Trailer Failure

[SW Boat Transport]

I spotted this in QAB today. Looks like a rather catastrophic failure of a brand new trailer. Luckily the boat was not to badly damaged, but the Land Rover that was towing it was rather a mess.

[A1an]

Blimey!

Made in Taiwan?

[SW Boat Transport]

Originally Posted by A1an

Blimey!

Made in Taiwan?

No, made in Exeter!

[Boats&Outboards]

Oh dear! I've been looking at those trailers myself recently too. Perhaps I'll keep looking.

Peter @ Boatsandoutboards4sale ~ askboatsandoutboards4sale@sky.com ~ 07930 421007

[Trailer Guy]

Just had a shoofty at their website.


Have to admit, I've sold steel trailers because I've seen 'em bend (serious jack-knife a couple of times), but I've never seen them tear like that. Aluminium's got it's pros and cons. The US and Aus have been making ally trailers for yonks, but I've generally seen the heavier ones made out of 'I' section, rather than box section.


However, in the manufacturer's defence, you never know the full story behind these things. Could've been overloaded, or had excessive nose weight etc.


As a saddo trailer type I'd be interested to hear the facts and the manufacturer's side of things before coming to a conclusion.

[SW Boat Transport]

I agree that there are always 2 sides to every story and would be very interested to hear what explanation Gullwing Trailers can come up with.

From a weight point of view, the trailer is plated to 3500kg GVW / 2850kg Capacity. The boat on it was a Capelli Cap 27 WA weighing 1700kg c/w 2 x Yamaha F150s weighing 218kg each. Even allowing for fuel, accessories, etc the trailer should have been well within its limits.

[Leapy]

Originally Posted by SW RIB Charter

the Land Rover that was towing it was rather a mess.

Had it been hit itself by another car/truck or been off the road or...

[ribraff]

It would be interesting to know the weight on the Drawbar when this happened.

[HUMBER P4VWL]

Ex wife with a hacksaw?

[SW Boat Transport]

Originally Posted by Leapy

Had it been hit itself by another car/truck or been off the road or...

From what I can gather, it appears that he had got about 5 miles into his journey and was pulling off at a junction when there was a loud bang and the boat made contact with the back corner of the landy.

[Leapy]

As a statement of the bleeding obvious, there's something not right here...in the second photograph the lower chassis rails look like they've been wrenched, torn and twisted, the uppers look like they're been laser cut they're so neat.

As there's no evidence of bolt holes through these upper rails I wonder what they were attached to and how? Surely, they're supposed to attach to something?

Need more facts, m'lud, more facts

[Boats&Outboards]

Looks to me the bottom sections failed/snapped and the top ones have been cut to make it mobile again to aid recovery

Peter @ Boatsandoutboards4sale ~ askboatsandoutboards4sale@sky.com ~ 07930 421007

[Leapy]

Originally Posted by Boats&Outboards

Looks to me the bottom sections failed/snapped and the top ones have been cut to make it mobile again to aid recovery

Could be, Peter, but if that's the case it's a damn neat road side repair...

[AMac]

i have always thought that alloy was weaker unless you go for far larger sections or profiles
this trailer looks to be made from the same size as steel box section trailers
i would thererfore think that it was generaly weaker especially at the front end of a longer section.
i have always kept away from alloy trailers that are getting dipped in salt water as the corrosion would taske ahold quicker(i drive landrovers and know all about alloy corrosion!!)

[Kernow Buoy]

Originally Posted by Boats&Outboards

Looks to me the bottom sections failed/snapped and the top ones have been cut to make it mobile again to aid recovery

Peter @ Boatsandoutboards4sale ~ askboatsandoutboards4sale@sky.com ~ 07930 421007

It may well be that that is where the top rails end and it was just the lower 2 rails that failed, there should be plastic end caps in those top rails, I'll have a look at my Gullwing later.

[Boats&Outboards]

Originally Posted by AMac

i have always thought that alloy was weaker unless you go for far larger sections or profiles
this trailer looks to be made from the same size as steel box section trailers
i would thererfore think that it was generaly weaker especially at the front end of a longer section.
i have always kept away from alloy trailers that are getting dipped in salt water as the corrosion would taske ahold quicker(i drive landrovers and know all about alloy corrosion!!)

To be fair I did pull a boat back on one from Essex to Cornwall and it was a pleasure, other than the constant rattle we had they towed excellent. Accidents can happen and like others have said maybe the other side of the story would explain all.

Peter @ Boatsandoutboards4sale ~ askboatsandoutboards4sale@sky.com ~ 07930 421007

[Anchorhandler]

Ahhh the joys of aluminium...

Unlike steel, aluminium has no elastic limit. This means that once you start flexing an aluminium profile, it starts to fatigue....even if the degree of the flexing is only be a minute amount the structure of the aluminium will be changing, and weakening.

Steel on the other hand can be bent back and forward an infinite number of times without detremental affect, so long as you dont bend the steel to the point of its elastic limit. ( pretty much the point where the steel stay's in its new 'bent' shape and doesnt spring back) then you will be fine.

In this case you never know what the trailer was carrying before this particular boat or even how it was loaded up in this example. If the drawbar was overloaded and subjected to a cyclic 'bouncing' effect then its inevitable that something was gonna give....at some point or another.

Aluminium can be an 'awkward' engineering material due to this phenomena and requires extra thought when used in the design of structures.

Now dont even get me started on those high speed aluminium cross channel catamaran's

Simon

[Leapy]

Originally Posted by AMac

i have always kept away from alloy trailers that are getting dipped in salt water as the corrosion would taske ahold quicker(i drive landrovers and know all about alloy corrosion!!)

Alloy or aluminium (ali)?

Aluminium in salt water is ok as the aluminium quickly develops a white protective oxide layer (unlike steel, which oxidises but it's non-protective). Aluminium corrosion in vehicles is most often the result of differential metal corrosion, and usually at a steel/aluminium junction. The sacrificial zinc anode on a boat/ship/yacht works in exactly the same way - the zinc is corroded (sacrificed) to protect the steel

[spartacus]

Originally Posted by HUMBER P4VWL

Ex wife with a hacksaw?

Or current wife who wants the insurance, and her drive back!

[SW Boat Transport]

Here are a couple more photos taken this afternoon. The first one shows the front of the trailer where it broke away. It looks to me like the weld has just failed. The second shows another weld on the rear swing beam, which also looks to have failed. There are several other split welds right down the trailer.