New Trailer

[Ozzie]

In regards to weigh bridges. Ours local is the contracted council recycler. That also do public weights. In fact if you are only checking and not requiring a certificate for rego or insurance purposes they don’t even charge. Posters may wish to check their local area / council. I’ve always taken the weight to be 1200 kg all up. Trailers originally were unbraked and braking was an extra.

[Ozzie]

Remember with working out your gvm on your tow vehicle (if you’re getting close) to add your ball weight to your load.10 to 15 % is the guide roughly but check current regulations in your state. I bought a supercreep ball weight scale on special years ago and it’s great for such stuff.

One of my guitar students who is also a mechanic and caravan owner bought his own set of wheel scales for use by his touring group. If you have friends or relos with vans or TS you might share a set. They are useful bits if kit and may save you a fine or worse. In our little motor home I have base weight from a weigh bridge dry, other than a tank of fuel and everything else I have a separate weight for so I can quickly check without need of a weigh bridge. No, before someone clever asks I don’t weigh individual spoons and my jockstrap. Just groups of gear like 🛠 tools, cooking shtuffs etc It’s not hard to do this for your Investigator. Weight, if you squiz my GVM thread, adds up. Sneakily.

https://www.outbackequipment.com.au/rei ... gIan_D_BwE

These get good reviews and price seems reasonable. I have not checked fleabay but they may be cheaper. Missed a set on gumtree last year. Quick or the dead.

[Ozzie]

....or you might want to pluck a duck....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=071xPmVgE0E

Actually don’t use that clip it’s total over kill

Try this
http://boldinventions.com/index.php?opt ... &Itemid=55

You only need to weight each wheel and ball one at a time. Then add them up I’ve looked into this before. Bathroom scales are ok if you operate in the mid range of their weight limits. That appears to be where they are the most accurate. Get a drive through weight at a real bridge first as a comparison and you can then calibrate them anyway you like. Having your own scales allows you to easily check if your towing away and might be taking extras, like fuel, water , camping gear, mistress hiding in rear locker etc.

[Andrew]

It might be nice if we can bring Andrew into this conversation.

As I notice he made a statement on his blogspot stating the boat dry weight comes in at around 900kg fully rigged.

https://teria563.blogspot.com/2013/11/i ... r%20563%20(18'6,750%20kgs%20in%20the%20water.

Is this correct????, Andrew.

It is very hard to actual factual information on "Actual Weight"

I too always thought that displacement is actual weight, BUT, there are so many different views as to what displacement is and actual weight is. It is a very interesting and confusing topic. You need to have a degree in physics to understand the science behind it all.

So, Andrew, I know that you have been following this thread of Peter's, so I would love to read your input on this matter.

Hi David, i can't remember where the 900kg came from now. It may mean 900kgs displacement after adding 150kgs of crew and supplies. I can edit it out. I think it's best if someone goes to a weigh bridge with boat and then without boat on trailer to get the dry weights. There has been some discussion somewhere on the forum in the past.

[Topaz Bill]

Yes, Peter, no pressure from me either but I'm, holding my breath until you do the weight check.
Maybe it's guilty conscience coming to the surface in case our trailers are not quite compliant

[Peter T]

Hi all, yes it's a most interesting subject. On one hand we all want to be compliant. On the other we all know the value of having a good strong trailer. I purchased plastic mudguards today but can't fit them until I have the axle in the correct position to give a proper and safe tow ball download so, this is what I am going to do.
Firstly, I need to properly grease and properly fit the wheel bearings seals etc. then I will build the lifting cradle to get the boat up in the air and away from the existing trailer . I will then be able to pull the old trailer out from under the boat. At the moment, I have the boat on its old trailer jacked up high in the air.. Once the cradle is in place and dyna bolted to the garage floor, I will fit the two 3 ton straps under the boat and support it by fitting shaped 90x 45 timber supports resting against the 4 base plates of the cradle and supporting the boat under the toe rails with a cross piece from the top of the supports back to the lifting frame for safety. Then the trailer can be lowered leaving the boat suspended and then I will be able pull the old trailer out and then replace it with the new trailer,.( to say nothing about doing the centre board Job )
Once this is done, I can take it to the weigh bridge. Only then can I work out what tow ball download I need and so will be able to fix the axle permanently ( after putting the boat back into the cradle. If I am over weight, it would be possible to build a lighter draw bar for the trailer, but that's about all I would want to do if it's too heavy.
The other problem I have is that I have already welded on 65 x 65 pieces with two large nuts each to the side rails of the trailer to hold the bunk supports. As it is at the moment, the front two of these are in the way of fitting the mud guards. I have the choice of moving the front two forward by a few inches or mounting them on the inside of the frame where then I would need to construct a purpose built bunk support with a 50 mm step in it. Anyway, first things first. Weighing the boat and trailer together is the first step. Once I have the total weight and the boat is back in the cradle, I will then be able to put the trailer over the weigh bridge.
Sorry for the long reply but I think you get my drift.
Once all that is done, I will get the trailer galvanised. The galvanisers should be able to tell me how much weight that process adds to the trailer. ( if not I could weigh it again once it's back together again) Then we will know what the boat actually weighs.
I was talking to a design architect friend of mine today ( he designed our new house ) and he was absolutely emphatic that the boats displacement is exactly it's total weight. He should know, he has had to design rafts and other floating craft to carry certain weights, pumps machinery etc, and has to have actually calculated these displacements into his designs, so he knows all the science behind this. ( I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken, Ha Ha )

Regards Peter T

[Topaz Bill]

Okay Peter, we'll give you till mid day tomorrow.

[Peter T]

Thanks, I might just need a bit longer as I also play lawn bowls , LOL
Cheers

[Peter T]

Just cut up the old trailer. Have a look at the bottom of the cross members !

"No, there IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE TRAILER "

[Geoff]

Peter,

I reckon that could be a fairly common problem. I added a couple of longitudinal 50x50 pieces to my trailer like Ray did, to mount a couple of extra keel guide rollers. When I drilled the rear x member, a fair way up, water poured out. I drilled at the bottom to drain it. Meant to fish oil it but havent yet. So there could be a lot of boat trailers out there with salt water sloshing around in them rusting out from the inside.

Also, whoever reco'd my trailer had fitted the mudguards and centred them while empty. With the boat on and the axle pushed back, the guards looked arkwardly placed. I cut them off and centred them with the boat on. Looks heaps better, only offset while empty now, at the ramp.

Mightnt matter to you, just an observation.