I have an older galvanized trailer that I use for my flats boat. This boat stays on a jet dock through out the year so the trailer only gets used a few times a year, mostly when I pull the boat for maintenance or before major storms. Since this trailer is used so rarely and typically my travels are within a few miles I will be the first to say that I have not spent a significant amount of time on it in the past to keep it in top-notch running shape.
Last year just before Irma I pulled the boat out of the water at the Folly ramp. As my wife was pulling me up the ramp one of the tires blew. No major surprise as both tires were showing signs of dry rot; but again I hardly ever use the trailer. When I went to throw on the spare at the ramp I realized it was totally flat. Fortunately I had a can of fix-a-flat and was able to hobble back to the house as it’s only a couple miles down the road. In this case a simple task had turned into something a little bit more complicated and the additional stress just ahead of the storm was not welcome.
While I had the boat out I went ahead and replaced both tires but for the most part didn’t do any other maintenance to the trailer. When I went to put the boat back in after the storm the axle broke in my neighborhood after I hit a pothole. As it turns out the round galvanized axle was rusting from the inside out. Since it was a round axle it did not have the typical mounting holes for the leaf springs and as a result saltwater was evidently seeping in when the trailer was submerged but did not have a means of draining properly. I had never realized this until it came time for the axle to be replaced. In hindsight the axle really should have been set up with some weep holes from the manufacture and I am surprised it had lasted over 20 years. I went ahead and replaced the axel and some other suspect hardware on the trailer at the same time as now I was seriously concerned about the overall integrity and reliability.
This past weekend I pulled the boat to do the annual maint