Trailer Sailors Read About My Ongoing Nightmare

[shavdog]

I recently put together a deal where I bought a 2006 triad trailer in Baltimore and a 22cd in louisville, ky...last week we picked up the trailer from some very nice people in baltimore and delivered it to a marina in louisville the next day..The trip was a nice 650mile uneventful delivery...heres what happened next..

I hired a driver off uship.com to pickup and deliver our boat...

About 30 miles out of louisville a tire exploded and I had to have a service truck come out and replace the tire and rim at a cost of 460 dollars

next day was uneventful...driver put on 600 miles

today...in eauclaire, wisc the second tire blew and again the driver and trailer were left along side the freeway..a highway patrol guy came along and didnt hesitate to call a low boy flat bed and hauled the trailer into town...at that point I bought another tire and replaced ubolts and a plate to hold them on..they got sheared off on the highway...then the driver and the towtruck driver noticed the first tire replaced was bulging and was the wrong load rated tire...so rather than risk more tow jobs i instructed the driver to replace the tire he replaced yesterday..todays bill was just short of a thousand dollars

fortunately no one was hurt...the boat is still in wisconson and hopefully will arrive tommorrow..that 1100 mile trip cost me 1500 in addl costs because of tire issues...the trailer is a triad 2006 model with less than 1000miles on it...there warranty is for two years so i dont expect much from them but will call them..I did do a google on load star tires and I did come up with people and there complaints...the tires are rated at 2540pounds max capacity which might be a stretch for a 3200pound boat plus trailer...I really thought triad made a wonderful product but these tires I guess are manufactured in china and I will ask them why they dont use an american brand...its dissappointing to me that all of this has happend to tires that looked brand new..size is st225x75 d load range..maybe dry rot or maybe they are undersized...i'll chime in when all this settles out...craig

[Oswego John]

Shavdog,

I hope that you have access to the blown and almost blown tires. If so, look at the raised lettering and date on the sidewalls. (I don't mean tire size specs)

Lately, there has been a rash of complaints about dealers selling tires made many years ago and not saying that they are freshly made. One would expect that a new tire is a NEW tire.

Everyone should check the age of their tires, both trailer and towing vehicle, especially before starting a high speed tow for any long distance.

That's a good tip to check the condition of the U-bolts holding the springs to the axles. They can get rusty and weaken and give way during a high speed panic stop or exposed to constant, excessive, prolonged sway.

I have a friend who once damaged his boat because of rusted u-bolts. It's something that we never give much thought to. Out of sight, out of mind.

O J

[bill2]

I'm sure others will chime in with more info ( load ratings, trailer -v- passenger/truck tires, etc etc ) but here's another tidbit to confuse the issue. Tire pressure - even new tires - if underinflated will blow out. They may look like they have air but looks are deceiving as they only need a little to look inflated - only with a known good quality tire gauge can you ascertain that the tires have the correct pressure for low ( and high ? ) speed towing.

I'm thinking that a professional driver might even carry such a gauge to prevent exactly what happened to you.

Good Luck

[seadawg]

Craig, Champion Trailer Co. recommends only bias ply tires and not radials for trailers though this might not be the problem in your case. See Champion's web sight for the reasons. Cheers, Charlie

[kerlandsen]

I hired a pro boat hauler to go from Central Jersey to Boston and it was $850. I called on a Monday and the boat was launched three days later in Boston. All I had to do was make some phone calls.
Guy was based out of Mattapoisett, MA.

Kyle

[Rollergirl]

The Ensign fleets that tow nationwide and often have settled on dual axle trailers (mostly Triad) to haul a extremely similar boat. The axles are usually 3500# units with the same size and load rating tire your Triad featured. In addition to the extra load capacity of the additional tires, braking is greatly enhanced by having two axles worth of stopping power.
I recall reading someplace (possibly the BoatUS Trailering mag) that most trailers should be speced for a 30% capacity margin.

Finely, most of the Ensign towers I speak to think radial tires help.

Good luck
Bill

[tartansailor]

Shavdog,

After reading your post I ran outside and checked the tires on my 2006 tandem axle Triad trailer supporting my CD-25.

Load Star K550. For warranty call 1-800-225-4714

Hope this helps.

Dick

[wingreen]

I've had twice the troubles on land that Ihave had on the water - blown tires, axles, support beams, etc. Come to think of it, I've never had any real troubles on the water, except the usual lubber moments we all have from time to time. The Lord willing, that trend will continue.

[shavdog]

Boat arrived today at 12pm...I arranged this shipping thru uship.com and was very happy with the people that delivered it...they went WAY out of their way to get this one done.....as far as the tire stuff goes...i emailed triad and of course they just passed the tire issue on to Load Star tire...I thought thats what they might do...He said he's never had an issue with that brand tire...to me, if I owned that business and someone called with tires with less than a thousand miles on them and they both exploded, I would want to maybe have a real conversation with that person regardless of the outcome...anyway the 1100 delivery turned into 3000 and three tires and two rims..am I mad.....no...am I dissappointed....yes...will I ever buy load star tires again...no...and finally if I decide to do this again which I might, I would not hesitate to put new tires on regardless of the condition of whats on the trailer...I do believe those tires recommended from triad were undersized both size and load for that kind of trip...end of story...I'm a happy camper...my 22 is here along side the typhoon...craig...my advice in all of this is if you are using a trailer, check your tire pressure/bearings and make sure its right and if you plan on doing some kind of trip,educate yourself about tires..they arent all the same and just because they look good, doesnt mean they are adequate for your application..

[Evergreen]

For 15 years I trailered my previous boat (Catalina 22) back and forth between Florida and Maine, each year, and also other places closer. I have a tandem axle trailer. For years I had such a high frequency of bubbles and blow outs that I carried up to four spares for the long trips (totally crazy but it got me there).
What I learned:
Bias ply C rated trailer tires are best. Of course a higher rating would be better.
The tires must have maximum inflation.
Grease your wheel bearings each day that you are on the road and just before launching.
The tires must be relatively new.
Despite the above I still had problems until:
Upon returning home I started jacking up the trailer and resting the frame on cement blocks. This took the weight off the tires while they were resting.
Since I started doing that I have had ZERO problems!! I believe that when the tires sat in one spot for long periods on a flat surface a weakness or separation was prone to develop between the plies.

[seadawg]

Thank you Evergreen for the good information. I've been wondering why my trailer was making funny noises in the early part of the trip. As you say i'll block it from now on. Cheers, Charlie.

[mgphl52]

When I bough my last CD25, she was on a large (would hold 30+ footer!), three axle trailer near Lake Carlyle IL. Once purchase price was agreed upon, I had a local truck/tire shop haul boat & trailer to their facility for "make it road ready" maintenance. After three new tires, bearings repacked, brakes checked out and lighting repairs, the total was about $600 (they also put her back in the storage yard for me).

Since we had absolutely NO problems hauling her to Niceville FL a couple of months later, it was money well spent!

By the way, once I got Brigitta "water ready" and off the trailer, I immediately sold the trailer!

-michael

[BillyO]

I cannot stress ENOUGH the importance of inflation of tires to the allowed max.
Most tires used to haul should have as a minimum 50
psi.
Also, some folks put in a tube --even though thr tires are tubeless design.
Bias plies are best for side wall loadings --these are just my opinion from trailering for years.