One more boat trailer mishap....

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Towed my skiff to the folks that service my motors, all went well (20hour service on my new Yamaha motor) then picked it up in the afternoon for the forty mile run back home...   Only went about a quarter mile when the trailer axle snapped... fortunately in heavy crawling traffic at less than five or ten miles an hour so no disaster - but had to drag the trailer off of the road into a nearby parking lot to wait for a flat bed wrecker... Not my first mishap, do a lot of towing and you'll end up in trouble sooner rather than later...  Some hours later finally made it home with my trailer deposited in front of my garage and the first order of business now will be getting the parts to get back up and running.  With a three day charter coming up this weekend the second call I made after calling a wrecker service... was to my charter booking out in Utah to let him know that he might not be coming my way (and I'll follow up today once I know whether the parts needed will be available today...).

 

A few thoughts... If anyone tells you they intend to take up guiding - just laugh, it would be appropriate... and yesterday's troubles could have been a lot worse.  Down here in south Florida most of us are hauling our skiffs up and down highways day in and day out.  I've been forced to learn more about boat trailers and boats in general over the last 28 years - than I ever wanted to know...  This same event at highway speeds might have had a very different outcome...  Lucky me.

[RickZieger 0]

Very happy you were going slow when this happened. 

Rick 

[Poopdeck 0]

Glad everybody was OK and that you had no additional property damage. How often do you replace your axle? They are cheap enough that replacing them every 4 or 5 years should be considered normal routine maintenance. Especially considering the amount of salt water dunking you do. 

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Since I'm a high mileage user (15 to 20,000 miles a year towing from one ramp or other) I'm aware that axles wear out...  This one was around two years old when it failed.  My best guess is that a combination of metal fatigue and some severe impacts did me in.  About five or six weeks ago I allowed my onboard navigator to show me a shortcut while towing and it was onto a very bad road with severe potholes (and I hit my share...).  That short trip actually damaged one of my roller arms which we replaced - but I never guessed how much damage it did to the spindle on one side of the axle... To make a long story shorter,  yesterday I was able to pick up all the parts needed for the repair - and today I should be back up and running... Here's a pic or two of the damage as it exists now... 

 

things to do while waiting for the flatbed wrecker... a pic or two for the insurance claim

the good side... My commercial charter insurance actually covers both towing on the water or on the road...

 

As others have noted I got very lucky this time and if you're going to be towing a boat lots and lots you'll eventually have your share of troubles.  Hope my next "incident" is a down the road aways...   Today we're not only replacing that axle, all of the related parts including a new fender are ready to install...

 

[Poopdeck 0]

A short but good life for an axle. Saltwater is a bitch on equipment. 

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

A bit over $700 in parts.. and a day’s hard labor…  back up and running again.

”Aren’t boats fun”.

 As my Dad would say, “Kid, I know more about this (or that) than I ever wanted to know… “

[niveker 0]

11 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

A short but good life for an axle

Two years seems unreasonably short to me for any axle unless it was severely abused, but the Captain doesn't seem like that type and I don't know squat about trailer axles.