Trailer I beam bend

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Pat

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Fluid Motion Model
R-21 EC
Vessel Name
Sea RV
Hello. I got a new C28 Cutwater this spring. It was towed from the factory to dealer in Port Alberni, and from there to my home, + a couple of 100 mile trips since I've had it. Say a total of 2,000 miles.I was leveling the trailer up to get my ideal towing height, when I noticed that the I Beams are bent. I'm not sure if this is by design or a flaw in the trailer.
If the I beams are level from the bend to the back, the distance from the floor to the top of the I beam is 22-1/2" checking both sides at the back and the bends. But when I measure from the floor to the top of the I beam at the tongue the measurement is 27-1/2".
If anyone could help out I'd appreciate it.
Thank You
 
Are your measurements with the boat on or off the trailer. Aluminium is a bendy metal and when loaded it will take a bend from the weight of the boat. Weight the boat and trailer and then the tongue weight, which should be around 8 to 10% of the total weight for good towing characteristics. The hitch height should keep the trailer "level" to maintain good braking/stopping characteristics.
 
Hello Pat

Can you post pictures of the bend?

Please post the make and model of your trailer. What is the capacity of the trailer?

Dave


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I know mine is bent with the boat on.. I have quite a span from the last wheel to the hitch, I would be really surprised with all that weight if they didn't bend.
 
Good morning Pat,
If you could please send me some pictures of this issue I would really appreciate it. I have not heard of any issue with our trailers and we have several customers that travel from Florida and Texas every year up here to the Pacific Northwest with their boats.
 
Hi thanks to all of you for the quick responses, unfortunately I've been away from the computer until now. I posted 2 pictures in my Album "Pat" with a cooler (for dramatic effect) you can see on the first pic the top of the cooler is about mid-I Beam and on the second it is an inch or two below the bottom. At the bend and the back, the top of the Ibeam is 22.5" as stated earlier. As you can see in the pics the boat is on the trailer. It 's an EZ Loader trailer but the model is unknown to me the serial # is F10J9R14458, I'm pretty sure it is a custom triple axle trailer built for the Cutwaters C28. I believe the trailer is rated at 12,000, and with the boat it weighs 11,120 with 680 on the tongue which is a little better than 6% on the tongue, I was planning in moving the boat forward a bit to get it closer to 10% on the tongue, but now I'm not sure if I should.
Again thank you all for your input.
 
The his seems to be an incomplete number. All vins for ezloader start with 1ze or 1le

Call up ez loader and they can tell you the specs
 
Just out of curiosity, what are the dimensions of those I beams? Height, width and thickness of the flanges? In those photos the I beam looks undersized for a 12,000 pound load. Maybe just the angle of the photo?
 
Hello Pat,

Are you saying there is no capacity/rating plate on your trailer? Something like this
towing-trailer-vin-tag.jpg


To tell if your trailer is "BENT," you need to see if it stays that way when the boat is OFF the trailer. Otherwise, it appears that your trailer is showing "FLEX." Not bent. Trailers DO flex (and aluminum flexes more than steel).

In your first post you said "I was leveling the trailer up to get my ideal towing height." But the trailer CAN'T be "level" because you posted pics showing the trailer rails below the cooler back by the axle...then the rails are FLEXED above the rails closer to the hitch. If I understand your first post...it is 22.5" to the top of the trailer rails just forward of the axles...and 27.5 closer to the hitch...so you have your hitch TOO HIGH by 5"

It looks to me like you have induced the flex by raising the trailer tongue too high.

Try lowering your hitch ball by 5"

Let us know how it looks.

Good luck,

dave
 
I concur with Dave. To me a bend would be the same dimension at two points front and forward with a different dimension between the two. Your pictures depict an incline from one location to the other with the hitch end being higher. If you were to unhoook the trailer from the hitch and adjust the jack leg to the same height as the height by the tires is the demension between those two points from bottom of flange to ground the same at various points and if different by how much? This would determine if the beams are actually flexing/bending. From the pictures it just seems the hitch is too high.
 
The capacity/rating plate that Dave refers to, on EZLoader Trailers is on the inside of the I-beam towards the front of the trailer. Here you will be able to confirm your ratings.

Jim F
 
I'll try to answer everyones question in order.
Stwendl Correct I used the DMV registration which had a truncated Vin.
Vicki and Al the dim's on the flange are H 7" W 4.5" the web is 9/32" and the flanges (measured at the midpoint between the web and the outside) is 11/32"
Dave and Jim Correct you are. I'd forgotten about the tag from when I went to DMV for registration. The trailer is rated at 13k Model TIA102B 28C 13000
Dave and Knotflying In the pictures the rails from the bend to the back are level with 22.5" measurements at the 2 bends and at the back of the trailer. My first try was putting the 8' builders level on the section between the bend and tongue, with that section level the dimensions are 20.5" at the tongue and 2 bends and 24" at the rear of the trailer. Just by eyeball it was very apparent that the back was not level with the front tires carrying more weight than the back ones.I'm asking the factory because it seems that a 5" bend/flex is a bit much. I had a 26' Glacier Bay ( about 1.8 k lighter) prior to this boat with an aluminum trailer about the same length that didn't have this issue. If the factory says this is okay I would think that the most important thing is for the back section to be level so the weight is evenly distributed over the 3 axles, which is how it is in the pictures.
Thank you for all the questions and comments. It helps my old gray cells A) remember and B) Clarify my thoughts on the subject.
 
I thought that I Beam looked a bit small. That's the same size I Beam used on my Nextrail tandem axle trailer that had a max load of 6,500 pounds. It would flex like spaghetti going down an uneven highway! That said, I never had any problems with it at all.
While I'm not trying to second guess the engineers at EZLoader, it does seem odd to me to be using that size I Beam on a triple axle trailer.
Our R25 tandem trailer has a 10,300 pound gross rating and uses a 8"x5" I Beam with a 0.41" thick flange. No flex whatsoever!
 
Wow that's a little worrying. We'll see how it plays out once the Fluid Motion and EzLoader guys are back to work Monday.
Thanks
 
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