Electric Brakes

colbysmith · Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2015 11:31 pm Post subject:

Just wanted to post an update, as I pulled the wheels and hubs today to do some preventative maintenance. This is after the fourth full season on these brakes, over 20,000 miles (including two round trips over the Rockies) and many dunkings in inland lakes and waters. This is a photo of one of my four electric brakes on my boat trailer. All the other brakes look pretty much the same. Hubs/drums are still in good shape too, as you can see in my photo album. These are 10" Dexter Electric brakes. Colby

P.s. This summer was the second year I pulled the Midnight Flyer over the Rockies with my 2010 Highlander. As last year, it did a great job, however I did run into one problem with the transmission oil overheating. That was only after an inconsiderate trucker pulled out in front of me for the third time, and my 3rd time of accelerating back to speed on an 7% grade above 7000 ft. elevation! :angry

Marco Flamingo · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:22 am Post subject:

No matter what type of brakes, that picture makes me a little bit envious of those who launch in fresh water. Just a little bit. That picture shows what my brakes would look like after one launch in salt. Those little thin clips, and maybe even the springs, would be gone in a year.

I had to back my Tacoma deep a couple of times because of the tide, then I gave it an immediate rinse at the house (as best I could). After a few years I had $1,400 in brake work and the first thing the mechanic asked is whether the brakes had been in salt. Brakes just aren't set up to flush. So I started using my Polaris Ranger. Same thing. Can't really flush the brakes. Had a catastrophic brake failure where my wife actually jumped out when they failed on a hill. No injuries.

The closest freshwater launch is 15 miles away and I suspect that the only way to really flush the trailer and brakes is to take it there for a dip. Back and forth a few times. Otherwise, a little salty water never actually dries off. It sucks moisture out of the air and continues to corrode even when sitting in the garage for the winter.

Kinda wish I had brakes for my 16' and kinda glad that I don't.

Mark

hardee · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:37 am Post subject:

I see tons of guys, launch in Salt water and then park the trailer. No rinse. Probably at least 9 out of 10. I see probably half that many retrieve out of salt water and just leave for home.

My boat and trailer get a thorough wash after ever SW dunk. Hubs and brake check every year. All good.

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

Molly Brown · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 11:05 am Post subject:

Please expound on how you flush after launch? I've never been to a public ramp where fresh water is available, certainly not for a trailer wash. I've always assumed that you carry a tank of fresh water in the truck or have some kind of portable sprayer. Even so, I can't see how you could carry enough water for a thorough flush. I always rinse on returning from the ramp but that doesn't help with the launch. I've wondered about this for years but have never asked the question. I can confirm that I have never seen anybody flushing brakes at the ramp before. Unfortunately we only lauch in fresh water once a year for the St.John's gathering.

Hoping your response isn't so obvious that I look stupid Smile

Salmon Fisher · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 11:21 am Post subject:

I launch in the salt and after putting on new hubs and brakes when I bought the 25 last year vowed to flush each time after launch and retrieval.

I bought a 1 gallon garden sprayer tank at Home Depot and put Salt Away and water in it. I pump it and spray hubs and brakes after each dunk and after a year, a little surface corrosion, but not bad. Guess I need to post a pic. Should have taken a pic when new and then another now, 1 year later.

This should extend the life of everything, it only takes a couple of minutes and I think is worth it.

Molly Brown · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 11:32 am Post subject:

I could and probably will do something like that from here on out. Thanks!

rogerbum · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 2:01 pm Post subject:

Molly Brown · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 2:17 pm Post subject:

Interesting. I hear ya'll don't do fixed docks as much either. Bigger tidal range for one, but even here with 2' on average, I'm always looking for the floating dock.

ghone · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 6:00 pm Post subject:

We've found many salt water ramps with no water nearby so we use the portable shower aboard, a converted garden sprayer
It's only a gallon but can rinse pretty well, when we get back to town we find a car wash and do a good rinse
Having gone to surge disc last year we are very happy, we'll pull the wheels in the spring prior to the season to check, my mechanic said leave it a couple years with these new hubs...but I can't
Gotta look

