Boat Trailers

[joz]

Has anyone got the trailer book that Glen L did on trailer design which has useful info in it if you want to develop your own trailer. Just a thought

[Willallison]

Yes - the Titan brakes are a bit pricey - but definitely well worth the extra $ - buy cheap. buy twice as they say...

We tried electro-hydraulic brakes. They were better than the surge system that was on there before, but still not all that terrific. The biggest problem was that there was a delay in the time taken from when you put you foot on the brake to when the little electric motor pumped fluid up. It was from Carlisle ( http://www.carlislebrake.com/trailer..._actuators.php )
We've ditched that now and gone for a pneumatic-hydraulic system by Sensa-Brake ( http://www.sensabrake.com/page.cfm?id=1 ) We find it's a much better system.
They also make an interesting air-bellows suspension system which might bear further investigation. The old fashioned leaf-spring set-up that is almost universal here is not without its shortcomings...

[longliner45]

while we are on it,,I possibly had the best trailor ever ,,when I puchacsed my boat,,it was cradeld on a 45 ft shcool bus ,,too old for resoration ,but a good idea,,,suspention and mobility wise,longliner ,,I think I can get a picture in a few days,longliner

[Willallison]

Ah - yes - but the obvious question....how did you get it off?

[longliner45]

it was simple ,,go to longliner45 and see the boat , the boat was in a steel cradel made of I beams,,I cut the welds and jacked the boat up a few inches,,and pulled the bus out ,,,,with a wrecher truck for tractor trailors,,then I dug a ditch 3 ft deep ,were I figured the tires would be ,, then slid the trailor under it and welded the cradel to the trailor,,,took a few days but worked out like planed,,,,,,the trailor is made of a farm implament called a soil finisher machine? or something like that,and beat all hell I towed it to my dads farm 12 miles away with a half ton ford truck,,with a modified towing bumper,,Ill get you guys some pics ,,longliner

[marshmat]

Will, this "sens-a-brake" device- looks like electric over pneumatic over hydraulic- curious just how it works. Does the electric pump just maintain air pressure in the reservoir (similar to an air brake), then that air pressure is used to drive the hydraulic master cylinder? That would indeed sound like a much faster-acting system than electric-over-hydraulic....

[Willallison]

Originally Posted by marshmat

Will, this "sens-a-brake" device- looks like electric over pneumatic over hydraulic- curious just how it works. Does the electric pump just maintain air pressure in the reservoir (similar to an air brake), then that air pressure is used to drive the hydraulic master cylinder? That would indeed sound like a much faster-acting system than electric-over-hydraulic....

yep. The only downsides are that it takes about 1 minute for the pump to fill the resevoir (it's only a baby pump) and excessive pumping of the pedal in a short time could theoretically empty the resevoir before the pump can build up sufficient pressure to acuate the brakes - though we've certainly never encountered such a problem.

there youa re Will, I said I would do this but lost half the pics, I stuck the big Volvo in, this boat is nearly 30 feet, 4 tonnes, I built and designed an alloy high tensile trailker, air over hyd brakes, the beam was kept withing the confines of thje NZ transport regs of 10 years ago, the boat has not been touched since I built the hull, I,m putting a light wood interior in, using sarkiing on the roof, 9 mm, macrocarpa timber milled from the ownwers farm, he does heaps of gamefishing, I head home tomorrow, then to Europe and back to NZ to finish the boat in septemeber, I esp enjoy wiring , finishing electronics but I am sick of welding!! I pulled my welders out of storage and after seven years the rats had nested in the feeders and chewed the transformer wires, pity these machines cost me 15k new in 86