Trailer corrosion

Panama · Post by **Panama** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 8:06 am

Boght a kayak trailer last year from a company in minnesota. Had white powder paint on axle , wheel frame, fenders and kayak metal supports. Unfortunately had no primer underneath paint. After 4 trips last year and one this year to coast, although I never ran trailer in to salt water and meticulously cleaned and washed with fresh water after each outing, rust and corroision coming everywhere under all painted surfaces. Stripped paint away exposed bare metal removed rust and corrosion, primed and repainted. My question is, If I spray a polyurethane clear enamel coat over paint, should I expect same thing in one year?

Mercy · Post by **Mercy** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 8:44 am

Oh I know! I had the same problem with my high dollar foo-foo trailer. After 2 trips I was getting rust spots! M-D told me about this stuff you buy at WalMart called Corrosion X, and it is WONDERFUL! I sprayed it on...found out later you're supposed to WIPE it on, and VIOLA! ....no more rust! It's amazing!!!!! You get it in the sporting goods section....it comes in a spray can. Hope it works for you!

BillS · Post by **BillS** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 8:49 am

Trailers in Salt water are disposable commodities. You can maybe get 10 yrs out of a galvanized trailer, with a spring change and 3 sets of brakes thrown in. But a painted trailer will be lucky to last 5yrs. If it were mine, and I wanted it to last, I would do this.....
Strip it down and sandblast the frame.

Take it to Houston where they have a Hot dip galvanizing

Let them dip it, then reassemble. (yellow pages under Metals-coatings)

The problem with painting it is you cannot paint inside the tubing and it will rust from the inside out. Paint also chips from stone dings, and every chip or scratch will be a starting point for corrosion. Galvanizing is much tougher than paint in that regard.

If all that is too much trouble for the cost involved, then you proposed course of action will work for a while. The important thing is to kill the existing corrosion by either grinding it out, or applying one of the chemical compounds that kills rust and converts it to stable magnetite.
BillS

CaptJack · Post by **CaptJack** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 9:03 am

I just had this discussion with Floyd(Boxybru), he's rebuilding a painted trailer to use for kayaks to the coast from Dallas.
Since it's painted- all you can do is wire brush the rust spots, mop/paint on "RustCure"(PhosphoricAcid) and let dry. This KILLS the rust bacteria. Then spray paint it with Cold Galvanizing primer/paint. Don't paint a color over it, it's not worth the trouble. From now on you will have to go through the same drill till the trailer dies- wire brush, Rust Cure, Cold Galvanizing paint.
When ever you get home- use a garden siphon sprayer attachment on your garden hose. Put distilled white vinegar in it when you wash down everything you bring home from the coast.
Basic JrHigh chemistry- PH lesson- Salt(SodiumChloride) is a base(Alkali)
Vinegar is a mild acid- it neutralizes the alkali. The idea is to get everything back to 7.0 on a PH scale.
When your done- do like Mercy suggested- wipe it down with Corrosion-X

Charlie Tuna · Post by **Charlie Tuna** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 9:39 am

After living and boating 13 years in S. Florida, I learned saltwater is boater's worst enemy. If you are going to play in the salt you have to go stainless steel on all boat bolts and nuts and boat trailers have to be galvinized or aluminum. Otherwise your fighting a losing battle.

Charlie

Newt · Post by **Newt** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 12:37 pm

The first boat trailer I had was painted. All the ones thereafter were galvanized. Now the new thing is aluminum.

NoBoat · Post by **NoBoat** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 12:58 pm

Is an aluminum Kayak trailer worth it? I would think that you could buy several galvanized trailers for the cost of one aluminum trailer.

Newt · Post by **Newt** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 1:02 pm

I haven't seen one for Yaks. They are becoming the thing for power boats.

popasan · Post by **popasan** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 1:53 pm

aluminum trailers, with time, will corrode unless you perform regular maintenance on them , even with regular maintenance, it won't last forever ....... it has been my experience having lived on the coast all of my life, that you can only slow down the process......
as far as painted trailers, i would agree with capt Jack and use chemicals to fight the chemical reaction (ie rust) that saltwater has upon metals....(jason would be proud of you Jack)......
as far as dragging your trailer to Houston and having it hot-dipped galvanized, thats a great idea.....but......its not cheap......galvanizing will definitley outlast a painted surface by years, however, here again its been my experience that nothing lasts forever in the salt......after you prep the surface, regular maintenace will slow down the process and help you hang on to your trailer much longer.......
another tip: i used to use corrision HD on my trailer springs, it helped alot....doesn't wash off as quick as corrision X........