Will-C · Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 9:15 am Post subject: Electric Brakes

Colby,
I see that your first post states (Nov 5th,2014) that you have had the electric brakes for three years and had 7 or 8 thousand miles on them. I guess that is an average of about 2600 miles per year. Not quite a year later you state you have 20 thousand miles. Last year you really must have done some traveling to rack up the 12000 miles. Since drum brakes are more or less outdated brake technology. (Even bicycles are switching to disc brakes). Your love of electric brakes is more about them being cheaper than them offering better performance. Disc brakes are just plain better all around than drum brakes no matter whether it's surge or EOH. Drum brakes are better than no brakes at all. Since this is a forum for opinions you have yours and this is mine. I think the majority of new boat trailers come with disc brakes. I wonder why?
D.D.

colbysmith · Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 10:38 am Post subject:

Hi Dave, I may have overstated the mileage. I'll let you do the math. Last year I took the boat/trailer out to the San Juans. This year I took it out to Lake Powell, and then up to the North Channel. (I live just outside of Madison Wi). It's made numerous trips to Door County & Lake Michigan, been to Lake Cumberland, St. Louis, Dubuque several times, Northern Wisconsin a few times. And countless local trips. All on that same set of brakes seen in the pictures. As for technology. Won't argue your point on being cheap. I can replace the entire brake plate assembly (everything you see in one photo, not including the drum) for $40. Times 4 is a set of brakes for a tandem axle trailer under $200. (That's for Dexters. I can do cheaper at Amazon, but then you get what you pay for...) I didn't price drums, but I believe they are around $30. How much are discs again? And SS? As for safety, the purely electric have worked flawlessly for me, not only on this boat trailer, but two other boats/trailers I owned in the past. True, I'm a fresh water sailor, so I'm just going to leave it at that. Now if I had a lot more money, I probably wouldn't own the CD-22, and chances are what I would own, wouldn't need a trailer! Mr. Green

JMHO!

My point is that there is nothing wrong with all electric brakes, if maintained, (at least in fresh water use) and they are the least expensive of brakes available. I also agree stainless steel discs are great. But at an added expense, that may or may not be justified. I'm simply sharing my experience with the electric brakes, for anyone else that might be considering them as an cost effective alternative to the more expensive EOH or Disc. And from what I hear, it sounds like the EOH are showing to have occasional issue with the pump. Either EOH or Electric will always be superior to surge! A perfect brake to me would be electric disc! (Why not, we have electric trim tabs?) Colby
P.s. Kind of like our boats. There are other boats out there that offer much better performance than the 22' C-Dory. But we like our boats because they work well (very well) for how we intend to use them. I look at this argument on brakes the same way. For me, the all electric brakes work well (very well) for how I use them! Razz

hardee · Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2015 12:18 am Post subject:

Molly Brown · Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2015 9:28 am Post subject:

Honest.....I don't know of a single ramp in Florida that allows washdowns and certainly not engine flushes. Consider yourselves very lucky.

journey on · Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2015 2:43 pm Post subject:

I carry a small sprayer containing a small mixture of Salt Away. After launching Journey On, I spray the disks and calipers, because it sits for a couple of days. I spray again after hauling Journey On out. I think it really helps. Wash with fresh water after I get home. That way I really don't care if there is a fresh water washdown.

It's easy to spray the brakes with the boat off and difficult with the boat on, but perseverance pays off. Also, don't talk to anyone whilst doing the spray. Some guy wanted to talk about C-Dorys, I had my cap off on the trailer and forgot to retrieve it before leaving. That conversation cost $25.

Hope to launch in fresh water this week at lake Powell. the trailer, boat and motor probably aren't going to know what to do without salt in the water.

Boris

colbysmith · Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 10:57 pm Post subject:

Pulled my electric brakes off the boat trailer today, as I decided to replace them with new. I also wanted to add a fresh water rinse system, and will start another thread on that shortly. It's now been 5 seasons on these brakes, and as you can see, they are actually still going strong. Really didn't need to replace them, but already had the new ones.

This first photo is of the rear right hand brake.

The next photo shows the drum condition.

And the last photo is just a shot of all 4 brakes after trailer removal.