My Mom sent a pic of their trailer they luckily found at a stop on the way up to Gunflint.
Got me thinking is there any way to avoid this? Always try to make something a learning experience, other than stress marks, how would one tell this may happen? Boat is a early 90s 1650 Tyee
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Not sure but glad they found it when they did. If that failed at 65 mph’s it could have been real bad.
For that to happen I’d say there had to be some sort of event or there’s too much tounge weight. I’ve never seen or heard of that.
I’m not sure how you’d go about checking every inch of your trailer for stress cracks. Not possible. Might as well do the same with your boat and truck too. Not possible. You’d never leave the driveway.
That said, I’ll bet you and your parents will be looking for this every time. Not sure what to tell you other than looking for the root cause.
I would certainly want to check the balance of that trailer and make sure it is not very front heavy or light. That doesn’t look like a corrosion-related failure to me at least from what’s visible in the picture, it looks like metal fatigue caused by stress.
Other places where failures happen:
– On older tilt bed trailers, the pivot point can break or be “guillotined” off causing the trailer tongue to separate from the rest of the trailer. The bolt can break, but also the metal can tear where the bolt goes through.
I have actually had this happen to me, but luckily the bolt broke upon pulling the empty trailer out after launching. On the road had the failure happened it would have been very, very bad.
– Bolts holding the axle to the leaf spring or the leaf spring to the bracket. Again, failure would be very, very bad.
– Inspect the trailer for breaks at welds and at bend points where the metal was stressed during production. I had a trailer that broke at both points where the Y of the trailer went back to form the bed. The metal members there were bent to form this corner and apparently that was a stress point that eventually failed on both sides and had to be reinforced with a welded on gusset plate. One failure happened on the way back from Canada. Luckily we had a cordless drill with and were able to drill the steel and bolt the trailer frame back together well enough to limp home.
The biggest thing I’ve seen is that dealers and OEMs these days are packaging trailers that are WAY undersized for the real-world weight of the boats they are carrying in order to lowball the price. With the HUGE amount of weight that guys are adding to boats AFTER purchase these days, the trailer should only be decided on after rigging, not as part of some “package” that never gets thought about even though the owner specs max HP, 7 batteries, a 4 stoke 15 HP kicker, a front and rear trolling motor, anchor poles, built in cooler, etc, etc, etc… Not hard at all to add over a ton a weight to a boat these days.
Grouse
looks like it failed in the weakest area of the hitch,bending and stamping can leave sharp edges where cracks will start.
so glad it didnt turn out worse!!!
as mentioned,tongue weight is a factor here as well as severe jolts.
was this a factory hitch? or a cheap replacement one??
I only ask as you have to look at the weight rating of the hitch regardless of the size of the ball it fits on.
example,one hitch might be rated for a 1500 pound total trailer weight that will be used on a 17/8 ball and the better ones are rated for more heavy duty exceeding five thousand pounds total weight.
remember that tongue weight and total weight are two different things.
Not sure on the factory trailer or not. My Mom’s husband bought it this spring, old Lund, but wonderfully maintained. The trailer was the only cheesy part I saw, and not in the beefiness of it, but all the little stuff. Safety chain was rope, same as what attached to crank. Back tow straps were just as small. Didn’t think to look at the weight figures on the ball receptacle. That Tyee is only a 1650 but she’s a tank.
Good lesson, checking the ratings for ALL the components is a good thing. Thanks fellas 
Some times shiite happens. Over explanation of why shiite happens never resolves the question why it happened resolving one to scratch ones head and say I guess shiitte just happens. 
Simplistic thinking? Yes. Look at the world around us, explain that. Na, I think your on the right track on the hitch thingy.
Not sure on the factory trailer or not. My Mom’s husband bought it this spring, old Lund, but wonderfully maintained. The trailer was the only cheesy part I saw, and not in the beefiness of it, but all the little stuff. Safety chain was rope, same as what attached to crank. Back tow straps were just as small. Didn’t think to look at the weight figures on the ball receptacle. That Tyee is only a 1650 but she’s a tank.
Good lesson, checking the ratings for ALL the components is a good thing. Thanks fellas
Yikes… 
Was it the original trailer? That would be aged, and alot would depend on how many miles it was trailered and if over rougher roads. That is the exact boat I just bought last fall and yes somewhat deceiving, it is a tank! Irony though, mine came with a brand new trailer and the majority of the time I go less than a 1/4 mile to put it in the water.
Some times shiite happens. Over explanation of why shiite happens never resolves the question why it happened resolving one to scratch ones head and say I guess shiitte just happens.
Simplistic thinking? Yes. Look at the world around us, explain that. Na, I think your on the right track on the hitch thingy.
Pretty sure I understand what you are getting at, but this could’ve hurt or killed someone. Usually a reasonable investigation in to what caused it is well worth while.
I kinda figured what I wrote could be interpreted differently as intentioned. No sarcasm intented, just a different perspective at looking at things with a twist.
Thankyou for the lecture of the obvious. Sometimes when one gets set up with a lob in front of the plate its hard not to swing at it, I get that.
I kinda figured what I wrote could be interpreted differently as intentioned. No sarcasm intented, just a different perspective at looking at things with a twist.
Thankyou for the lecture of the obvious. Sometimes when one gets set up with a lob in front of the plate its hard not to swing at it, I get that.
So what was your point here really? Some kind of lesson for the rest of us, or just for your own amusement? 
Andy Cox
That is half step away from a really bad day. Stress fracture right at the top of the cross shaft of the coupler? Could be from braking and the underjaw hitting the cross shaft and the boat being “marginally” to heavy for the trailer.
Agree with what Grouse was saying about boat trailers.
At least the safety chains were crossed.
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