2020 210 FSH Trailer Rebuild

[Floridaman79]

So after 3 years of heavy use in a combination of freshwater, saltwater, and brackish water, my trailer was returning to the earth. It was to the point that the equalizer bars were no longer equalizing, the tires were nearly bald, and I was concerned that in the event of a roadside failure I would be unable to work on it due to the parts being rusted and I would be up a creek, so to speak.
This thread is what I did about it and hopefully it will come in handy for those who may be in a similar situation.
Without further adieu here are some glamour shots of what the trailer looked like:

 

[Floridaman79]

Previously the brake calipers had been replaced with aluminum as well as the brake lights were upgraded to LEDs. I didnt even get a season out of the brake lights and the calipers were replaced after 15 months.

One of the main goals for this rebuild was to address the livewell pickup sitting on the bunk as well as the boat resting on the fender. My hypothesis is that the fitting digging onto the bunk is what was keeping the boat from centering. The solution I decided on was to take the carpet off and replace with bunk slides from tie down engineering. I havent had a chance to launch and load the boat with them yet so cant say for sure how they wil perform, but they solved the problem with the fender clearance and the livewell pickup.

I also looked into converting the trailer from leaf springs to torsion bars. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any in stock that would provide enough clearance and didnt have time to look into a custom option. I do think that would be an excellent mod though and if I have to do another rebuild I will definitely be looking into it.

Taking the boat off the trailer was interesting. Since I didnt have access to a slip, I just used a combination of jackstands, plywood, leather gloves, and 2x4s to raise the boat up and slide the trailer out from underneath. It worked out in the end but not sure I would recommend it to anyone.

 

[Floridaman79]

Next order of business was stripping everything down. Part of the challenge is dodging the homeowners association while all this is going down.

Next up was pressure washing and coating the parts with ospho. I also drilled some holes in the end of the crossmembers for access to coat the inside and added some drain holes in the bottom for water to drain out. There were plenty of holes for water to get in but none to drain out. On the axles they had good drains but i added a hole to washdown with freshwater.

Here are the parts getting treated with ospho:

Next up was coating with zinc paint. It was pricey but I definitely wanted the protection. I disassembled the leaf springs and coated them individually hoping they will last a little longer. I also went with a galvanized idler hub. A quick tip is on Amazon if you go to used they have hubs that are new but are in damaged boxes but they cost about half.
Even the galvanized parts got a coating of zinc though. Mrs Floridaman was helping with the painting and did an outstanding job as usual.

 

[Floridaman79]

The other thing that Shorelander did was to put a plastic film between the zinc and aluminum, presumably as a dielectric barrier. The problem with that approach is that it allowed water to get trapped. What I did differently was to apply bedliner paint over the zinc anywhere the zinc would be contacting the aluminum frame. I also painted a couple of patches of the bedliner paint on the tongue and on top of the winch for extra grip since I had plenty of paint and figure it couldnt hurt.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Do you have any pics of the new bunk board set up?

 

[Floridaman79]

Assembly was pretty uneventful. I didnt like the electrical connectors on the back of the boat. Even though they had been coated with dielectric grease they still looked like a ball of corrosion, and they did not survive disassembly. I am actually surprised that the lights still worked. Plus the way it was wired the marker lights were wired from the connector on the back of the boat that gets dunked in the water. So I removed the connector, soldered the wires, and covered with adhesive shrink tubing. Then I spliced the aft marker lights with the marker lights up front so the splice was in an area that didnt get dunked, but still soldered and covered with adhesive shrink wrap.

For the brake calipers I did find out that I need to rebuild the slides, so that will be an upcoming job.

I replaced the carpeted bunks with pressure treated 2x6s. They didnt fit right into the brackets so i set up the table saw and ripped them to 5.5 inches. The aft bunks were originally 6 feet but I cut them at 7 feet to make the spacing on the bunk slides even. I used the scuffed carpet on the old bunk to figure out where to clear the livewell pickup.

 

[Floridaman79]

Putting the trailer back under the boat was easier since i could use the winch on the boat.

It did provide some additional clearance for the fenders.


