How long do boat trailer tires typically last?
 

"M. Baker" wrote in message
ups.com...
We just bought a 2001 Lund Mr. Pike a couple weeks ago. We went on
vacation last week, and of course had to take the boat with us. About
40 miles from home, the driver's side trailer tire blew out while on
the freeway going almost 70mph. Then, about 100 miles later, the OTHER
trailer tire blew out - this time we were only going 60mph, as we were
paranoid after the first blow-out.


By the way, this is just the beginning of the boat antics.

1) Sometimes you might need to stand in the water at the boat launch to get
the thing onto the trailer. Take your wallet out of your pocket, and maybe
your keys, too. Ramps are slippery.

2) Got a drain plug in the boat? One day, you may remove it while washing
the boat in the driveway. Then, you won't put it back in. Have the bilge
pump ready at the next launching. :-)

3) How long are your dock lines (ropes), and how thick? They're not the
colorful plastic kind, are they?

How long do boat trailer tires typically last?
 

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"M. Baker" wrote in message
ups.com...
We just bought a 2001 Lund Mr. Pike a couple weeks ago. We went on
vacation last week, and of course had to take the boat with us. About
40 miles from home, the driver's side trailer tire blew out while on
the freeway going almost 70mph. Then, about 100 miles later, the OTHER
trailer tire blew out - this time we were only going 60mph, as we were
paranoid after the first blow-out.


By the way, this is just the beginning of the boat antics.

1) Sometimes you might need to stand in the water at the boat launch to get
the thing onto the trailer. Take your wallet out of your pocket, and maybe
your keys, too. Ramps are slippery.


2) Got a drain plug in the boat? One day, you may remove it while washing
the boat in the driveway. Then, you won't put it back in. Have the bilge
pump ready at the next launching. :-)

I always clipped the drain plug onto my boat keys, so I won't forget.
Now when I winterize the engine, I place one of the hose clamps onto the
key ring to remind me to put the plugs and clamps back onto all of the
hoses in the spring time.




3) How long are your dock lines (ropes), and how thick? They're not the
colorful plastic kind, are they?

How long do boat trailer tires typically last?
 

Believe me - I've already thought of the drain plug. :)
We got to the cottage so late that we decided to wait until the next
day to launch it. It rained pretty hard that night. The next morning
hubby pulled the drain plug to let the water drain out. I made sure to
remind him to put that plug back in before we launched it!
I've just subscribed to Trailering Boats and Bass & Walleye Boats
magazines, and printed a bunch of stuff off from one of their websites
on towing, for future reference.

I think we have both the colored plastic/nylon ropes that came with
the boat from the guy we bought it from, plus I bought another regular
thicker rope. Why?


On Aug 23, 2:15 pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"M. Baker" wrote in message

ups.com...

We just bought a 2001 Lund Mr. Pike a couple weeks ago. We went on
vacation last week, and of course had to take the boat with us. About
40 miles from home, the driver's side trailer tire blew out while on
the freeway going almost 70mph. Then, about 100 miles later, the OTHER
trailer tire blew out - this time we were only going 60mph, as we were
paranoid after the first blow-out.

By the way, this is just the beginning of the boat antics.

1) Sometimes you might need to stand in the water at the boat launch to get
the thing onto the trailer. Take your wallet out of your pocket, and maybe
your keys, too. Ramps are slippery.

2) Got a drain plug in the boat? One day, you may remove it while washing
the boat in the driveway. Then, you won't put it back in. Have the bilge
pump ready at the next launching. :-)

3) How long are your dock lines (ropes), and how thick? They're not the
colorful plastic kind, are they?

How long do boat trailer tires typically last?
 

"M. Baker" wrote in message
ps.com...
Believe me - I've already thought of the drain plug. :)
We got to the cottage so late that we decided to wait until the next
day to launch it. It rained pretty hard that night. The next morning
hubby pulled the drain plug to let the water drain out. I made sure to
remind him to put that plug back in before we launched it!
I've just subscribed to Trailering Boats and Bass & Walleye Boats
magazines, and printed a bunch of stuff off from one of their websites
on towing, for future reference.

I think we have both the colored plastic/nylon ropes that came with
the boat from the guy we bought it from, plus I bought another regular
thicker rope. Why?


