trailer wheels

D

davavd

OldNSlow
I've had my sunfish for 20+ years, but between having a pickup and living on the water, I never needed a trailer until recently. I bought one at Academy that was designed for a flatboat and altered it to fit my boat. I ended up with 8" wheels because the trailer with 12" wheels was just huge. My question is if I want to pull my boat about 5 hours on the interstate, are the 8" wheels going to be a problem?
 
I wouldn't think so, as long as you didn't exceed the wheels' maximum loadings and as long as you don't exceed the maximum speeds. All these should be stamped somewhere on the tire sidewall. However, I wouldn't trust anything that's not highway rated, like lawn tractor wheels, which I'm sure you don't have.
Then again, I'm not a trailer engineer. Just my two cents.
Best regards,
Brian
 
Trailex (Sunfish and Laser) and Kitty Hawk (Laser) trailers have 8" wheels.

As mentioned, don't go (way) over the speed limit and check your tires and wheels at rest stops.
 
I've read that those small wheels spin a lot faster and this causes problems with wheel bearings. I have no direct experience with them. I'd think the loads being light would mitigate that somewhat.
 
Make sure to use a good wheel bearing grease. If they make a high heat/marine, that would be a good idea.
 
minifish said:
Make sure to use a good wheel bearing grease. If they make a high heat/marine, that would be a good idea.
Click to expand...

OK; this thread has drifted into maintenance issues. Yes, you do need to keep an eye on those bearings. Some people recommend servicing them once a year. But this all depends on, among others,
  • how many miles do you trailer
  • do your wheels/bearings get wet when you launch

Therefore, you need to decide what is appropriate for your situation. You can do the maintenance on your bearings yourself, or have a shop do it for you.

PS: You can buy a grease gun with marine grease at WestMarine (and other boat shops).
 
Wavedancer said:
OK; this thread has drifted into maintenance issues. Yes, you do need to keep an eye on those bearings. Some people recommend servicing them once a year. But this all depends on, among others,
  • how many miles do you trailer
  • do your wheels/bearings get wet when you launch

Therefore, you need to decide what is appropriate for your situation. You can the maintenance on your bearings yourself, or have a shop do it for you.

PS: You can buy a grease gun with marine grease at WestMarine (and other boat shops).
Click to expand...



As always, the bearings on any trailer are extremely important...and even more so for smaller wheels. But they are often neglected.

If the grease gets pretty contaminated, or is washed out, the heat that builds up can actually weld everything together and then you got yourself a little problem. :p
 
Thanks, everybody, you guys are great. :) My daughter and I took the boat over to St. Louis Bay yesterday (MS, about an hour east of us) and everything was fine.
 
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