My trailer is a basket case. The center of the last three cross members are badly rusted. I've decided to cut away the rusted cross members and replace them. The current setup has the bunk supports bolted to angle pieces which are welded to the frame. I was thinking about skipping the angle pieces and welding the bunk supports directly to the frame. Other than loosing the ability to replace the bunk supports, is there any reason not to do this?
Rebuilding trailer for 23.5
- Thread starter PropellerHead
- Start date
Yes, unless you are going to have the whole trailer galvanized after it is welded up the welds are going to rust and come apart after just a few years.
Dave:
Here's a pic of the current setup:
So this is the existing cross member that I'm cutting away. When I build the new one, I'm thinking skipping the angle bracket you see here and just welding the vertical tube directly to the frame.
Here's a pic of the current setup:
So this is the existing cross member that I'm cutting away. When I build the new one, I'm thinking skipping the angle bracket you see here and just welding the vertical tube directly to the frame.
Rick:
I understand that the weld joints will have no corrosion protection but the only alternative is to buy a new trailer. As it is, I'm looking about about $100 worth of steel and a couple of weekends worth of work. If that puts off buying a new trailer for a couple more years than it seems like a good deal to me.
I understand that the weld joints will have no corrosion protection but the only alternative is to buy a new trailer. As it is, I'm looking about about $100 worth of steel and a couple of weekends worth of work. If that puts off buying a new trailer for a couple more years than it seems like a good deal to me.
You can buy those galvanized square stalks in longer lengths and cut to length as needed. You could also buy the next size square tubing and weld to the trailer with two holes cut with welded nuts attached so that you could screw bolts in to secure stalks inside in place
I wonder if it was built with the angle pieces welded to the frame rather than the square tube because the radius of the tube makes for a more difficult weld than the flatter edges of the angle stock. Or perhaps it was just easier in the manufacturing process to keep the whole frame lower when stacked and sent to be galvanized, then bolt everything on afterwards.
Thanks again for the feedback guys. I decided to just weld the tubes on. I don't think the small radius on the side of the tube is a problem. I was mainly worried there might be some structural advantage to the original approach. I can always cut them off and re-weld if I need to.
The next thing I'm looking at is the centerboard bunk. The original was made from two long sheets of plywood laid on either side of the center line and then covered in carpet. It always seemed unnecessarily wide to me since the trailer has guide posts that keep the boat fairly well centered. The bigger problem was that the seem in the middle allowed for a continuous drip down the center of the trailer. I don't think it's a coincidence that it was right here that the trailer experienced excessive rusting.
I'm thinking of going with just a 2x6 with some trim boards along the sides to make a U channel. My hope is that dripping water will run down the channel and exit the rear instead of dripping on the trailer. Then again, I've seen some trailers that just have a single well positioned roller like this:
The next thing I'm looking at is the centerboard bunk. The original was made from two long sheets of plywood laid on either side of the center line and then covered in carpet. It always seemed unnecessarily wide to me since the trailer has guide posts that keep the boat fairly well centered. The bigger problem was that the seem in the middle allowed for a continuous drip down the center of the trailer. I don't think it's a coincidence that it was right here that the trailer experienced excessive rusting.
I'm thinking of going with just a 2x6 with some trim boards along the sides to make a U channel. My hope is that dripping water will run down the channel and exit the rear instead of dripping on the trailer. Then again, I've seen some trailers that just have a single well positioned roller like this:
I used three PT 1X6 and screwed a piece of PT 2X4 at the fore and aft underneath next to the frame so that they cannot slide out of the clips welded to the crossmembers much more substantial than the two pieces of plywood on there originally and cheaper too.
Propellerhead
The picture of the swing keel on roller, is that a Catalina 22 or the sport 22 Catalina?
Sure looks like th Catalina 22 Sport trailer?
The picture of the swing keel on roller, is that a Catalina 22 or the sport 22 Catalina?
Sure looks like th Catalina 22 Sport trailer?
I have no idea. Pulled it off a random web site. I was just googling for center board supports and that came up.
Finished rebuilding the trailer. Two full weekends and 2 lb of welding wire later. No fun welding galvanized. Hold my breath, weld for 15 sec then drop welding gun and a few quick steps back. Took forever and still made me nauseous.
Finished rebuilding the trailer. Two full weekends and 2 lb of welding wire later. No fun welding galvanized. Hold my breath, weld for 15 sec then drop welding gun and a few quick steps back. Took forever and still made me nauseous.
Hey all, when I had my trailor made, I wanted tandem axles because I didn't want to have a blowout with a 2500 lb boat on a singleaxle trailer. (In my younger years I used to help my dad haul a couple cows at a time to the market and remember a single axle trailer, a blowout at 45 mph with two steers in excess of 500 lbs each, and my dad fighting to keep from flipping the trailer and us...so I decided tandem.) When my boat was placed by truck crane on the trailer, the 4 inch channel that they had under the centerboard support bent but was hidden from me until I had the boat placed on another trailer so I could resolve some rust issues that were starting to popup.I ended up sanding/grinding the entire trailer and repainting with Rustoleum metal primer (2 coats) followed by (3 coats) of Rustoleum Bright galvanized compound. But before I did the repainting, I had 4 crosspieces of 4 inch channel welded in between the other existing 4 pieces. They then straightened the the bent channel that was the underlayment for the then centerboard wood with a 10 foot lenth of 2x8x10 channel steel. I then purchased a 2x10x10 .40 treated pine and applied 4 coats of epoxy all around to seal it up. Three years later, it still looks good. Now, I just need to get over this past surgery, find out the problem with the keel and finally get Selah in the water. I am not advocating for any brand of paint, but this is what I used. The 6 bunkboard tubes were welded to the frame with 2 nuts welded on each in which the tubes the bunkboards are mounted on could be adjusted in case I was hauling someone else's boat. Plus. I thought it might add to the value if someone ever wanted to buy the trailer. Lol. Have a good evening all.
James
James