Blow Out on the Expressway

[Wolverine]

I should have known. Things were falling into place too easily. The new headlights installed in the truck without a problem. The new trailer lights, VHF antenna, and electrical control panel arrived early and installed easily. Now, 134 miles into a 930 mile trip the starboard tire that is only 5 years old and has less than 3,000 miles on it blew out. The fender is crumpled and gouged the hull, and the new trailer light is destroyed. Waiting for Boat U.S. towing assist to show. It's going to be a long day.

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[Riley Smith]

 

[Captain Kidd]

Yep, if something doesn't go wrong, something is wrong! LOL!

My worst road incident happened early on in my sailing career - like one year into it. I took a trip and failed to grease my hubs (on my old/new to me boat). An hour into the trip I lost a wheel off the trailer. Ever seen a 23' boat and trailer on a rollback? Well, I have.

Spent a day and a night getting two axles replaced.

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Then there was the time my fender about fell off. I heard it rattling, stopped, and cinched it up with a ratchet strap to get home with no more issues. Was able to properly fix it then.

Sorry for your troubles!

[Dave Scobie]

Bummer about the travel challenges.

Trailer tires rarely ever need replacement because of mileage. It is all about age and local temperatures. 3-5 years at most. Use the shorter replacement schedule the more hot and humid local conditions.

Take careful note of a tire's manufacturing date, stamped on the sidewall, as it is possible to have a 'new' that is really 'old' because it sat in the dealer's inventory for many years.

Another thing to check is that.the tires are appropriate for the weight of trailer + boat + stuff in boat.  For a larger boat on a single axle trailer be especially careful. Weighing your set-up at a truck scale is recommended.

[Wolverine]

Waited 3 1/2 hours before we were back on the road. Today while on the road a semi driver let us know the port side trailer light was dragging. No real damage to the light, but the license plate is a little worm. I zip tied it on and we made to southern IL this evening.

[Noemi - Ensenada 20]

If it's not one thing, it's all the things. 

Good luck on the rest of the trip!

[Norm L.]

That first post made me feel pretty bad for you. I'm glad there was a quick recovery.
I won't tell the full story but I was driving a foreign car a not so common model on the NY Turnpike on a Saturday morning when it started missing. Up ahead, far from any town was an off ramp and I coasted down. At the bottom there was nothing but a small country road and a beat up old wooden building with a sign Foreign Car Repairs. But no cars or signs of life.

Since I had no options anyway, I knocked at the door. A guy came to the door, heard the problem, looked out at the car and went over to a dirty shelf and pulled the exact electric fuel pump for the car. In 30 minutes, I was on my way to Boston, St. Augustine, The Keys, and on to San Diego.
That probably cut my future Good Luck options to about zero.

I hope your good luck runs for along time into the future.

[Noemi - Ensenada 20]

In 30 minutes, I was on my way

Whoa.  Talk about luck!