Keeping Your Boat Trailer From Rotting Away

Park the trailer on a flat surface. If you can, do this on the grass if your salt wash is biodegradable, otherwise, the driveway is fine. Just make sure you've got room to crawl around.

Safety first, mate. Chuck some bricks or proper chocks behind the tyres. You don't want the thing rolling while you're messing with the winch.

Pull out about a metre or two of your winch strap or cable. Salt gets trapped in the layers of the strap and rots it from the inside out.

Get your pressure washer and give the whole frame a massive soak. Start from the front (the hitch) and work your way back. Pay special attention to the 'C' channel or box sections where mud and salt sit.

Mix up your salt wash. I usually use a foam cannon if I'm feeling lazy, but a pump sprayer works too. Drench the leaf springs, the axles, and the inside of the wheels. Let it dwell for 5-10 minutes (don't let it dry in the sun though).

Leaf springs are the first thing to fail. Use your wire brush to get between the leaves. If you see red dust coming out, that's rust eating the metal. Give it a good scrub.

If you've got trailer brakes, they need a serious flush. Salt loves to hide in the calipers or drums. Use heaps of fresh water here. I once had a customer whose brakes seized solid halfway to Forster because he never flushed the drums (cost him a fortune in repairs).

Feel the hubs. If you've just come off the road, they should be warm, not hot. Pop the caps on your Bearing Buddies. If the grease looks milky, water has got in. You'll need to repack them. If not, just give them a couple of pumps of marine grease until the piston moves.

Look for 'tea staining', that brownish discolouration on the galvanising. It's the first sign the zinc is giving up. If you find deep rust, you might need to sand it back and hit it with some cold gal spray.

Grease the gears on the winch. I reckon people forget this until the handle snaps off in their hand. Also, wind your jockey wheel all the way up and down and hit the thread with some Lanolin.

Trailer tyres usually rot from UV before they wear out from driving. Look for cracks in the sidewalls (the 'missus test', if she wouldn't feel safe, change them). Set them to the right pressure, usually 45-60 psi depending on the load.

Plug it into the car and check your indicators and brake lights. Clean the plug pins with a bit of WD-40 or contact cleaner. If the lights are flickering, check the ground wire, it's usually just a loose screw on the frame.

This is my secret weapon. Once the trailer is dry, spray Lanotec over the leaf springs, the bolts, and any exposed metal. It smells like a wet sheep for a day, but it creates a barrier that salt can't penetrate. Don't get it on the brake discs though!