Dr. Dr. Smithers wrote:
Don,

Thanks for the explanation, I had surge brakes on my trailer and couldn't
imagine that they had two different trailer brakes, one for freshwater and
one for sal****er, but there have been crazier situations.

I had a smaller boat and trailer w/o any brakes (approx. 2500 lbs.), and
then a heaver boat and trailer (approx. 3500 lbs) with surge brakes. I
would assume there is a maximum weight for towing w/o trailer brakes, but I
couldn't tell the difference between the two. With both of them, you have
to anticipate your stops, it takes substantially longer to stop when pulling
a trailer.


I've read that electric brakes are safer than surge because they come on
as soon as you hit the brake pedal. Surge on the other hand has a
slight lag as the moving parts in the coupler must push oil in a master
cylinder and then out to the actual brakes. Trouble is...electric brakes
are not suitable for immersing in salt water...yet!