Plastic: If it's the scratchy kind, it's made for towing skiers or
something. It's stiff and will sometimes untie its own knots. That's not
good.

As to my more general question, try this in your yard on a very windy day.
Measure a distance of 25 feet. Try to throw a bundle of your boat rope into
the wind, to a person standing 25 feet away. If you can't do it in one
throw, your rope is too short and probably too light (skinny). One day,
you'll be trying to dock the boat when some sort of bizarre wind has kicked
up, and someone one the dock may offer to catch a line for you. You can
figure out the rest. Don't be one of those fools who's got shoelaces for
boat rope.

How long do boat trailer tires typically last?
 

M. Baker wrote:
Believe me - I've already thought of the drain plug. :)
We got to the cottage so late that we decided to wait until the next
day to launch it. It rained pretty hard that night. The next morning
hubby pulled the drain plug to let the water drain out. I made sure to
remind him to put that plug back in before we launched it!
I've just subscribed to Trailering Boats and Bass & Walleye Boats
magazines, and printed a bunch of stuff off from one of their websites
on towing, for future reference.

I think we have both the colored plastic/nylon ropes that came with
the boat from the guy we bought it from, plus I bought another regular
thicker rope. Why?


On Aug 23, 2:15 pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"M. Baker" wrote in message

ups.com...

We just bought a 2001 Lund Mr. Pike a couple weeks ago. We went on
vacation last week, and of course had to take the boat with us. About
40 miles from home, the driver's side trailer tire blew out while on
the freeway going almost 70mph. Then, about 100 miles later, the OTHER
trailer tire blew out - this time we were only going 60mph, as we were
paranoid after the first blow-out.
By the way, this is just the beginning of the boat antics.

1) Sometimes you might need to stand in the water at the boat launch to get
the thing onto the trailer. Take your wallet out of your pocket, and maybe
your keys, too. Ramps are slippery.

2) Got a drain plug in the boat? One day, you may remove it while washing
the boat in the driveway. Then, you won't put it back in. Have the bilge
pump ready at the next launching. :-)

3) How long are your dock lines (ropes), and how thick? They're not the
colorful plastic kind, are they?



You don't want to use PolyProp lines, but there are some colored nylon
lines that are good dock lines (they are normally white, black or blue).
Polyprop will fray easier, degrade in UV quicker, will not have as
much give as nylon, which can be tough on your cleats, and will not
allow you to belay the cleat properly.

http://www.ropeworks.biz/reader/cleat.pdf

PolyProp is a floating line used to pull tubes and skiers only.

How long do boat trailer tires typically last?
 

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"M. Baker" wrote in message
ps.com...
Believe me - I've already thought of the drain plug. :)
We got to the cottage so late that we decided to wait until the next
day to launch it. It rained pretty hard that night. The next morning
hubby pulled the drain plug to let the water drain out. I made sure to
remind him to put that plug back in before we launched it!
I've just subscribed to Trailering Boats and Bass & Walleye Boats
magazines, and printed a bunch of stuff off from one of their websites
on towing, for future reference.

I think we have both the colored plastic/nylon ropes that came with
the boat from the guy we bought it from, plus I bought another regular
thicker rope. Why?


Plastic: If it's the scratchy kind, it's made for towing skiers or
something. It's stiff and will sometimes untie its own knots. That's not
good.

As to my more general question, try this in your yard on a very windy day.
Measure a distance of 25 feet. Try to throw a bundle of your boat rope
into the wind, to a person standing 25 feet away. If you can't do it in
one throw, your rope is too short and probably too light (skinny). One
day, you'll be trying to dock the boat when some sort of bizarre wind has
kicked up, and someone one the dock may offer to catch a line for you. You
can figure out the rest. Don't be one of those fools who's got shoelaces
for boat rope.

This may not apply so much in your case..but the bow & aft lines should
normally be nylon.
If's better to have a little streatch and springness to allow for the ebb &
flow at a dock.
That polyproplene stuff may float but doesn't streatch.... so it might be
good if you were using it as a 'painter' on a dinghy.

How long do boat trailer tires typically last?
 

