[Rhodes22-list] trailer brakes

[Dennis]

I've pulled backhoes, hydroseeders, and boats (among other things), and
found that the sway you're referring to will even happen to fairly heavy tow
vehicles (think F-250 Powerstroke) if you don't have enough weight on the
tongue. If you need to pull the outboard and put it in the cockpit to get
weight on the tongue, use the sheet and boom to do so - but make it happen
somehow. 
My electric brake control even let me manually activate the trailer brakes
while giving the berries to the tow vehicle in an effort to 'pull' out the
sway - but in the end I gave up and repositioned the tractor (and that was
on a tandem trailer with brakes on both axles). 
I'm sure others have tales to tell of their harrowing experiences with blown
tires or failed bearings - but I was just tempting fate for no good reason.
Fortunately I was able to reposition the tractor fairly easily - moving a
boat on the side of the road would be another matter. 
Having said that, my 86 Rhodes' trailer has no brakes, and the axle is just
a little beyond its rated load capacity with the trailer and boat sitting on
it. I found a (relatively) inexpensive axle supplier not too far away that
sells beefier axles (with brakes) for about $350. I understand that single
axle trailers are a little more maneuverable and fuel efficient, so I'll
stick with just the one axle. 

Dennis 

www.great-loop.us
s/v Magic Moments
berthed in Gibraltar, Michigan


-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Graham Stewart
Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2013 11:58 PM
To: 'The Rhodes 22 Email List'
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] trailer brakes

I have an older RC trailer that does not have brakes and on one occasion the
trailer broke into a fantastic sway motion so powerful that it almost took
me off the road. I was going too fast but ever since I have been very
worried about towing the boat when the trailer does not have brakes. 

Looking through the archive I see that one person added a second axel with
brakes and got good results both towing and stopping. Does anyone have more
details about how this might be done? Was the existing axel moved? Would
braking really be acceptable if the brakes were only on one axel?

Graham 

-> snipped