How to tell when you need to replace the Mac Trailer!!

[Paul S]

Finished refurbishing a used mac trailer to replace our well rusted trailer. Spent some time derusting and painting the new trailer, rewired it, rebuilt the bunks.. replaced the coupler, put a stainless steel brake line in.. and other repairs.. good as new..

anyhoo.. our old trailers tounge was actually bending , bunks falling off, fender starting to rust off.. was worried it would even make it to the boat ramp so I could do the swap.!!!

We made it to the ramp with the boat and 2 trailers.. without issue.. swapped the trailer.. no problem.. totally painless.. other than it was a bit nippy.

On the ride home, I took the new trailer with the boat on it home.... my brother in law took the old trailer home. I let him take the trailer alone, I didn't want him to take responsibility for towing the boat. I get home.. wondering where he is.. 20 minutes later he shows up.. Apparently one of the goal posts rusted and fell horizontal to the road!! motorists flagging him to pull over.. he pulls over puts the goal post in the truck.. a few miles later.. the fender falls off.. he puts the fender in the truck! Just when he thinks it is over.. the other goal posts falls off..the left tail light falls off..license plate falls off..

So I guess it was about time to replace the trailer!! I am actually kinda shocked the tounge didn't fail!!

On a side note..it was nice actually having brakes again on the trailer! I forgot how much they really do help.

But if you have a steel mac trailer.. keep after the rust!!

[Boblee]

Might have paid to drop the tyre pressure towing it without the load, had my young bloke take a dinghy trailer downstream for me once and there wasn't much left by the time he travelled 200 k's with full tyre pressure and as it was dark and he didn't bother to stop and check why the lights went out

[restless]

Sounds like you caught it just in the nick of time!!
Makes a good story!

[Divecoz]

Dang Paul!!!....that was your 04 trailer??
I just went out to check my 05....But all LOOKS good so far... I do power wash my trailer after submerging it every trip.... I was anal about it, when I was using it in Florida/Salt Water... I am considering the idea of coating it with Dura-Liner inside and out, when we move and the boat is off the trailer..
I have replaced the Light Brackets and Licence bracket with some Aluminum Diamond Plate I had laying around..

[Paul S]

The MAIN issue with the rust on the tounge is the hole where the brake line exits the tounge is in the middle of the box section...meaning there will always be water sitting IN the tounge..rusting from the inside out.. by the time it is a problem, you won't have noticed the rust.. It will just look cosmetic til it is too late. The tounge section on my old trailer was starting to 'smile'

On my new-to-me trailer I elongated the brake line exit hole to reach the bottom of the box section..so it will give it a chance to drain

The rest of the trailer probably got destroyed by not having the weight of the boat on it.

I hope the new trailer lasts a few more years before I can replace it..but it seems to be fine now.

[Paul S]

Dang Paul!!!....that was your 04 trailer??
I just went out to check my 05....But all LOOKS good so far... I do power wash my trailer after submerging it every trip.... I was anal about it, when I was using it in Florida/Salt Water... I am considering the idea of coating it with Dura-Liner inside and out, when we move and the boat is off the trailer..
I have replaced the Light Brackets and Licence bracket with some Aluminum Diamond Plate I had laying around..

whatever you coat it with..the rust has to be removed and neutralized..otherwise it is in not worth the effort. I have maybe 40+ hours restoring this trailer.. went through countless grinding discs, carbide tip tools, sandblasting, to remove as much as possible..cleaned it..etched it.. then used POR-15 (best IMO for rust control)

[Divecoz]

I agree Paul about the rust. There are numerous products available to address that issue. I used Por 15 (?) I think it was and have heard and read that even Rustoleum is as good for a lot less $$ I Dura Liner -ed The floors and trunk area of Audrey's MGB when it was retro-ed.. I have thought about Rhino Skinning the bottom of my Mac. hahaha It could serve a lot of purposes..

[Paul S]

I agree Paul about the rust. There are numerous products available to address that issue. I used Por 15 (?) I think it was and have heard and read that even Rustoleum is as good for a lot less $$ I Dura Liner -ed The floors and trunk area of Audrey's MGB when it was retro-ed.. I have thought about Rhino Skinning the bottom of my Mac. hahaha It could serve a lot of purposes..

Been restoring MGBs for 10 years and counting. The ONLY thing that lasted, when properly prep'ed, was por15. It cures with moisture not with evaporation, links in with rust (It likes rust), doesn't coat or cover it. Tried everything from rustoleum, eastwoods encapsulator, etc. Nothing seems to hold as tenatious as por15 over the long haul.

truck bedliner would work well if it can keep the water away from the metal and is 100% clean under it. tough order with a boat trailer. .. but the huge issue..is coating the inside of the tounge..where the water rests and can't drain..

Anything is better than nothing to keep the rust away.

