Mine never gets done till the following day. I'm always back late and I don't like to rush things. I figure that if it goes 5 days without washing when I go camping then whats another 18 hrs wait after a one day trip.

Bought one of those 59 buck gurneys from sooper sweet oughto.....comes with a 12 month guarantee and is bound to break round about 11 months old ;) Reaches the springs and backs of wheels from the other side and don't know how I ever managed without one. I find that I can stick the wand up the back end of the long members and hose the salt out from inside.

Used to spray the last trailer with inox about every 10th trip whilst the boat was beached.......this bloody big thing I've got now will take some time to do though.

cheers

kev