Why all the aluminum trailer bashing?

MonacoMike

MonacoMike

Well-Known Member
Sep 15, 2009
14,721
Indiana lakes and Lake Michigan
Boat Info
2000 Cruisers 3870
8.2 Mercs
Engines
85 Sea Ray Monaco 197
260hp Alpha 1
We recently have had a damaged aluminum trailer discussion and a tire discussion in another thread. (I'm on blackberry can't link). Many of the heaviest duty trailers in transportation and industry are aluminum. Why all the aluminum trailer bashing?

There are well built steel and aluminum trailers. There are also poorly built trailers of all construction. A properly engineered, built, and loaded aluminum trailer will perform well, so I don't believe aluminum is at fault in your complaints.

The fault most likely lies on the end purchaser's door step. Price not quality is king, so therefore dealers and manufacturers give us the "deal" we say we want. An aluminum trailer is no place to skimp. Its corrosion resistance makes this a lifetime trailer when well built and maintained.

I have a 15 year old Magic Tilt trailer that was worthy of upgrading to electric-
hydraulic disc brakes on all three axles. The beams are massive, much unlike the earlier poster with trailer damage.

It seems as if some who would be up in arms over a Sea Ray vs. Bayliner comparison want to treat all aluminum trailers the same. I think this does a great disservice to quality aluminum trailers.

MM
 
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Not all trailers are rated equally. Aluminum and steel have different characteristic in performance. That being said the rated capacity and set up are critical for both. Many don't understand that the rated overall capacity is trailer and load together while the rated weight capacity is exactly that, how much the load weighs.

Things like height of the load, center of the load and front to back weight ratio greatly affect both steel and aluminum trailers.

Whether steel or aluminum, make sure price isn't driving the purchase. I've always bought one size larger than the boat rated weight because I know I'm going to take stuff with me on the boat and stuff weighs.
 
I would take a properly constructed aluminum trailer over my current steel if I had a choice. I have a 28' aluminum gooseneck horse trailer with living quarters that I expect to last a long, long time.
 
OldSkool: Seems like a good plan to me, and I have over capacity as well. I would add that trailering of larger boats 260s-270s is certainly extreme rough duty in that there are rarely any empty haul back miles, just maybe a little lighter from fuel burn and beer drinking. Also agree with the fact few trailers are as top heavy as the big boat trailers center of gravity. This is all the more reason to buy quality over low pricing. :thumbsup:

Quint4: That has always been my understanding. When we had livestock trailers on the farm we always wanted aluminum if we could afford it. :thumbsup:

So, my main point was, why the over generalized bashing??? :smt021

MM
 
I have seen a lot of "price point" aluminum trailers lately. It would appear some are under built to meet the low price objective.
 
Not bashing aluminum at all (and btw, I heard Magic Tilt is one of the best) but it seems that there are more bargain basement aluminum builders than there are in the steel business. My assumption is that aluminum trailers are built more often as a "one-size fits all models - of a certain weight and length but steel are typically built to order for a particular hull. Does that sound right? At least that was my experience when shopping them. That possibly being the case you see more aluminum out there so statistically there will be more issues. But what do I know! I would have loved to have had a more custom fitted aluminim for ease of long term care but I just really liked the loading and support of my steel trailer.
 
mike; if you saw the pix the OP posted of the caved in trailer it wasn't pretty.

we looked at that same brand trailer this spring when shopping for a trailer for the 310. the price was attractive and i could have been posting the same pix. i'm not because i didn't feel they had enough cross bracing for the big I beams in the back of the trailer.

i got a 4 axle steel.

i think cheap aluminum are more likely to fail because aluminum isn't as tolerant to poor design or poor welding as steel. i don't think has any thing to do with aluminum. per say. i'm not sure its worth the price, to get the quality of aluminum trailer needed for the size trailers most use here. the good ones are high dollar trailers.

for most the trailer is a price point and cheap alu. trailers have a bad rep.
 
4 axle?......wow, how do you turn that monster around without removing the rear tires from the rims?
 
it really worked nice. i'm glad the guys at metal craft in salt lake talked me into it.
in addition it has electric over hydraulic breaks on all axles

it doesn't drag any worse than the 3 axles i'v seen but i haven't gotten into any where i have had to turn that sharp yet. so far i haven't drug the back around at all.
it's rated at 20,000 lb.
 
I initially thought of getting a new trailer in place of the 15 year old because it seemed I could get one for the near value of my old one plus the brakes. I then started looking at trailers at the launches and failed to see near the strength mine has so I decided to keep and update it

You would need a F550 to pull 4 axles around a tight corner???

MM
 
i made it from mead to bull frog at powell, 600 or so miles in good shape with our dura max 2500 HD. averaged 8 miles to the gal, on fuel. i get 13 mpg pulling the 230. i wish now i had a 3 axle under the week ender.



i should add; i cheated on this trailer because i helped a guy pull a 340 or 360 last fall with about the same trailer we ended up getting. i had to turn pretty sharp with it and was surprised then, at how it handled. so i had a good idea of what to expect as ours was smaller
 
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there was a guy last week with a broken down trailer and i posted back to see where he was for sure. our trailer is just setting in dry storage at BF. i watched but did see a post back.
 
Four Suns said:
It's spelled "per se"... It's a latin phrase meaning "by itself"... But then again, your mother misspelled your first name.
Click to expand...
thank you. i didnt know that.
she spelled it gary. i wanted to be different and added the extra r.

i think thats what you ment.
 
garryowen said:
thank you. i didnt know that.
she spelled it gary. i wanted to be different and added the extra r.

i think thats what you ment.
Click to expand...

That is what I ment.

I think an "i" instead of "y" would have been better... sorta like "Candy" vs. "Candi"

Gari.
 
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:grin:garry goes good with gerry and you really have to watch which one of us is posting.
like she posts much any way:thumbsup:
 
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