Boat Trailers

Bunk trailers, roller trailers and jet ski frames:

what separates them is what the hull rests on. A bunk trailer carries the boat on carpeted boards running along the hull, which spreads the weight evenly and costs less, but it needs a ramp deep enough to float the boat on and off. A roller trailer lets the hull roll on and off in shallower water and suits heavier boats on poor ramps but has more moving parts to seize when salt is left on them. Jet ski trailers are short and light, built for one craft or a pair side by side, and they go with the machines in personal watercrafts. Most fibreglass skiffs and center consoles from power boats ride on bunks.

Matching the trailer to the hull it will carry:

start with the boat’s length and its weight with engine, fuel and gear aboard, and look for a trailer whose rated capacity sits comfortably above that. A hull that overhangs the back or rests on the bunks in the wrong places will crack or bend out of shape over time. A single axle is enough for a skiff or a jet ski; a heavier boat wants tandem axles. For salt water, hot-dip galvanized steel or aluminium are the only sensible choices. An open C-channel frame can be hosed out; a closed box tube can hold salt water inside, where no hose reaches. Leaf springs are simple to replace. A torsion axle rides more smoothly and has no springs to rust, but when its rubber gives out the whole axle has to go.

A double jet ski trailer, and what a used frame is worth:

new galvanized trailers for a pair of jet skis are around $4,000 in Panama and a tandem trailer for a fishing boat costs more again. On a used one, set the price by the frame and the axle. Bearings, springs, bunk carpet, lights and couplers are sold locally and fitted in an afternoon, so worn ones are a reason to haggle, not to walk away. Rust that has eaten into the frame, a bent axle or a cracked weld is the opposite: that trailer is worth its wheels and its scrap.

Wheel bearings, tyres and the inside of the frame:

jack each wheel up and rock it: play or a grinding spin means the bearings are going, and grease sprayed inside the rim means a failed seal. Ask whether the hubs were left to cool before launching, because a hot hub dropped into the sea draws water past the seal as it contracts. Read the date code on the tyre wall, not just the tread: a trailer that spends its life parked can carry deep tread on rubber the sun has already cracked. Tap the frame with a hammer at the welds and wherever a tube end is closed off, since that is where box sections rust from the inside, and check the spring hangers for flaking. Rollers should turn by hand. Before trusting a quick bulb check, pull the plug apart and look for green corrosion on the pins.

Listing a trailer, with or without its boat:

say what it was built to carry: hull length, the capacity on the plate, single or tandem, bunks or rollers, galvanized or aluminium, and the coupler size. Give the date the bearings were last repacked, the tyres’ age, and whether it worked in salt or fresh water. Photograph the frame from underneath, the springs, hubs and tyre date code, and have the trailer’s papers ready, matching the serial on the frame. If the boat has already gone, say what it carried, because the buyer is trying to fit a hull to it. When someone drives out from La Chorrera or Coronado to collect it, let them tow it round the block a few times and then lay a hand on each hub. Warm is normal; too hot to touch means a bearing on its way out, better found in your street than on the road home.