Owning a house right on the water with a dock and a boat lift is definitely an awesome dream. If this is your reality allow me to congratulate you. For me, trailering my boat back and forward to the water every time is the only way, and I’m completely fine with it.
The thing is that often we don’t give much attention to the trailer itself, our boats spend as much time on a trailer if not more as it does on the water. Having the right trailer and taking good care of it is just as important as taking care of your boat. With that, I have taken the liberty of creating the ultimate guide to boat trailers you never thought you would need.
Boat Trailer Maintenance
Maintenance is very important on a boat trailer. Keep in mind that a boat trailer is a resource used to transport your precious boat to the water. That trailer has a critical and tough job, but frequently it is neglected. We usually spend plenty of time cleaning and maintaining our boats after a day or weekend on the water, but rarely any on the trailer.
Remember that every time you take your boat to the water, you have to submerge the boat trailer entirely in the water to get the boat off. Once the boat is in the water, the trailer usually sits all day under the sun on a parking lot.
Boat trailers are usually made from galvanized metal or aluminum. Most of its components are metal and likely to corrode over time, especially if submerged in water.
It is essential to stay on top of the trailer components and maintain them as needed to avoid any unwanted incidents that can possibly ruin your weekend.
I usually spend 15 to 20 minutes cleaning and lubricating my trailer after each trip to the boat ramp. It’s really not that hard and it gives me confidence that my trailer will be in optimal conditions when I need it.
here is a list of components you should check and maintain periodically:
- Tongue
- Jack
- Spare tire
- Fenders
- Tires and rims
- Hub kit
- Guides
- Brakes
- Axel, springs and u-bolts
- Bow stop
- Winch
- Safety chains
- Trailer frame
- lights
Make sure to do a good inspection on all parts and keep then clean and lubricated If they need to be. A well maintained trailer can last for a long time but a neglected trailer can leave you stranded and possibly damage your boat.
Does My Boat Trailer Need Brakes?
If this is your first time having to tow a boat trailer, you might be one of the people who ask this. I mean, does it matter if your trailer has its breaks or not? You are just going to tow it nonetheless, besides I’m pretty sure the vehicle you are going to use to pull it has its breaks. The short answer is yes, the long answer is it depends.
Different states have different regulations with regards to requiring boat trailers to have breaks. For example, in Florida, according to The 2018 Florida Statutes Title XXIII Chapter 316 Section 261 by Online Sunshine, every motor vehicle, trailer, semi-trailer, and pole trailer, and any combination of such vehicles shall be equipped with adequate service and parking brakes. This rule applies to trailers that exceed the 3000 lbs gross weight limit, which is mostly similar to other state regulations as well.
If your trailer does not exceed the probational weight limit, it may not be required to have a separate brake system. Provided that the total weight on it carries, including the wheels together with any additional trailers, if there is any, shall not exceed 40 percent of the gross weight of the towing vehicle when connected to it. Automatic trailer brake application upon breakaway is also required, which should be applied automatically, and promptly should the incident ever occur and shall remain applied for at least 15 minutes subsequently.
Though having separate breaks for your boat trailer may not be required, I would still advise on having one regardless. Carelessness on the road does not only endanger yourself and your passengers but endangers your fellow motorist as well.
Does My Boat Trailer Need A Title?
Just like the requirement of a boat trailer to have brakes, each state tends to have different regulations with regards to titling boat trailers. Some require the owners to get one while the others do not, provided that they met the conditions stated by the State Laws that address this concern. You might also find some states that do not require your boat trailers to have titles altogether. For example, in the state of Georgia, boat trailers are not required to be titled while it is a must in Missouri.
In the state of Florida, most vehicles, mobile homes, and other vessels should have a title except mopeds, motorized bicycles, and trailers whose weight does not exceed 2,000 pounds. You shall also be required to apply for a registration and a title under your name when you purchase such vehicles or vessels, bring them from another state or the ownership changes.
The state also allows the vehicle, mobile home, or any other form of transportation vessel to have two or more owners indicated in the title. Owners indicated in the title can be joined by either an “and” or an “or.”
Title owners joined with the conjunction “and” means the owners share equal responsibility on the said vehicle and shall both be present or give consent through signatures to transfer the said vehicle out of their names.