And there is a hair of clearance under the livewell pickup.

I havent had a chance to launch and recover the boat but will update the post when I can formulate an opinion on the slides.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Do you have any pics of the new bunk board set up?

Thanks!

 

[AZMark]

I can’t believe that was a 2020 trailer and needed that much work. Nice job!

 

[Floridaman79]

I can’t believe that was a 2020 trailer and needed that much work. Nice job!

So it seems common down here that leaf springs have to be replaced every couple of years. The more premium boats use torsion axles which I would go for if there were a conversion. To make it worse the shorelander springs arent standard so they cost 2 to 3 times a standard spring, times 4 of course. Throw in a couple hundred for the equalizer assembly too.

 

[Neutron]

Was that the stock trailer that came with your boat? I haven't seen an aluminum i beam trailer stock before. Only painted and galvanized.

 

[Floridaman79]

Was that the stock trailer that came with your boat? I haven't seen an aluminum i beam trailer stock before. Only painted and galvanized.

Yeap, it is the stock trailer

 

[Dixemon]

Its funny the gavanized trailers are tauted as being the saltwater option by yamaha. They are literally cheap as they can make them , sucks for the consumer. seeya, enjoy rhe present that our turd trailer will give you in a few years. All the while not using standard parts we could procure ourselves. Freakin wiring was a joke to. Open ended butt splices below the waterline, not environmentally sealed. Ect...... i was hot last year when I repaired my trailer. NICE work floridaman!

 

[Ericd]

Wow great job. If I understand, the missing/open black section on the starboard side of the stern bunk is where the livewell pickup is and that’s what causes the low fender interference on the port side. How thick are the black pads?
How long did this take?

Hope I don’t get to do this anytime soon. Although I’m in SWFL, I launch in a brackish river on my way out to the gulf. Again super job!

 

[kgower]

Nice Work!

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Next order of business was stripping everything down. Part of the challenge is dodging the homeowners association while all this is going down.
View attachment 195492
Next up was pressure washing and coating the parts with ospho. I also drilled some holes in the end of the crossmembers for access to coat the inside and added some drain holes in the bottom for water to drain out. There were plenty of holes for water to get in but none to drain out. On the axles they had good drains but i added a hole to washdown with freshwater.

Here are the parts getting treated with ospho:
View attachment 195493
Next up was coating with zinc paint. It was pricey but I definitely wanted the protection. I disassembled the leaf springs and coated them individually hoping they will last a little longer. I also went with a galvanized idler hub. A quick tip is on Amazon if you go to used they have hubs that are new but are in damaged boxes but they cost about half.
Even the galvanized parts got a coating of zinc though. Mrs Floridaman was helping with the painting and did an outstanding job as usual.
View attachment 195494

What is Ospho?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Thanks for adding the picture showing the gap between the thru hull and the bunk!

 

[Floridaman79]

Here is another view of the livewell pickup. The boat is still jacked up with the trailer underneath so there is a gap, but it shows relationship forward and aft to the livewell pickup and the slides.

 

[Floridaman79]

What is Ospho?

Some sort of chemical that converts red oxide to something suitable for painting over. It serves a similar purpose to naval jelly. Sorry I cant explain the chemical conversion I am just a consumer of it. Down here in my area it is readily available. And, btw, Ace hardware was half the cost of west marine.

 

[Floridaman79]

Wow great job. If I understand, the missing/open black section on the starboard side of the stern bunk is where the livewell pickup is and that’s what causes the low fender interference on the port side. How thick are the black pads?
How long did this take?

Hope I don’t get to do this anytime soon. Although I’m in SWFL, I launch in a brackish river on my way out to the gulf. Again super job!

So the fender clearance issue is a point of debate on the forum. I do know anecdotally that the weight of the batteries on the port side causes a list that can be balanced out by the livewell, but I also think the boat resting on that pickup keeps the boat from centering on the bunks when pulled out of the water. Regardless, I believe that it is worth getting the weight off of that pickup. I cant believe that boats are being delivered like that. Now that i have a setup to test my theory ill be able to load the boat with no water in the livewell, pull it out and see if the boat centers like I think it should.