Trailer Assembly

S

Sunfish65

Member
Hi,

I am new to trailer sailing. In the past I would keep my boat on a dolly at my local sailing club. I ordered one of those red made in China trailers in a box. Looks like the HF trailer, but a little different. I personally have never assembled a trailer. Does anyone have any tips on assembling these things? Do I have to pack the bearings with grease (not that I know how to do that)? Or is that something down down the road for maintenance?

SF65
 
The trailers are fairly easy to assemble. The instructions are pretty good, and the hardware required is a couple of wrenches and some pliers. The bearings on mine came pre-assembled into the hubs. All I had to do was bolt on the wheels I assembled my HF trailer in about three hours.
 
Thanks for the info Geophizz. My trailer is a HF look alike. You can see the photo below. I got it for $425 at Great Pacific Boats online. The bunks are 5 feet long. The description says it is made from channeled iron.

SF65
 

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Does anyone have any tips on assembling these things? Read the instructions twice and use a torque wrench if you have one.

Do I have to pack the bearings with grease (not that I know how to do that)? The bearings themselves will probably already have grease, but you might need to add grease inside the bearing covers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agxjGtmHV_4

Or is that something down down the road for maintenance? If you plan on putting it in the water, the bearings need the protection.
 
Thanks Geophizz, once I got started it went quite smoothly. The bunks I have came pre-carpeted. I managed to score some rubber foam from my father in law, and will add a layer of foam, then some additional carpet.
 
If what you got is normal foam rubber (e.g., like is used in furniture cushions) then it will absorb and hold water, plus if any of it is exposed to UV it'll disintegrate over time. I used "pool noodle" foam cylinders (one brand is called Funoodle and can be found at Wal-mart, etc.). It's a closed-cell foam so it doesn't tend to soak up water. I used this material covered with carpet on the bunks on my trailer and repeated dunking in salt-water didn't cause any problems (make sure the fasteners you use to hold the carpet are rust-proof!).

However, I'm now a big fan of launching my boat off the beach via a small dolly rather than directly from the trailer. This is in part because my favored sailing location has poor ramps, but especially so since I slipped on an unfamiliar boat ramp two weeks ago and got knocked out with a cracked skull, concussion, and cracked tail bone (also including a couple of nights in the neurological ICU, an ambulance ride, and trips to three different ERs eventually). My last words before slipping was asking my friend who was with me "do you know if this ramp is slippery?" It certainly was - beyond anything I've ever experienced!
 
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