Decided to finally move the boat from MN to MI last weekend... One burnt bearing, one nearly shattered hub assembly, one broken brake shoe and 550 miles later, it's almost home. Despite checking everything over (twice or more) and having a ‘trailer guy’ (non professional) look over things, it only took an hour or so into the trip before I burned out a bearing, which lead to near catastrophic failure, literally. The entire hub came loose and I nearly threw a wheel on I-94 in Wisconsin. Thankfully I was able to get it to a repair shop where it was fixed (a couple of days later, after all the parts came in.) Lessons learned: 1) Don’t, Don’t, Don’t leave home without making darn sure that your hubs, bearings and brakes are in good shape. I was cautioned right here, and I listened, but not well enough. 
(Ironically, the cost of repairs was equal to the miles driven) 2) Make sure everything is lashed down, or if you’re unsure, take it off. After resuming my trip I made a gas stop about two hours later. I did the usual walk-around inspection only to find out that one of my stern rail seats was hanging by a thread – literally one and a half turns of one bent screw were all that was keeping it attached to the boat. Needless to say, I removed it and the other one and threw them in the back of the Jeep. 3) Drive at your comfort level – I averaged 60-65. That was slower than posted limits in a lot of areas, and yeah, I did get a few backups behind me. When I could I pulled over to let the queue go by, but don’t stress it too much. Anything over 65 and I was swishing all over the place – sway bars might have helped there, but it could have also been the intense wind at certain points of the trip. 4) Treat truck drivers well – I learned (via a truck stop conversation) that they were ‘keeping an eye on me’ – in the good way. Trucks gave me wide berth when they passed and were checking my trailer too. Not something I would ever expect or ask for, but it was nice to know. My CB ‘nickname’ was BASB (baz-bee) for Big A** Sail Boat. As in, “Give BASB a wide pass, he’s dancing a bit in the wind.” 5) Keep checking your tie-downs – I did an inspection on every stop and always had to tighten something up. In addition to a lot of rope, I used ‘zip straps’ (I’m sure there’s an official name for them) and they even loosened up during the trip, requiring a bit of tightening now and again. All in all, the trip went well. I learned a very expensive and scary lesson on trailer maintenance (and in the process, now totally understand how to repack bearings, replace brake pads and check welds.) Attached is a picture of Wind Dreamer behind my Jeep with Lake Michigan in the background. She’s in temporary ‘clean up’ storage and will be in the slip in a few weeks. Dave Crowley s/v Wind Dreamer Lake Charlevoix
(Ironically, the cost of repairs was equal to the miles driven) 2) Make sure everything is lashed down, or if you’re unsure, take it off. After resuming my trip I made a gas stop about two hours later. I did the usual walk-around inspection only to find out that one of my stern rail seats was hanging by a thread – literally one and a half turns of one bent screw were all that was keeping it attached to the boat. Needless to say, I removed it and the other one and threw them in the back of the Jeep. 3) Drive at your comfort level – I averaged 60-65. That was slower than posted limits in a lot of areas, and yeah, I did get a few backups behind me. When I could I pulled over to let the queue go by, but don’t stress it too much. Anything over 65 and I was swishing all over the place – sway bars might have helped there, but it could have also been the intense wind at certain points of the trip. 4) Treat truck drivers well – I learned (via a truck stop conversation) that they were ‘keeping an eye on me’ – in the good way. Trucks gave me wide berth when they passed and were checking my trailer too. Not something I would ever expect or ask for, but it was nice to know. My CB ‘nickname’ was BASB (baz-bee) for Big A** Sail Boat. As in, “Give BASB a wide pass, he’s dancing a bit in the wind.” 5) Keep checking your tie-downs – I did an inspection on every stop and always had to tighten something up. In addition to a lot of rope, I used ‘zip straps’ (I’m sure there’s an official name for them) and they even loosened up during the trip, requiring a bit of tightening now and again. All in all, the trip went well. I learned a very expensive and scary lesson on trailer maintenance (and in the process, now totally understand how to repack bearings, replace brake pads and check welds.) Attached is a picture of Wind Dreamer behind my Jeep with Lake Michigan in the background. She’s in temporary ‘clean up’ storage and will be in the slip in a few weeks. Dave Crowley s/v Wind Dreamer Lake Charlevoix