New trailer rust prevention. What to do?
Submitted by Dreamtime on Fri, 2023-12-22 12:11
Hi ladies and gents,
Im awaiting a new boat and trailer and was wondering if anyone has any experience with trailer rust prevention systems or coatings?
Being a brand new trailer i want to try and maximise the life of it and get this done before it ever touches the salt water, this will be in combination with thorough maintenance and cleaning regularly but just want to increase my odds of keeping that brown shite at bay!
Thanks in advance for any assistance!
sea-kem
Posts: 14859
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Flush flush flush I've made
Flush flush flush I've made a full retic sytem for mine that goes through all the members
Just make sure that your drain holes don't get blocked. Salt water sitting idle is what will kill it.
Love the West!
Rob H
Posts: 5745
Date Joined: 18/01/12
Get an i beam trailer
Get an i beam trailer whether its steel or aluminium
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
Alpha
Posts: 194
Date Joined: 13/02/17
Industrial lanolin oil
I paint on lanolin oil over the trailer every 12 months or so. I especially fill up the cross members, box tube every time. Just by blocking the bottom drain holes and filling from the top holes. Get my garden sprayer with a long hose and shove it down the main beams and spray in there. Bit of work but just drop the boat in the water and do it in the car park, put the boat back on.
Hopefully I'll get a bit more life out of the trailer. Otherwise get an aluminium trailer only way to stop it.
Dreamtime
Posts: 645
Date Joined: 21/09/09
Penetrol rust treatment!
thanks for the feedback lads, appreciate it.
I allready have all the poly and sprayer nozles to plumb the trailer up with an internal retic system, so that will be installed straight away!
I was thinking of getting I-Beam construction but completely forgot to request this and i beleive the trailer is already almost complete... i was spewin when i realised i forgot!
I have had ally trailers in the past and have sworn that i would never do it again as i do a ridiculous amount of unsealed road driving and the corrugation has cracked my trailers multiple times with one leading to a catastrophic structural failure rendering the trailer scrap metal.
I was looking into the lanolin based products and due to majority of them (or all of them) leaving a sticky residue on the metal surface trapping beach sand and what not and in the long run leaving a horrible mess to try and clean off, i have tried to find other products that have a long term protection period without creating more work and mess.
One product i have found is "Penetrol rust treatment", this has all the properties im looking for in a product and has some great reviews (as untrustworthy as reviews are) but just thought id ask all the people that love the same hobie as i do. They claim that this product will dry and not leave a sticky residue and will protect the metals for a 6 month period! This is fine for me as the trailer will be getting a shit load of use and love so i dont mind doing it every 6 months IF IT WORKS!!! So does anyone have any experience using this product? It appears to be the boaties dream product for multiple reasons!
Mrlickalotopus
Posts: 108
Date Joined: 27/07/16
Flushing
If you have access to fresh water, hose & flush the trailer after launching every time. After paying nearly $8k on 4.5 ton trailer refurbishment I spend more time washing the trailer than the boat.