Unless you need to often trailer long distance , brakes are just not worth
the effort...(if you launch in salt water!) I've lived within spitting
distance of salt water for most of my life and rust is just a given. I
have four boat trailers and none of them have brakes. Would I like to have
brakes? Do I need the brakes to travel really safely? Hell Yes! But
unless I'm willing to pull the wheels and drums every time after I launch in
salt water, the brakes will be junk the next time that I use the trailer.
Been there...Done that! Same reason that I galvanize almost every trailer
that I build and plan to keep.
We are planning to do a lot of fresh water sailing for a few years now, and
I'm going to add brakes to the trailer that we are going to tow. But when
we trailer to salt water I'll use a non-brake equipped trailer. I have a
friend whose 5 year old factory build galvanized trailer has springs and
brakes that are completey rusted out. My solution? Replace the springs
with single leaf mobile home springs instead of multi-leaf springs that
allow the salt water to be trapped between the leaves and ****-can the
brakes. Hey, most of the brakes on salt water trailers don't work
anyway...better to drive knowing that you don't have brakes than to think
that you do when you in fact...you don't!! Once the trailed weight gets
beyond 5000 lbs, then the rules change. You just have to have brakes and
completely cleaning and spraying them with an anti-rust after every launch
into salt water is the only choice.
Quinton

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 17:25:00 -0500, DSK wrote:

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

I have surge actuated mechanical brakes on my 20 foot Ranger's
trailer.

I have a similar size boat with surge brakes.

If there a way to clean the rotors and keep them from sticking over
winter? I have a hell of a time breaking them loose this morning when
I moved the trailer from one side of the driveway to the other. I had
to move it for some house remodeling being done. They were frozen
solid and the rust on the rotors was pretty bad.

When was the last time you replaced the springs & actuators? How about
bleeding them clean? If there is any moisture at all *inside* the
hydraulic part of it, it will rust & get very sticky. I've found that
they
need to be bled once a year and again if there is any drop in the
reservoir, for some reason (it seems to be common with friends trailers
too) they like to suck air if given half a chance.... and air always
brings in water too.

It's a 2000 boat and trailer and the trailer wasn't used for a year.
The pads look good, it just seems like the actuator stuck.

I'll take your advice when the weather breaks.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
----------
"We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries:
Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless
God never did and so, if I might be judge, God never did make
a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling."

Izaak Walton "The Compleat Angler"(1653)