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E25+ Trailer wanted

mainesailor

Junior Member
I'm thinking of buying a 1979 Ericson plus and would like to put it my yard once the sailing season is over. Could someone steer me in the direction of what specs to look for in my search for a trailer?
 

supersailor

Contributing Partner
Hi from a long time trailer sailor. I towed and launched a 26 footer weighing 6200lbs for 30 + years (Hate to admit that!). It was never kept wet. The advantages were that I could decide to head for Florida to sail or to Seattle to sail or to the Great Lakes to sail and do it in a normal vacation. The savings in berthing were stupendous over the years not counting the wear and tear on the boat. The minuses were the 40 minute time to set up and the extra maintenance on the trailer. Balancing that was the much larger range I had to sail in and the fact that I could do maintenance right next to my shop.

The upkeep of the trailer is not that bad if one properly thinks out the trailer. Mild steel with drum brakes is the standard. It is cheap. It is also the worst combination. Galvanized steel is much better and marine aluminum is the best. Drum brakes are hard to maintain although the option to flush them out makes them much better. The ultimate I came up with was an aluminum trailer ( 1000lbs lighter than mild steel) and disc brakes. The aluminum doesn't rust and is very light saving bunches of gas for the tow vehicle and the disc brakes are so easy to check and fix.

All that said, the first mild steel trailer lasted 20 years with washing after each launch and retrieval and touch up paint once a year. The hassle factor all has to do with the attitude of the boater.

You do need a tandem trailer with four working brakes. Stay away from a single axle trailer because of hobby horsing and a potential disaster if you have a blowout on a tire. There is no need for a triple axle trailer at this weight range. The three axles only make it more complicated and expensive to maintain. Check the tire pressures and the lug nut tightness each trip and you can travel the Interstate freeways for many years.
 

debonAir

Member III
If you aren't interested in travel-sailing you might want to price out the trucking charge to/from your yard vs. owning a trailer. There is a lot I miss about having a trailer-sailor, like not paying storage fees, but over the course of ownership (about 15 years) my trailer cost way more than the boat. Of course had I known then what I learned in the process it might have gone better, but still there would have been big expenses.

Actual things that happened over the years with the trailer (towing 23 foot 4000lb boat)

- Overheated transmission sprayed fluid over boat and smoked as it hit exhaust.

- Wheel fell off and dragged hub along pavement. Thank goodness going slow on back road. Actual quote from trailer shop when I brought the parts in. "Oh hey.. that's one of those illegal motor home axles from the 70's".

- Tongue rusted and collapsed over winter. The trailer was galvanized... on the outside. This one section was plain steel on the inside and rotted out invisible to me. The boat was OK but bow down collected a lot of dirty water in the cockpit and inside which took a lot of cleaning. Had to weld a new section on and painted with galvanizing paint, will probably rot out again as the paint isn't as good as real galvanizing though and couldn't really do the inside section well.

- Electric drum brakes corroded solid. Why the trailer shop thought putting electric brakes on a boat trailer was a good idea is beyond me (now that I know that's stupid, I had no idea at the time), replaced with hydraulic brakes which are much better.

- Gas went from under $2 to $4 a gallon. Right when I bought a Suburban to tow since the Explorer just felt unsafe (and overheated). Although I enjoy large SUVs I could never afford a dedicated tow vehicle so took that gas mileage hit all year commuting to work. At that time I was driving the boat a few hundred miles to its mooring and back once each year, but gave that up for safety concern, mostly not trusting the trailer to work and having only one axle. I replaced the SUV with a Prius and the gas savings alone would more than pay for local hauling twice a year. Lots to think about.

Overall, I'd say the previous poster is spot on. An aluminum dual axle trailer with hydraulic disc brakes, that you fresh-rinse after every dip, would be the only trailer solution I'll ever consider again for a big boat. You pay a lot more up front but it'll pay you back in safety and usability.
 
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