Good advice
flynfol offers a good summary.
This July I towed my 1979 Venture 25 on the stock trailer to the north end of Vancouver Island. This meant a lot of mountain driving through the mountains between California and Oregon with some steep down grades. It aso meant going through Portland and Seattle; Seattle being one of the worst cities to drive through. I didn't have any problems, found that the trailer is easy to pull, tracks straight without any sway. Was careful not to allow rig to pick up too much speed going dwnhilll.
I of course took the precautiions that fynfol describes. I would reinforce; don't load down the boat with anything that wouldn't normally be on it. It's tempting to load it up for the trip but it is easy to exceed the load for the single axle. Everytime you stop, put your hands on the hubs to make sure that they have not gotten hot; I carry a grease gun in case the bearings start to run a little warm. You can prevent most bearing problems this way.
Taking the advice from someone on another forum I zip tied all cables and lines. This may not be practical for day sailiing, but for long trip its important. Zip ties are cheap, easily removed and save a lot of wear and tear on riggging.
I needed to recheck my ratcheted bow tie down since it seemed to work loose over time. Even a little movement or pitch in the bow gets magnified when hitting a bump or dip. Periodically I would check the lights. When I left home, I had lights, when I arrived I didn't. Be sure to carry tools, including a voltmeter.
I see no need to add an axle to my trailer.
flynfol offers a good summary.
This July I towed my 1979 Venture 25 on the stock trailer to the north end of Vancouver Island. This meant a lot of mountain driving through the mountains between California and Oregon with some steep down grades. It aso meant going through Portland and Seattle; Seattle being one of the worst cities to drive through. I didn't have any problems, found that the trailer is easy to pull, tracks straight without any sway. Was careful not to allow rig to pick up too much speed going dwnhilll.
I of course took the precautiions that fynfol describes. I would reinforce; don't load down the boat with anything that wouldn't normally be on it. It's tempting to load it up for the trip but it is easy to exceed the load for the single axle. Everytime you stop, put your hands on the hubs to make sure that they have not gotten hot; I carry a grease gun in case the bearings start to run a little warm. You can prevent most bearing problems this way.
Taking the advice from someone on another forum I zip tied all cables and lines. This may not be practical for day sailiing, but for long trip its important. Zip ties are cheap, easily removed and save a lot of wear and tear on riggging.
I needed to recheck my ratcheted bow tie down since it seemed to work loose over time. Even a little movement or pitch in the bow gets magnified when hitting a bump or dip. Periodically I would check the lights. When I left home, I had lights, when I arrived I didn't. Be sure to carry tools, including a voltmeter.
I see no need to add an axle to my trailer.