My por-15'ed underside of my B roadster

[DaveB]

Get a new one tandem Aluminum Frame. Cost me $2800 two years ago Continental.
Dave

Finished refurbishing a used mac trailer to replace our well rusted trailer. Spent some time derusting and painting the new trailer, rewired it, rebuilt the bunks.. replaced the coupler, put a stainless steel brake line in.. and other repairs.. good as new..

anyhoo.. our old trailers tounge was actually bending , bunks falling off, fender starting to rust off.. was worried it would even make it to the boat ramp so I could do the swap.!!!

We made it to the ramp with the boat and 2 trailers.. without issue.. swapped the trailer.. no problem.. totally painless.. other than it was a bit nippy.

On the ride home, I took the new trailer with the boat on it home.... my brother in law took the old trailer home. I let him take the trailer alone, I didn't want him to take responsibility for towing the boat. I get home.. wondering where he is.. 20 minutes later he shows up.. Apparently one of the goal posts rusted and fell horizontal to the road!! motorists flagging him to pull over.. he pulls over puts the goal post in the truck.. a few miles later.. the fender falls off.. he puts the fender in the truck! Just when he thinks it is over.. the other goal posts falls off..the left tail light falls off..license plate falls off..

So I guess it was about time to replace the trailer!! I am actually kinda shocked the tounge didn't fail!!

On a side note..it was nice actually having brakes again on the trailer! I forgot how much they really do help.

But if you have a steel mac trailer.. keep after the rust!!

[Paul S]

Get a new one tandem Aluminum Frame. Cost me $2800 two years ago Continental.
Dave

I will take up a collection. have an opportunity to get one at a good price.. but with the new big boat purchase, dropping 3 large on a trailer is a bit out of reach at the moment.

[Divecoz]

Paul : Nice job BTW on the B.... I see among other things , you even POPPED for tube shocks $$$

POR 15? I have used it as well. However, on the MG Experience board, some , many, are showing and expressing dissatisfaction and others are having good results with other cheaper products.. But Again its much to do with preparation..
Preparation.. I am thinking Por15 or Eastwood's encapsulator.... among other products which all claim to interact with Iron Oxide .
Sooooo.... Clean inside the tubes as best you can ( numerous options) Dry It as best you can and using.... The Wand... and spraying from both ends , coat the inside of the trailer tubes? Elongate the entrance hole in the tube on the tongue for better draining?

[Paul S]

Paul : Nice job BTW on the B.... I see among other things , you even POPPED for tube shocks $$$

POR 15? I have used it as well. However, on the MG Experience board, some , many, are showing and expressing dissatisfaction and others are having good results with other cheaper products.. But Again its much to do with preparation..
Preparation.. I am thinking Por15 or Eastwood's encapsulator.... among other products which all claim to interact with Iron Oxide .
Sooooo.... Clean inside the tubes as best you can ( numerous options) Dry It as best you can and using.... The Wand... and spraying from both ends , coat the inside of the trailer tubes? Elongate the entrance hole in the tube on the tongue for better draining?

I race the B so I wanted adjustable shocks.. Not cheap.. but they work well.

No doubt bad experiences with por15 were due to bad application. I have had failures, but then again I knew I didnt prep it right. but when i follow it to the letter.. using their marine clean and their metal ready.. it is tenatious. I did do a sorta test a while back on my old trailer. I painted the entire thing with eastwoods encapsulator.. that failed pretty quickly. I then did a section of the trailer with por15...which did quite well. If it does well in the atlantic ocean, it should be fine for an MGB

Some other things..drill good size drain holes in the bottom of the factory goal posts..they fill with water and can not drain.. They sell a stainless steel brake line pre-fab that works well (it is what I used) -right length, right brake fittings pre-installed.

A bit disappointed when I realized why the brake lines failed on my (and my new-to-me)trailer due to the tounge being filled with water.. when I elogated the hole it just poured water out..

[Divecoz]

when I elongated the hole it just poured water out.. grrrrrrrrrr
I will address this issue today .. Its cold and nasty, a bit anyway. but One less winter so to speak. Hopefully because of the angle I rest my boat at, I wont find any water, but I'll open her up a little ...

[Paul S]

when I elongated the hole it just poured water out.. grrrrrrrrrr
I will address this issue today .. Its cold and nasty, a bit anyway. but One less winter so to speak. Hopefully because of the angle I rest my boat at, I wont find any water, but I'll open her up a little ...

Never tried it.. but if you tilt the tounge down til it slops down forward..the water could drain forward out the tounge.. don't know if the tounge jack will slope down that far.

I used a die grinder to open the hole. then again I didnt have a brake line in it at the time.. so I just went hog wild opening it up.

But it is a great way to destroy a brake line.. have a steel brake line..rest in a pool of water.. rubbing against the steel frame..

I ended up 'glueing' the new SS brake line to the TOP of the hole using POR-PATCH( but could use 5200, etc) for rustproofing properties, so any water would drain.

[iredrider1177]

be no use if you have brake lines like i had with no flares from the factory that popped right out and never worked, i have since fixed but the previous owner was well aware of this and told me ahead of tim so , uhm small problem , bad qc, again, and fixed now and almost forgot about.