trailer floats!

[Eddyprice]

I recently bought a 2021 EZ Loader trailer for my C24 - TA102B 24C to upgrade since we have done several longer distance tows - 500+ miles one way and our expecting to do more. Our first time loading the boat at our usual launch ramp my dear wife noted that as the trailer was at the appropriate depth to load the boat the trailer began floating in the water! We never experienced this with our previous lighter weight trailer. The trailer was at a normal boat loading depth. The trailer has side guide posts and I installed square plastic caps on the galvanized tubing. I plan to drill a hole in the center of each cap so that they do not trap air, and will do the same with the 2" pic tube caps.

Has anyone experienced or hear of a trailer that floats? If so, what are the solutions to prevent this. Only thing I have found online is to add weights to the trailer but as the trailer weight is listed as 1,800 lbs I am hoping to avoid that.

Thanks, Ed

 

[Pandion]

You're dealing with the laws of physics so there's a limited number of solutions to your floating trailer. I think this became a more frequent issue when lighter aluminum trailers and wheels became more common.

Water weighs about 62 pounds per cubic foot, so if your trailer is 1800 pounds, you'd need roughly 29 cubic feet of buoyant material displacement to float it.

Regarding weight, if you're on the edge and just barely floating, you may only need to add 50-100 pounds to get the trailer to stay on the bottom. Some folks have done this by permanently adding weight to the frame in the area of the axles (lead, concrete-filled pipe, etc.

The other way is to reduce the buoyancy. You're on the right track with creating holes in anything that can trap air so that the air can escape when launching and the water can drain when you pull the trailer out. Other than that, swapping out your aluminum wheels for heavier steel wheels or taking off your wood bunks and replacing them with cladded aluminum bunks are about the only ways I can see to reduce buoyancy.

An option may be to see if you can load your boat with less of the trailer in the water. When we launch, my wife drives the truck and I drive the boat. In some instances, it works better to nose the boat onto the trailer while its shallow, then have her ease the trailer under the boat. The angle of the ramp plays a big part in how all of this goes.

Good luck!

 

[Eddyprice]

Thanks for that info. I drilled out the square tubing guide post cap and that was the fix. Trailer did not float last time we used it despite being in waves at the ramp.