Jump to content

Welcome to TheMalibuCrew!

As a guest, you are welcome to poke around and view the majority of the content that we have to offer, but in order to post, search, contact members, and get full use out of the website you will need to Register for an Account. It's free and it's easy, so don't hesitate to join the TheMalibuCrew Family today!

Boatmate Trailer - Rust in Crossmember


Punyelroo

Recommended Posts

Hi,

Got a Boatmate trailer with rust starting in the lowpoint in the middle of the crossmember as the water just sits there and has nowhere to drain.

Was thinking of drilling say a 6mm hole at the lowpoint so it can drain - there is already a similar drain hole in the underside. 

Just wondered if anyone had any comments before I do it- can imagine it would compromise the structural integrity at all?


https://photos.app.goo.gl/we8d2PmbjYaFppLb9

Cheers


Andrew

 

Link to comment

Mine does the same thing as the mid drain is directly over the rear crossmember and it fills it with water whenever I pull the plug. Thought about drilling a hole but didn't want to introduce water to the inside of the tube. I just remove the rust and repaint as necessary.

Link to comment

I didn’t want to introduce water to the inside of the tube either but given there is already a drain hole in the underside of the tube I figured it wouldn’t have any real impact ... it’s not like the tube is currently sealed and I’d compromise that by drilling a hole ..

thanks for the feedback..

Link to comment

I wouldn't drill hole on the top. If you were to the cross member would fill completely with water as there would be a place for the air to escape to when backed underwater. 

Link to comment
4 hours ago, Cole2001 said:

I wouldn't drill hole on the top. If you were to the cross member would fill completely with water as there would be a place for the air to escape to when backed underwater. 

Yea - OK - fair point 

OK - I'll just clean it up and respray it ...

 

Link to comment

From memory Punyelroo is from NT? down under in AU, a local so to speak like myself from QLD.

A few thoughts as I rebuilt my Boatmate trailer through rust.

Is your trailer Galvanised or just painted over raw steel?

Look for the tell tail signs of large drain holes at the bottom of every section to allow the Galv to drain when dipper as there can not ber any enclosed box sections to galvanise the trailer.

If the trailer is Galvanised, it shouldn't rust as shown from water sitting.

If it is not galvanised, look for the big cut outs at the rear of the side rails, the underside & feel for large rust flakes, this wil be the trailer rusing from the inside out.

Next pop the front clearence lights as these are about where the water level usually sits when lauching the boat. The steel starts at 3mm thick, mine was down to just over 1.5mm as those large flakes mentioned above, were as big as the palm of my hand.

If the trailer is not galvanized & the curved drawbar sections where the clearence lights are showing signs of flaking from the inside, start budgeting for a rebuild or replacement as yuo cant sand blast the inside of these sections to clean the rust.

There was a post back in 2012 in wake.com.au where the curved sections of the draw bar failed, both sides cracked & dug into the road while towing, only thing that held the boat to the car was the boat bow hook winched to the winch post

http://www.wake.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=34404&start=40 

Link to comment

That's not bad, yet. Clean it up really well, and coat it with a rust preventative coating or use something like Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. Mine got really bad and ended up drilling the hole down through, more to check the integrity of the metal then cleaned it and recoated. I coated the inside with Fluid Film.

Link to comment

I clean off and coat many areas under my Boatmate trailer each Fall (and also at some point in middle of summer) using fluid film as well and it seems to help prevent things from getting any worse. Fluid Film stays on quite well even after dunking the trailer many times in summer. I don't have any rust yet but am starting to get some discoloration since like your picture shows, I have the same water collection points in my cross bar members and had been trying to think of a good way to alleviate that. Since I trailer, much of the water falls out taking the boat home from the launch and this starting this Spring, when I get home I spray off the hull and trailer with hose when I get back home and then use a blower to get the water off before wiping down. Since I keep boat/trailer waxed well, the blower removes all the residual water pretty easily and the bonus is I have zero water sitting in those catch points when I park it in the garage.

I thot about using the 3M plastic film there initially like mentioned above, but on trailer since the water sits in that area, was worried that water/moisture would end up get trapped between the trailer paint and the plastic film since being curved I doubt a perfect seal is achievable and potentially that could cause more issues down the road since it would be harder for the moisture to evaporate, so I decided to forgo that. I did order matching paint from Boatmate (with VIN#, they will color match the paint, my trailer is Black & Blue to match boat) and I plan to go thru trailer when I get time, clean up any areas with light rust or road rash dings, scuff and re-paint those small areas after using a good metal primer to help prevent future issues

Link to comment
  • 1 year later...
On 5/2/2019 at 11:56 AM, Infinitysurf said:

I clean off and coat many areas under my Boatmate trailer each Fall (and also at some point in middle of summer) using fluid film as well and it seems to help prevent things from getting any worse. Fluid Film stays on quite well even after dunking the trailer many times in summer. I don't have any rust yet but am starting to get some discoloration since like your picture shows, I have the same water collection points in my cross bar members and had been trying to think of a good way to alleviate that. Since I trailer, much of the water falls out taking the boat home from the launch and this starting this Spring, when I get home I spray off the hull and trailer with hose when I get back home and then use a blower to get the water off before wiping down. Since I keep boat/trailer waxed well, the blower removes all the residual water pretty easily and the bonus is I have zero water sitting in those catch points when I park it in the garage.

I thot about using the 3M plastic film there initially like mentioned above, but on trailer since the water sits in that area, was worried that water/moisture would end up get trapped between the trailer paint and the plastic film since being curved I doubt a perfect seal is achievable and potentially that could cause more issues down the road since it would be harder for the moisture to evaporate, so I decided to forgo that. I did order matching paint from Boatmate (with VIN#, they will color match the paint, my trailer is Black & Blue to match boat) and I plan to go thru trailer when I get time, clean up any areas with light rust or road rash dings, scuff and re-paint those small areas after using a good metal primer to help prevent future issues

 

On 4/25/2019 at 8:03 AM, Falko said:

That's not bad, yet. Clean it up really well, and coat it with a rust preventative coating or use something like Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. Mine got really bad and ended up drilling the hole down through, more to check the integrity of the metal then cleaned it and recoated. I coated the inside with Fluid Film.

Do y'all use the spray or the paint-on versions of fluid film? I see a lot of rust already. Trying to stop it from spreading. 

 

 

Edited by Raleigh
Link to comment

I just have the fluid film rattle cans, I also use it in my engine area to prevent corrosion.

Boatmate sells matching paint...last year when I installed new Gatorbak bunks, I cleaned up my support members and re-painted them to match. On mine the corrosion was starting there (due to wet carpet on bunks)....and under the trailer at some connection points

Link to comment

I have some spray cans for touch up but use the applicator gun for most things. But I coat the bottom of the cars before every winter, something you don't have to do in NC. So a couple of spray cans would go pretty far for you.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...