Trailer

[jd8181]

When I bought my 2001 Wakersetter XLX it came with an Elete Trailer. There is a lot of rust and bubbling on the trailer. Would I be better to try and fix this trailer and look for a new one? I know any VLX from 96-04 and VRide's from 05-08 will work because of the SV23 hull. If anyone has a trailer that would work please let me know too. 

[justgary]

On 5/2/2022 at 8:28 AM, jd8181 said:

When I bought my 2001 Wakersetter XLX it came with an Elete Trailer. There is a lot of rust and bubbling on the trailer. Would I be better to try and fix this trailer and look for a new one? I know any VLX from 96-04 and VRide's from 05-08 will work because of the SV23 hull. If anyone has a trailer that would work please let me know too. 

<RANT> I personally value any painted boat trailer only by the tires on it.  Yes, I have to assume that any trailer near me has been in salt water, but even the air here is enough to rust painted metal.  My galvanized boat trailers are about 40 years old and still look the same.  I hate that manufacturers still just paint trailers, and that people still buy them that way.  Galvanizing costs a few hundred bucks on a new trailer. </RANT>

Take a screwdriver and aggressively chip at the rusty places.  If it is just surface scale, you can probably sand blast it and paint it again.  If the screwdriver goes through or you find a soft place, you are better off with a new trailer.  I have patched them up before to get a few more years, but the end result is always the same. 

I finally bought an aluminum trailer for the Malibu a few years back.  It has stainless hardware, so I'm expecting only hub and tire maintenance for quite a long time.

[jd8181]

12 minutes ago, justgary said:

<RANT> I personally value any painted boat trailer only by the tires on it.  Yes, I have to assume that any trailer near me has been in salt water, but even the air here is enough to rust painted metal.  My galvanized boat trailers are about 40 years old and still look the same.  I hate that manufacturers still just paint trailers, and that people still buy them that way.  Galvanizing costs a few hundred bucks on a new trailer. </RANT>

Take a screwdriver and aggressively chip at the rusty places.  If it is just surface scale, you can probably sand blast it and paint it again.  If the screwdriver goes through or you find a soft place, you are better off with a new trailer.  I have patched them up before to get a few more years, but the end result is always the same. 

I finally bought an aluminum trailer for the Malibu a few years back.  It has stainless hardware, so I'm expecting only hub and tire maintenance for quite a long time.

Thanks, I'm sure on a few places a screw driver would go through it. What brand of aluminum trailer did you get? any pictures? 

[justgary]

My patch job, welded behind the original frame member:

The aluminum trailer (a Loadmaster out of Tampa):

I did have to add the prop cage myself, but that was OK with me.  I'd rather build to fit than have to fix a mis-measured crazy thing the factory did.

Edited May 3, 2022 by justgary