Aluminum or Galvanized?

[Skools Out]

if you want to see just watch an aluminum trailer with a boat going down the highway, watch it flex and then watch a steel one. 1 thing i didn't like about the aluminum ones i've had they will float without a boat at the ramps due to the tires an air under the fenders, then you run the keel into the trailer and hope the trailer goes down without hurting the boat. both will rot just wash the trailer after being in salt as you do the boat. the aluminum trailer will corrode away around the stainless bolts then they pull threw the trailer frame. one reason you see alot of aluminum trailers with hugh fender washers fixing where they have either cracked or corroded away around the bolts. and remember no matter what you buy the axles all have steel spindles and hubs, and steel springs unless torsion then it has spring steel inside the torsion axle, so really no difference in the axle area. plus don't forget what happens to your lower units after salt use they get brittle as so will that trailer even faster since they aren't painted.

[phatdaddy]

skools is correct about the floating issue. i ended up filling 2 6' pieces of 3"pvc with sakrete and tie wrapping them to the inside if the al I-beam. i also put a "sprinkler system" under my trailer in the boat shed and have it on a timer. when ever i back the boat in i turn it on for 10 minutes while i clean up the inside. it helps ,but i still have to replace hubs & rims every 4/5 years. if you dip it in salt water and set it in a hot parking lot for6 to 8 hours, it will rot.

[nipper]

I have torsion axles on my galvanized trailer.

[phatdaddy]

nipper, i've wondered why you couldn't do that.
rabbit fish, if you need rollers, i think you will be going with galvanized, but if bunks are ok, then al would be my vote.

[woodbutcher]

The last time I had to replace an axle. Dicky Fields told me to keep a spray bottle of (sugar water) and spray down the trailer after I put the boat in the water. He said that will neutralize the salt thus reducing the rust. I must confess I have never done it So I can not confirm this statment. I traded that boat for my V shortly after replacing the axle.

[bradford]

I've had both and aluminum wins with me. Saltwater will rust tupperware.

[spareparts]

I asked this question at the local trailer shop yesterday. He told me he'll replace a rusted axle on an aluminum trailer, but will not on a tubular galvinized. His point being, the axle is made out of the same stuff the rest of the trailer is made out of, its not worth putting an axle under a trailer that is probably in the same shape as the axle. Glavinized trailers are disposable. However, he did say c channel galvinized to tend to last much longer than tubular

[shaneburris74]

Originally Posted by bradford

I've had both and aluminum wins with me. Saltwater will rust tupperware.

SO funny and SO true. You gotta fight the battle..but just know your never gonna win it. My father-in-law told me about an old shrimper he knew down here. He ran galvanized trailers. He would take waterproof wheel bearing grease and paint it all over this trailer. It made the trailer messy as hell.....but it NEVER rusted. Not a bad thought really, if you can stand the mess...just stay off the trailer.