Rebuilt Catalina 22 Trailer

[RJD]

After two months, a few quarts of sweat, and about $800, I've completed the rebuild of my trailer. Check out the before and after pictures. Every bolt had to be cut off with an angle grinder. I had to beat the tongue extension out with a sledge hammer, which totally destroyed the surge brake.

 

[Nahart51]

Great job. I was deciding whether to refurb or buy new. I think I'll give it a shot.

 

[Snowman80]

looks great, i have to replace my bunks, fenders, and replace some of the U bolts on my galvy trailer.

 

[Gene Neill]

I especially like the pic of the old hitch. Man, you must have had to beat the SNOT out of that thing!

 

[watercolors II]

brakes

Last winter I rebuilt the surgebrake cylinder without replacing the whole unit that cost $160.00. My son said it was holding back his 9200 lb truck on the downhills without braking. The rebuild kit cost $29.00 and my auto repair garage used a brake cylinder hone to refresh the non-rebuild parts.

 

[SailAway1]

It's amazing how much better a boat looks under a good looking trailer. RJD - you did an excellent job!
I only had one mechanical issue that needed to be fixed. The rest was just cosmetic. I fixed the mechanical issue and did a quick scuff and repaint. What a difference.

 

[$tingy Sailor]

RJD:
Nice work. Good thing you had a semi-solid trailer to start with and most of your work was cosmetic, not structural. For a look at the opposite situation, see the posts on my blog about my trailer saga at:

http://stingysailor.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/trailer-undercarriage-replacement/

Click on Trailer in the Hot Categories list on the right side of the page to see all of the trailer-related posts.

It started out as a moderate repair and I wound up replacing the trailer with a used one for less than the cost of the unexpected repairs. I might still fix it up for resale, though. I already have all of the steel, just need a welder and lots of time. Maybe if I run out of better things to do to her this winter. Yeah, right.

 

[RJD]

looks great, i have to replace my bunks, fenders, and replace some of the U bolts on my galvy trailer.

Use stainless steel for all the hardware. Also, I recommend putting anti-seize compound on all the threads of the new hardware.

 

[RJD]

RJD:
Nice work. Good thing you had a semi-solid trailer to start with and most of your work was cosmetic, not structural. For a look at the opposite situation, see the posts on my blog about my trailer saga at:

http://stingysailor.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/trailer-undercarriage-replacement/

Click on Trailer in the Hot Categories list on the right side of the page to see all of the trailer-related posts.

It started out as a moderate repair and I wound up replacing the trailer with a used one for less than the cost of the unexpected repairs. I might still fix it up for resale, though. I already have all of the steel, just need a welder and lots of time. Maybe if I run out of better things to do to her this winter. Yeah, right.

Wow! I had metal dimpling on the portions of the frame where the springs attached, but no complete rust holes through. I'm with you though and would have scrapped the project had the trailer not been structurally sound. All-in-all it was pretty solid.

 

[RJD]

Great job. I was deciding whether to refurb or buy new. I think I'll give it a shot.

Good luck. I found good prices and parts at Trailer Parts Superstore, i-Boats, and e-trailer.com. Use stainless steel for all your hardware and anti-seize compound on the threads.

 

[RJD]

It's amazing how much better a boat looks under a good looking trailer. RJD - you did an excellent job!
I only had one mechanical issue that needed to be fixed. The rest was just cosmetic. I fixed the mechanical issue and did a quick scuff and repaint. What a difference.

Looks good.

 

[Kemo Sabe]

Great effort, and worth the effort, it appears!!

 

[seamansg]

I just got done repainting my trail rite trailer, which is steel from yr 2000. Steel rusts no matter what paint you use so this year I had the whole trailer sand blasted down to metal. Then used 2 gallons of 2 part epoxy primer sprayed on, then bought about 20 of those 20oz spray cans of undercoating from the auto parts store. Hope it lasts for $1000 it should.

 

[KingAirDriver]

I tied the main body of my trailer to a forklift with a chain, and hooked the hitch up to the truck, pulled the pin, and just drove away. Took a few whacks here and there with a sledge hammer to loosen the rust, but it came out.

 

[Drinkmilk]

Nice looking refurbished trailer. I'll check those links, too, as I begin my own trailer rebuild.

On the trailer neck, was that the original extension or did you have to add that yourself? Not sure I have room for on of those on my trailer.

Any thoughts on disc brakes or just saving $$ on drum rebuilds?

 

[douga7002]

Aren't you supposed to extend the swing keel and allow it to bear on the trailer while towing? I do not see anything on your trailer for the keel to bear on. Am I missing something?

 

[RJD]

Nice looking refurbished trailer. I'll check those links, too, as I begin my own trailer rebuild.

On the trailer neck, was that the original extension or did you have to add that yourself? Not sure I have room for on of those on my trailer.

Any thoughts on disc brakes or just saving $$ on drum rebuilds?

The trailer hitch extension came with the trailer. As for disc or drum brakes, here's the advice I followed from the Champion Trailer website:

Disc brakes require higher static line pressures for effective braking torque to be experienced. Therefore a lighter towed load, such as the 18’ boat in the example above, will probably not experience effective braking with disc brakes, due to the lower mass & therefore lower differential pressure created at a given rate of deceleration, whereas a heavier towed load such as the 22’ boat noted above will have a much better braking response with disc brakes, because of the higher towed weight, & greater differential pressure creating a higher hydraulic output pressure.

Most trailer drum brake systems have uni-servo wheel cylinders [ single push rod ] . In a uni-servo brake system, as hydraulic pressure is increased in the wheel cylinder, the push rod is extended & pushes against the primary shoe, moving the primary & secondary shoe in an arc. The end of the secondary shoe is anchored against an anchor pin at the top of the brake cluster [ backing plate]. This results in the primary & secondary shoes of the brake cluster having LEVERED force applied to the brake shoes.

Because of this levered force, developed at the drum brake cluster, drum brakes will give better braking torque, at a lower hydraulic pressure & are therefore more effective for lighter towed loads.

In addition to this, the surface area of the pads on a drum brake system is normally larger than that of a comparable disc brake system. With a comparable coefficient of friction for the drum & disc brake components, the greater surface area of the drum system will give greater frictional resistance due to the larger surface area of the pads.

With all of these factors taken into consideration it is advisable to install drum brakes on trailers if the GVW is less than 3000#.

 

[RJD]

Aren't you supposed to extend the swing keel and allow it to bear on the trailer while towing? I do not see anything on your trailer for the keel to bear on. Am I missing something?

Here's a better picture that shows the keel support - the little black "V".

 

[Drinkmilk]

Holy tiny keel rest, Batman! But, hey, if it works for you, then great. How do you nail that little area with the keel while it's still in the water without guides on either side of the trailer? Ever have to back in again to float the boat to retry hitting that keel rest?

 

[RJD]

Holy tiny keel rest, Batman! But, hey, if it works for you, then great. How do you nail that little area with the keel while it's still in the water without guides on either side of the trailer? Ever have to back in again to float the boat to retry hitting that keel rest?

You know, I've never missed getting it on the keel support on the first try and never even gave it a second thought. It's probably the way the bunks are angled that guides the boat right where it's supposed to go. Since the aft end of the trailer is lower in the water when recovering, the keel probably slides into the proper position after the boat is guided onto the trailer by the bunks and bow support.