To those of you who continually fish open water during the winter: How do you take care of your boat when trailering it home during the winter? Do you wash your boat after you get it home from a trip? What effects does the road salt during winter cause on the boat itself?
The boat will be fine (aluminum doesn’t rust), its the trailer than can take the brunt of things. A galvanized trailer is tough to beat but if you have a regular painted, a rinse-off at the car wash is about all you can do beyond making sure your mud flaps on the truck are in good shape or installing one of those rock deflectors that run the width of the back of the tow vehicle.
James, thanks for the information. These things cost so much that I’d rather take care of them so they last a long time.
Dan
Back last spring, I put a post out there as to how I spec’d out my boat as one that I was going to keep for myself. A galvanized trailer was a must. I saw Hook’s trailer, it is a 1999 model. If you saw it, you would swear it was new! Nothing like a 2 year old boat on a rusty trailer! It is money well spent. When the road slop gets to thick, I will go to the car wash, and hit it with the brush to take it off. If you have a painted trailer, I would wash it a number of times per winter, but no way you will keep up with the rust. It will catch up with you regardless. If you let the dirt and salt build up enough, you wont see the rust! 
Hi guys, reviving an old thread here because I’m wondering about trailers that aren’t galvanized but have more than standard paint (skeeter, ranger, yar). Do these coated trailers offer more protection against road salt compared to standard painted?
The finish on a trailer is normally as cheap as you can find. Though they may put a “heavy coat” of paint on it, the paint is the lessor of all features.
I’ve put thousands of winter miles on my trailer between running down south and to the various harbors on lake MI. Regardless of where, my rig has suffered the consequences of salt and Calcium Chloride Flake.
I wish I would have stripped the trailer to begin with and had it powder coated. That would have held up better to the rocks and chips in the paint. As for bolts/nuts, chains, tongue jack, light screws…..just accept that eventually you’ll need to replace them or live with the rust.
As for the boat, I’ve had a few issues I contribute to the salt and road crap.
* some of the screws in my console rusted up /and or corroded up
* Some electrical connections corroded up
* Few parts on the steering cable were corroded up
* Lures left on the carpet on the deck had hooks rust up awfully fast
There are products like Salt-A-Way that do a great job of neutralizing the salt/corrosion on anything metal and aluminum isn’t exempt. Trailers, trailer brakes and boat can have protected surfaces but not all surfaces are protected. Trailers with tube steel frames can only be protected on the outside. When ocean fishing, there isn’t a single time that I don’t flush and rinse everything with Salt-A-Way or a similar product.
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