Using the conjunction “or,” on the other hand, indicates that either one of the owners can take sole responsibility for the vehicle and transfer the title ownership to another without needing the consent from the other owners. However, owners joined by “or” on the title cannot remove the name of other owners from the title, they must reapply for a new title to do so.
Here are some of what you would need to acquire a title for your boat trailers if you are living in Florida.
- Proof of identity
- Proof of ownership
- Proof of the required insurance coverage.
- Complete application form
- Payment for the applicable taxes and other fees.
Does My Boat Trailer Need A License Plate?
Titling and registering any vehicle is mostly a coupled requirement in any state. As one of the foremost requirement to have your vessel titled is to have it registered first, meaning that you need to have a license plate for your boat trailers as well.
In North Dakota, all trailers, semi-trailers, and the likes are to be titled and licensed except for those that are not for hire or commercially used and has a gross weight of 1,500 pounds or less. To still legally use trailers that are not required registrations outside of the state, you can request for it to have an identification plate instead. Just like in North Dakota, the state of Florida also requires boat trailers to have a license plate, and if it is also required a title, titling must come first.
If you came from a state where you are not required to have your boat trailer registered and bring to a state that requires it to have a license plate, some state might honor the law from where you have originated. In some cases, if you are to spend a significant amount of time in a state that obliged trailers to be titled and registered, they may require you to do it as well.
Does My Boat Trailer Need Lights?
In the state of Florida, the requirement is to equip every motor vehicle, trailer, semi-trailer, and pole trailer, and any other vehicle towed by another with at least two taillamps, stop lamp, and turn signals. The taillamps, when lighted, shall emit a red light visible from a distance of 1,000 feet and shall never be obscured by anything from the trailing vehicle’s view. If it is a combination of vehicles, only the taillamp of the rearmost vehicle is required to be visible from the stated distance. Boat trailers or just about any trailer is also required to have two reflectors, one on each side. The rule, as mentioned earlier, is under Title XXIII Motor Vehicles Chapter 316 State Uniform Traffic Control section 217.
This rule is also being implemented in other states as well. Aside from the lights required like the taillamps, stop lights, turn indicator, and reflectors, you may also be obliged to equip your trailer with side or front-side marker lights depending on the width of your trailer. Typically, if your trailer is less than 6 feet long, you do not need to have the front-side light marker.
Brakes Systems
Adding trailer brakes are required by law for those that go above the probational weight limit that may vary from different states. But whether you are required by the law to equip your boat trailer with a separate braking system for it or not, it is still best to have them, especially the emergency breakaway system. This emergency breakaway system required under the Federal law shall automatically apply once the trailer detached from the towing vehicle.
There are two types of braking systems we can equip to our boat trailer; surge breaks or electric breaks. But which one should we choose?
Boat trailer electric brakes
Gone are the days where most boat trailer manufacturers are hesitant to use electric brakes because of the corrosion and insulation concerns. Afraid that this kind of braking system does not have the best wiring water or insulation protection. But due to years of innovation and improvements, more manufacturers and boat trailer owners prefer electric brakes over other options.
Electric braking systems engage upon applying pressure to the towing vehicles brake pedal that requires an electric brake controller in the car. Just as the brake lights lit up once you step on the brake pedal, those voltages are simultaneously distributed to the trailer’s electromagnetic actuators as well, triggering the electric brakes. For everyone’s safety, we should always make sure that all of our brakes are working before we hit the road. Check not only if your car brakes are properly working but also your trailer’s brake as well. You should be able to feel your boat trailer’s brake engaging when you test your car brakes as well.
Keep in mind that when your trailer uses an electric braking system, the trailer’s braking system engages first, making it safer for sudden stops or downhill drives. Though opting for an electric braking system for a boat trailer may still be generally regarded as a dubious choice. Especially when you think that the trailer may be submerged to water; water and electricity certainly usually leads to disastrous results, but we have a more innovative solution to prevent this now.
New electric-over-hydraulic brakes intrigued the market today. The electric-over-hydraulic has the same hydraulic brake lines going to it as the purely hydraulic system and is activated whenever the towing vehicle brakes are applied. This brake system is available for both disc and drum brakes. One advantage electric-over-hydraulic brakes have from other braking systems is how effortless it is to understand, install, and adjust.
