Trailer brakes PIA

[Geekie1]

I just completed a complete overhaul of my trailer. As you can see, my brakes were total corrosion. What I replaced were:

Surge brake coupler, jack, steel brake lines with SS brake lines, all brake assemblies and remounted brakes with ss nuts & bolts. I also replaced the equalizers and mounting bolts with SS. I am now replacing all 32 rollers with non-marking EZ Loader rollers because the old rollers were marking the hull.




Yeah, I know, why replace drum brakes with drum brakes. At the time, money was a bigger issue than now and Eastern Marine was having a sale on drum brake assemblies. I highly recommend Eastern Marine for both price and support. I also recommend Champion trailer but I am only about 100 miles up I95 from Eastern Marine and delivery in most cases is next day.




This picture shows the addition of a 24 gallon plastic fuel tank that I installed in the live bail well. The reason I installed the tank was that the original live bait well was more like a dead bait well. Another reason for the addition of the 24 gallon tank was my main tank (60 gallons) was leaking and needed replacement. I now have 84 gallons capacity. Filling up the boat for an offshore fishing trip is a heart stopping experience for a cheapskate like me!!! I am seriously considering installing a kicker and if I do, the 24 gallon tank will be for the kicker and the 60 for the big Yammie!




Geek

[jasoncooperpcola]

What size tank fits into the V20's livewell? Is there a v belly tank that fits in it? Usually we put a 5 gallon gas can on each side of the splashwell. During the last tournament though we totally ran outta gas. And like Geekie1 said our livewell is a dead leaky well. :o

[macojoe]

Nice brake job geek!! But let me ask, why drums again instead of disk??
i would think that disk is a better set up, doesn't hold the water in as much?

[Geekie1]

The 24 gallon plastic tank is a Tempo permanent tank. I bought it from Eastern Marine. Cost $125. It fits in the live bait well with little modification. As you can see, the fill pipe and vent pipe are above deck. and lead to a second filler and vent in the gunnels. I am casting a cover out of fiberglass to cover the hoses onboard. Since the pipes are sort of under my helmseat, I haven't tripped on them yet.

I looked everywhere for a ready made belly tank to replace my 60 gallon tank. The only ready made belly tank that would fit in the below floor space was a 29 gallon tank. It was a Moeller or a Todd. The reason the larger belly tanks would not fit was the deadrise (angle) of the deep vee hull. The deadrise on the V20 is about 22 degrees and the angle on the ready made belly tanks was about 15 degrees. The larger ready made belly tanks (45, 55 gallon) would extend above the floor which was unacceptable to me. A custom fabricated aluminum 60 gallon tank cost me about $600.

As I said above, I would have rather had disc brakes than drum, but money was an issue. I have found out since then that disc brakes on only one axle is more than enough for my rig. My understanding is that if you replace the 4 wheel drum brakes with 2 wheel disk brakes on a tandom trailer that the disc brakes should be installed on the rear axle. If you install them on the front axle, the braking action will make the trailer very unstable. If I knew that at the time, I would have bought 2 disc brake assm's which would have cost me alittle more than the 4 drum assm's!

I have about 3-4 other ongoing V20 projects at present. They are:

Rod box refurbishment.
Teak refinishing
Stainless steel bimini top frames with ss fittings
Power winch

Geek

[Hammerhead]

ThanX Gents.
The liabilty issue is very real for me but, after considering everything I ditched the brakes for now. They were drum and a bear to pull off due to'm being so rusted and expanded. I will however replace'm with a set of disk brakes sooner than later.

To Geekie,...Make sure ya flush the insides of the drums out after use in saltwater,...then drive'm around a little to dry. ( Those were instructions from the trailer manuf ).