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 Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums
 General Sailing Forum
 Towing Gross... 14,300 Lbs.		  New Topic  Topic Locked
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ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts
Initially Posted - 07/19/2004 :  12:14:13  Show Profile
Truck, Trailer, Boat (Swinger), Motor and some other load.

The truck is about 7,500 with driver and fuel (3/4 ton 4x4 extended-cab diesel). Probably had 300 lbs of extra gear on board the truck. That puts the boat and trailer right around 6,500. That includes about 150 pounds of food, tools, parts, anchors, etc. on board.

Towed 400 miles yesterday. The new 6 ply 14" load range C "ST" trailer tires handled the load just fine, no sway, no overheating, tracked straight as an arrow. The previous-owner wimpy passenger car tires were a very sad joke by comparison... with them, the trailer would get the wiggles periodically and they were really squished out under load... they were always a worry in the back of my mind. At $57 apiece, they were money well spent.

I had just put brakes on the second axle before this trip and I am very glad that I did. Good stopping power, no white nuckles, no overheating. IMHO two axle brakes should be a MUST upgrade for any C25 trailer. Frankly, I don't know why they allowed a 7000 lb trailer to leave the factory with 3500 lbs worth of brakes in the first place.

On this trip I towed some narrow, rough winding roads up and down through the California hill-country. I can't imagine making this kind of tow safely with anything less than a heavy-duty 3/4 ton truck. Overall, the Powerstroke diesel surped fuel at about 13.5 mpg, compared to it's normal 19-20 for this sort of trip.

The scariest part of the tow was having a bearing buddy come off about 5 miles into the trip. Luckily, it was off the starboard side and bounded off harmlessly into the ditch. I replaced the missing buddy with a bearing cap from my spares kit and continued on. I shudder to think what might have happened had it come adrift at the wrong time and smashed somebody's windshield or hit a pedestrian.
WOTAM - '77 Catalina 25 SK/SR Sail Number 158
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Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts
Response Posted - 07/19/2004 :  16:18:56  Show Profile
Hey Bruce,
Very good report, thanks.
You said your boat and trailer is about 6500 lbs. By any chance, do you know what your trailer weighs? I have a plate on mine and it is listed as about 1000 lbs if I remember correctly, but I do have an aluminum trailer.
The next time I'm loaded up (boat on trailer that is) I may take it to a truck scale next to the interstate truck-o-rama and weigh it.
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Buzz Maring
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts
Response Posted - 07/19/2004 :  18:37:36  Show Profile
<font color="blue">The scariest part of the tow was having a bearing buddy come off about 5 miles into the trip. - Clam</font id="blue">

Hi Bruce,

What is a bearing buddy? The term has come up before, but I was embarrassed to ask ... Now my curiosity has gotten the best of me.
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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts
Response Posted - 07/19/2004 :  19:42:10  Show Profile  Visit Frank Hopper's Homepage
A metal cup with a spring loaded disk in it, There is a zert on the end of it. It replaces the dust cap at the end of your axle. The idea it to keep grease under positive pressure from the spring. It supposedly keeps water out of your bearing when on the ramp. Truth is the bearing should be allowed to cool down before they are submerged anyway and cool grease will not let water in. We all have these things but every trailer guy I ask says they are junk. I had one fly off recently too.
http://www.bearingbuddy.com/
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Buzz Maring
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts
Response Posted - 07/19/2004 :  20:41:34  Show Profile
<font color="blue">... We all have these things but every trailer guy I ask says they are junk. I had one fly off recently too. - Frank</font id="blue">

Thanks Frank ... I'm going to have to check my trailer to see if I've got any of those things ... they don't look familiar to me.

So, if I don't have them, should I get some? I'm lost when it comes to this trailer stuff.

Thanks for the help!
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ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts
Response Posted - 07/20/2004 :  11:47:28  Show Profile
"So, if I don't have them, should I get some?"

Most people swear by them... occasionally they swear at them. I've always had them on my trailers so I don't know what life is like without them. I'd venture a guess that over 90 percent of boat trailers you'll look at will have bearing buddies on them, at least here on the coast.

IMHO disclaimer:

Most products that absloutely don't work will not be around long. Bearing buddies have been around for 40 years or so. That's about the best evidence I have that they're worth it.

There are some new hub/spindle designs on the market now that actually flush out the old grease from the bearings. That would be the hot setup, but would be a relacement of hubs and axle spindles. ($$)

I'll replace my missing bearing buddy with a new one... with a fresh fit.
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Sid
Navigator

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129 Posts
Response Posted - 07/20/2004 :  15:52:51  Show Profile
Probably the most significant reason that bearing buddies are still around is that they make keeping your bearings greased easy. As with most things mechanical, preventive maintenance is key. Not a replacement for repacking, but better than none, greasing the buddies every couple of trips is much easier and faster than repacking bearings, so the wheel spindles end up lasting longer than when preventive repacking is overlooked completely.

As for them coming off, I've only had that happen once and it was an axle cap, not a buddy, so I guess it can happen with either.
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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.