Boat Trailer Surge Brakes
In contrast to the often doubted electric braking system tainted by the worrisome concerns over the technology is the more traditional surge brakes. The surge braking system does not need any electrical or hydraulic connection from the towing car. It is self-contained within the trailer.
Contrary to that of an electric braking system, surge brakes are a passive braking system. What does it mean, you might say? While electric brakes connected to the towing vehicles brakes engage first and triggers upon stepping on the brake pedal, surge brakes, on the other hand, uses the momentum of the trailer to trigger the braking system. They are therefore engaging more after you have already hit the brakes.
How surge brakes work is, as the boat trailer slows down, the more it pushed against the hitch and presses on the hydraulic cylinder putting more pressure on the brakes and engaging it. One downside of having a surge brake instead of the electric one is that you may find it more challenging to control or stop the trailer if it sways since you are not capable of separately actuating the boat trailer’s brake.
Why Does My Boat Trailer Lock Up In Reverse?
So you are just about ready to take your beloved boat out in the water for an enjoyable bonding with the family. Still, just as you are about to back up boat trailer connected to your car in the drive, it suddenly would not move. It locks up on reverse. You might think that experiencing some lock up on your boat trailer on the reverse is just plain silly, but it happens more times than we think. Faulty connections or flawed mechanism, it varies from one boat trailer to the other. The kind of braking system you have installed on your boat trailer also plays a significant part in this.
In the case of when you have a surge brake as the braking system for your boat trailer, the very best thing about surge brakes can also be the most notorious culprit for the lock-up you experience whenever you push it in reverse. Since surge brakes actuate whenever you apply pressure on the trailer, which pushes the brakes to engage, this same principle would apply as you back it up in reverse. For instance, you are backing up your boat trailer some uneven surface or on the non-concrete road, say a muddy dirt road that makes your engine to work in overdrive to be able to move an inch. The pressure that the towing car puts on the trailer as you push it on reverse only propels the surge brakes to engage more, thus causing the lock-up. Use a free backing braking system that allows the brakes to disengage when you reverse to make it easier for you. Another popular method used by most trailer uses mechanical pins that prevent the surge brake actuator from compressing and engage the brakes. Keep in mind that you only want to use this when backing up; if the pin is left like this, the brakes would not work, which may cause an unwanted accident on the road.
Another reason you might encounter when using surge brakes that suddenly lock up is there may be some mechanical or hydraulic problem causing the brake fluid pressure not to be able to release. If this occurs, the lock-up may not only be caused by you reversing while towing the boat trailer; your brake might get stuck and not be able to release. To identify the problem, you can check there is any clogging that prevents the brake fluid from returning to the reservoir. Since boat trailers often are exposed to a little more harsher environment and damaging substances, especially when submerged to freshwater and saltwater, the braking system can quickly accumulate anything that can clog it. If you often submit your boat trailer to these conditions, you might want to equip your brakes with a flush kit to help prevent clogging. If there are no blockers, check if there are any parts mechanically jammed or stuck preventing the brake release.
With electric brakes, there may be more reasons than one if you encounter a lock up as you go reverse. Check if the brakes are adequately grounded as an initial step to troubleshoot the problem. You can also double check is the controllers are correctly working. Maybe something is preventing the voltages from reaching the braking system and engaging the trailer’s brake; faulty wiring maybe? Perhaps some wires got detached or got cut.
Electrical problems can easily be the culprit of the lock-up. The bad ground connection may be the reason for your brakes to act like this, check the primary ground wire and the brake magnet ground. Make sure no rust, dirt, corrosion, or and dents on the wirings that may cause any problem on the braking system. Check the trailer as well for any bad grounded wires. Are they properly attached to a clean, and bare metal surface? Check if there is no damage to the main power wires as well. Test the main power wires if they are working correctly. Inspect the wirings thoroughly and make sure no short-circuit happened. A shorted-our wire would prevent your electric brakes from functioning properly.
If you see that there are no faulty wiring and bad ground wires on both the car and the boat trailer, you might want to test the controllers if everything is working as it should. Make sure that positive signals come across upon manual override and that there is no power conducted upon release of the override. If manually overriding the brake controller produce no power, or there is a sudden surge when you release the manual override, then your controller might be broken beyond repair and causes the lock-up. It will be hard to be sure just what really causes the problem with the braking system, especially if you are not well versed in the mechanics of it all, so you may be better off going to the experts to be sure.