Roostertail · Post by **Roostertail** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 5:42 pm

Trailers and saltwater don't mix. I am on my second set of springs and hangers in 5 yrs. The cold galvenized that the Capt mentioned has been the best prevention so far on the frame. You have to keep it washed with either warm water or a vinegar solution. It's still just a matter of time unless you can afford one made from 316 stainless steel..

Newt · Post by **Newt** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 7:42 pm

I thought I had saved this. But, couldn't find it. Everet Johnson did a Tech Tip page on it in his latest GCC (Gulf Coast Connections).

http://www.ruststopshere.com/

whitedog · Post by **whitedog** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 7:44 pm

I expect this to be a dumb question. Is it feasable to lube the springs with grease? I don't expect it to be fool proof, but would it be worth the effort to grease 'em? If so, what's the best approach?

CaptJack · Post by **CaptJack** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 8:21 pm

whitedog wrote:Is it feasable to lube the springs with grease? I don't expect it to be fool proof, but would it be worth the effort to grease 'em? If so, what's the best approach?

WD-
If you had the time to jack up your trailer &or turn it over and take the axle off, then the springs, then take the leaves of the springs apart and put grease between them- it might last a few trips to the coast. Way too much trouble :!:

The best you can do- in the real world- is drown them after each trip with the vinegar sprayer on the garden hose. Then after they dry, spray them down with Corrosion-X.
In a few years they're going to rust between the leaves anyway. They usually fail where the two "U"bolts hold them to the axle. One of the leaves will crack and pull away and the axle will try to pull sideways out from under the trailer frame.
I had it happen on a dirt road at LakeLimestone many moons ago (at least 25yrs ago).
I used my come-along and pulled the axle back under the frame into it's correct position, found a piece of a log that was the same thickness as the space the springs normally occupied between the axle and the frame and I tied it all together with much rope :!:

I limped it hope down I-45 to Houston at 45mph and then to Pruett's Frame & Spring downtown the next morning where I had them replace the springs. I learned to pay attention of the condition of my springs :!:

popasan · Post by **popasan** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 8:23 pm

WD,
as i mentioned in my earlier post, the best thing that i found for coating trailer springs was Corrision X-HD......its a heavier lube than regular Corrision X and stays on longer.....

Yak-a-lou · Post by **Yak-a-lou** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 12:38 am

In addition to the above maintenance suggestions here's another tip...

Lucky me.... when I leave the coast I have several places I can stop along the way and back a trailer into fresh water (not brackish). Viola... Back in, pull out, repeat 3-4 times. Then I'll stop at a car wash near the house and put some pressure to it focusing on all of the parts that didn't get dunked.

They're right.... those rust converters are wonderful.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 10:26 am

http://www.paddling.net/buyersguide/acc ... tml?cat=22

galtexcpl · Post by **galtexcpl** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 2:53 pm

I read this solution on another board.....and the writer swore by it and he was from Houston.

park the trailer and get a water sprinkler that has the horizontal rotating bar........position the sprinkler under the trailer to get good coverage....usually do the front half, then the rear half......turn the water on just strong enough to get the bottom well covered........leave it for 15 minutes...then do the remaining half.............let dry and hit the problem areas with a good corrosion inhibitor aerosol...........he swore it worked.

Carey

MarkT · Post by **MarkT** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 3:47 pm

I'm not necessarily recommending this, but a guy I used to work with who trailered his boat to POC almost every weekend would spray his trailer down regularly with used motor oil. As you can imagine, it wasn't very pretty, and was not too good for the environment, but his trailer was well preserved. He put used motor oil in a pump-up sprayer that did double duty as a weed killer along his fence line. By the way, do folks in Corpus call rust Corpus Christi cancer?

MarkT

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