Trailer advice please

[CSTANARD]

I am in the process of purchasing a 26' Tollycraft. The boat is heavy at 9,000lbs and comes with my choice of trailers. Both are in decent shape. Here are my choices:

- 15,000lb capacity, galvanized, surge brakes

- 15,000lb capacity, non-galvanized, electric brakes

My truck has the electric brake controller option. The boat will be used primarily in fresh water but an annual trip to salt water is in the cards as well. Should I choose the galvanized trailer for that reason alone? I am open to upgrading the brakes as well.

A little help would be appreciated.

[Flot]

Once upon a time I bought a painted double jetski trailer. I thought man it looked a lot better than all those ugly galvanized trailers I always had.

The trailer was 3 years old - it looked brand new. I put it through another season at the lake - still looked brand new. So 4 years old and still looking sharp.

Took it to Florida for 3 months. At the end of 3 months of being dunked in the salt and religiously rinsed and sprayed with WD-40 afterwards, the trailer suddenly looked 4 years old. After another year, it was looking positively rusty all over.

So, in retrospect... galvanized or even better aluminum is the way to go. My current 30' trailer is alum with stainless hardware, and it shows zero signs of age.

[ReelWork]

There is no question in my mind here - get the Galvanized with the surge brakes!

[CSTANARD]

That's exactly what I am going to do! Thanks for the input.

[rwidman]

ReelWork - 9/24/2006 4:20 PM

There is no question in my mind here - get the Galvanized with the surge brakes!