trailer concerns and questions

A

anchorout

New member
I recently purchased a CD 22 in Florida and trailed it to SW Louisiana. It is a 3400 lb capacity single axel trailer. I repacked the bearings and had no problems.

I have questions. CD says their 22 Cruiser tow weight is 4300 lbs. Add water and gear and kicker, etc and you got to be pushing 4600lbs or more. Now even subtracting 300 lbs tongue weight, the axel is supporting over 4000lbs. Same with the tires, rated 1750 lbs each. Is this a tragedy in the making?

I see that many of you have single axel trailers and love them. Am I paranoid, are are they really after me?
 
I think your estimate of 4500# all up is a pretty good one. I weighed my boat and (tandem) trailer a couple of months ago, and if I include the tongue weight that's almost exactly what it came out to. I did not have fuel or water aboard, but had a lot of tools, dive gear, etc. that I was transporting, so my guess is it was about the same as it would be semi-loaded for cruising.

I can't speak to your trailer specifically, but if it says the capacity is 3400#, then I guess that's the weight of just the boat (minus the trailer). So that gives you a little bit back. I suppose you could weigh the trailer empty to find out exactly how much. If it weighed, say 800#, and you had tongue weight of 300#, that subtracted from 4500# would give you around 3400# on the trailer. Not exactly an ample feeling, but maybe okay?

In comparison, my tandem has a net capacity of 4410#, a gross capacity of 5260#, and a stated trailer weight of 850# (I'd guess it weighs more, but probably that's still in the ballpark).

Not having seen the trailer or knowing the exact numbers, my guess is that if I were trailering infrequently/short-distance/not -loaded-for-bear I would be okay with it, but that I would want to weigh it/boat just to see where I stood. If I were doing lots of trailering/cross-country/loaded up I would probably want something with a bit more cushion.

Another thing to check is tire load range, just to be sure you are good there. You probably have 15" tires, which I bet gives you a good selection for replacing them (as compared to smaller ones).

Congrats on your new-to-you 22 :thup

Sunbeam

PS: I should add that I'm no trailer expert; just figured I'd add some numbers and thoughts based on my trailer, as data points.
 
I have a C Dory 22--don't have the scale weight right here, but the trailer was about 900 lbs, and the trailer is rated to carry 4350#. Each of the tires is rated to carry 2550=5100 lbs. I think this is marginal--but adequate. We have towed the boat and trailer a total of over 9,000 miles with no problems.

I do have 15" rims (tires), however my 18' Caracal(Center Console Catamaran) is rated about the same as you trailer, and it has 14" rims (tires).

My guess is that you will be fine if you are taking short trips and don't go on long trips. If you go on long trips: Make sure that your tires are no more than 5 years old (that holds for all trailers), irregardless of rating.
Make sure that your hubs are well greased and no water in the grease.
Put the max pressure when the tires are cold is in the tires. Check the temperature of the tires with a laser thermometer every 2 hours when on the road.

It is possible that your bolt pattern might allow larger rim tires (such as going from 14 to 15"--but the rest of the trailer is may not be engineered for this (axle, frame and coupler)
 
I would wonder what you are towing it with and does the trailer have brakes?Tandem axle trailers seem to ride better and with disk brakes add to your stopping power. They also have a couple extra tires that add a margin of safety. You can touch your hubs with you fingers. Too hot to touch would lead me to think something is wrong unless it's a very hot day or one hub is in the sun and the other is in the shade. Same thing with tires laying your hand on each one can say a lot.
D.D.
 
This topic is good timing, yesterday we towed the boat back from Yellowstone for the season. We have a 1998 Load Rite Single Axle trailer under the 22. The boat is lightly loaded, fuel tanks are down to 1/4, and there is about 3 gallons of water on board and little gear. Both axles were reading around 125 deg after 3 hours of towing on a cloudy 85 deg day. The 15" tires were about the same temp as the hubs. It has reliable sure lube hubs/grease system. I am not sure what is hot and what is a normal temperature range.

Thanks,
Kevin
 
125 does not sound particularly hot. I talked to the guys at Kodiak brakes support a few days ago and they told me 200 was not enough to hurt the bearings and that some heavier RV's run at 300 plus. Our oil bath hubs typically run at 100-110 over pretty long trips but I think oil bath tend to run a little cooler.
 
I'm also not sure what "normal" is, or even if it would be the same for various rigs. I can say that when my trailer hubs/brakes were messed up (ahem, after I paid the pros to do them since I was not experienced) they were running around 170º and even up to 200º and a bit over (as I limped along slowly repairing each mistake on the road and thinking that was "the" mistake...).

Once I got things sorted out properly (numerous states later), they started running at around 100º and have stayed that way ever since. In cooler ambient temps they'll be at around 90º or so; when it heats up outside they'll get up to around 105º. This has remained consistent over many thousands of miles since I found all of the problems and fixed them. Now if they go up again, I know it's not right for my particular setup.

Again though, I don't know if the proper "normal" would be somewhat different for different trailers/wheels/bearings. In my case 200º (and even 180º) was definitely caused by some problems.

Sunbeam
 
Anchorout,

I'd be concerned about the load rating of those tires. You mention a load rating of 1750#, ea. This is 3500# total with an axle rating of 3400#. A rule of thumb is a 20% margin of the tire capacity over the axle capacity. In addition, you're hauling 4500# + on that trailer. The trailer can take it, that's probably the spring ratings, but those tires are suspect.

Guessing, since you didn't mention it, you have 205/75-14 Load Range C tires. If you went to a Load Range D, same size, the tire capacity goes to 2270# which is at least equal to the load. If you are willing to go to a 15" rim, you certainly can get higher Load Ratings and have some margin.

In my years of abusing trailers, I've never had a trailer structural failure, but a lot of tire failures. The latest ones I cured by going from a Load Range D to Load Range E. The total tire capacity is now 14000# for a load of 8500#, but it stopped the tread separation.

Boris
 
I do understand the tire ratings, but I am more concerned with an axel and bearings rated 3500 lbs carrying a 4500 lb payload. This is the original trailer that came with the boat. Doesn't seem right to me.
 
Most likely the bearings and axle will be OK. If it is the original trailer and the boat is 14 years old--you have to assume that it has been trailered a fair amount. If the frame seems good--no rust, no bowing, you might consider going with a heavier duty axle and 15" tires. Next time you re-pack the bearings you can measure the diameter of the axel spindle, and that will give us some idea of what the bearings will handle. As long as they stay cool, and you don't run at excessive speeds, it will probably be ok. If you want to do a lot of trailering, especially on I 12 over the causeway...with all of those expansion joints--can be hard on trailers.
 
I have a 2007 CD 22 Cruiser with 115 hp Merc 4 stroke and 6 hp Tohatsu 4 stroke kicker. With full fuel tanks and water tank and large cooler in cockpit full of food for a week on my aluminum tandem axle Ez loader bunk trailer, I weighed in at a CAT scale at 4600 lbs at the trailer axles. Past tongue wright checks came to about 400 lbs.
 
I have lived in Louisiana for many tears. I 12 is on e of the BETTER roads. Seriously, thanks for all the advice. You have given me many things to think about.
 
The reason I picked out I 12 (for about 20 years we have made 2 to 6 trips thru Louisiana on our way to the West coast and back). Some vehicle and trailer axle spacing is such that the spacing of the expansion joints of the concrete road over the causeway is built sot creates a resonance and severely jerking ride--some of our C Dorys have fit in that category.
 
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