On Aug 23, 6:05 am, "M. Baker" wrote:
We just bought a 2001 Lund Mr. Pike a couple weeks
ago. We went on vacation last week, and of course
had to take the boat with us. About 40 miles from
home, the driver's side trailer tire blew out while on
the freeway going almost 70mph. Then, about 100
miles later, the OTHER trailer tire blew out - this
time we were only going 60mph, as we were
paranoid after the first blow-out.

There is another point here. Yes, the tires could be underinflated.
Yes they could be undersized for the weight of the boat and trailer (I
get about 1115 pounds for the boat). Yes, you could have picked up
nails in both tires, short enough to not (yet) affect the tires on the
towing vehicle, but long enough to lose tire pressure on the trailer
and blowout.

When you say "had to take the boat with you", did you stuff it full of
"bringalongs" like a U-haul? There are weight limits on tires...

David A. Smith

How long do boat trailer tires typically last?
 

No, most of our vacation gear (luggage, etc.) was in the bed of the
truck. The boat had the trolling motor (attached), life jackets,
rope, fishing poles, bait box, the anchor, fish finder, the lights for
night boating, fishing net - stuff like that. Mostly lighter stuff
except the anchor and trolling motor. Oh - and from the 2nd blow-out
on, it carried the three 3 old 14" tires (or what was left of
them). :-S

The sticker on the new tires said "capacity 1800 lb" - I assume that's
per tire, so a total weight, boat/motor/trailer, of 3600 lb.?




On Aug 23, 4:05 pm, dlzc wrote:
On Aug 23, 6:05 am, "M. Baker" wrote:

We just bought a 2001 Lund Mr. Pike a couple weeks
ago. We went on vacation last week, and of course
had to take the boat with us. About 40 miles from
home, the driver's side trailer tire blew out while on
the freeway going almost 70mph. Then, about 100
miles later, the OTHER trailer tire blew out - this
time we were only going 60mph, as we were
paranoid after the first blow-out.

There is another point here. Yes, the tires could be underinflated.
Yes they could be undersized for the weight of the boat and trailer (I
get about 1115 pounds for the boat). Yes, you could have picked up
nails in both tires, short enough to not (yet) affect the tires on the
towing vehicle, but long enough to lose tire pressure on the trailer
and blowout.

When you say "had to take the boat with you", did you stuff it full of
"bringalongs" like a U-haul? There are weight limits on tires...

David A. Smith

How long do boat trailer tires typically last?
 

On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:00:41 -0700, "M. Baker"
wrote:

The sticker on the new tires said "capacity 1800 lb" - I assume that's
per tire, so a total weight, boat/motor/trailer, of 3600 lb.?

Yes.

How long do boat trailer tires typically last?
 

M. Baker wrote:
We just bought a 2001 Lund Mr. Pike a couple weeks ago. We went on
vacation last week, and of course had to take the boat with us. About
40 miles from home, the driver's side trailer tire blew out while on
the freeway going almost 70mph. Then, about 100 miles later, the OTHER
trailer tire blew out - this time we were only going 60mph, as we were
paranoid after the first blow-out.

These were 14" tires that, yes, were original, so were 6 years old.
They looked good, though. No obvious wear or cracking. I ended up
having to get 15" tires from TSC as they didn't carry 14" ones. Being
that it was 6:00 on a Saturday in a small town, there wasn't really
any choice - either get the 15" tires or get nothing at that point.
The guy at TSC said the 15's are better tires anyway, and would fit,
which they did. He also told me that this happens quite often, and a
lot of people get new trailer tires ~every 4 years, whether they look
like they need replacing or not, as many times trailer tires will go
without any warning, like they did with us. He also told me that 14"
tires are not commonly carried. Another guy that this happened to had
14's and he had to get 15's to put on the trailer, which he changed
out in the TSC parking lot. So if all these boat trailer have 14"
tires, why don't retailers commonly carry them??


Alot depends on usage of course and having proper inflation. Trailers do
not have really good suspensions as compaired to cars. They are alot
stiffer. We ran the stock bias-plys on our cuddy for about 10 years. But
only took it on a long trip the after about 4 (we moved) But if memory
servers they was suppose to have alot higher pressure then typical car
tires. I think it was 60 psi. But I could be wrong on that.

Ours had 14 as well and when they were replaced the tire folks had to
find some at another location. That was in Atlanta so I could see how a
small town they might be harder.

Capt Jack R..