Eric’s Blog

I unwittingly started a new project today. We were going to take the boat up to the mechanic to have new tires and brakes put on the trailer along with some other things we needed done for the boat.

I like to do things a little at a time instead of one long, drawn-out project, so last night, we put air in the tires, hooked up the boat battery and put the stern drive up so we could trailer her up the road a-ways.

This morning, we hooked the truck up to the trailer, checked all the lights and tie-downs, then proceeded to trailer the boat.

We made it about 10 meters away from the house before we realized there was a serious problem. One of the tires on the trailer wasn’t turning. We had dragged the boat trailer out of our gravel driveway digging deep trenches all along the way onto the street in front of our house and made it as far as the house next door before we stopped, tried to troubleshoot, and figure out what to do.

Towing a boat is stressful by itself. Having problems with a boat that you’re trailering is even worse. Being stuck along the side of the road with a boat trailer you’ve had problems with is the absolute worst.

Since we were so close to the house, I suggested putting the boat back in the driveway where we could take a closer look at things. Mind you, we’re not always good in stressful situations, both Adrianne and I were doing our best to stay calm while we were freaking out on the inside.

I backed the boat into the driveway with the tire still seized up, Adrianne directed me into our driveway. I wound up putting the truck in four-wheel drive to get the boat far enough up the driveway so that the truck wasn’t sticking out into the street. The trailer just didn’t want to move and I couldn’t get enough traction from the back tires on the loose gravel. Luckily, the four-wheel-drive did the trick. We got the boat and truck safely into the driveway.

We started looking at what we needed to do. Adrianne tried calling several friends that have more mechanical experience than I do, but they didn’t offer up much help, or they had other things going on and couldn’t break away to lend a hand. We could have tried to taking the trailer further up the road but I thought it was better to deal with things in our driveway than somewhere on the side of the road halfway to the mechanic.

After some calming exercises and a bit of online research, I went to the auto parts store and came back with a 2-ton jack and two, 2-ton jack stands, a four-way tire iron, two wheel blocks, a can of liquid wrench, and a creeper. You know, the little things that the mechanics lay down on and roll under cars to work on them. It was a pretty good deal actually, all of it totalling $85. My plan was to figure out what was going on behind the wheel that I couldn’t readily see, then I was going to go from there.

It took some time, a lot of patience, some heat from the torch, a lot of liquid wrench, and my pneumatic tools dialed up to 150 psi, but eventually, I got all five lug-nuts off the problem tire.

My verdict; I think the brakes had seized the last time we put the boat away (about five years ago). They sat there compressed against the disc in the weather and wound up being welded together due to the corrosion.

After getting the trailer jacked up, getting the lug-nuts off, and removing the tire, I wasn’t sure how to go about the next step of taking off the brake-pads, caliper, and disc. I couldn’t get the thing to budge. I started tapping between the brake-pads and the disc and got it loose. I actually got it to turn several full revolutions before calling it quits for the day. That’s another reason I think it was the brake-pads and not the axle.

Tomorrow, I’m heading out to pick up a couple more hex-wrenches so I can disconnect the caliper from the disc and brake-pads. Then, I’ll take a look at everything and figure out what is actually happening.

We talked things over and I think I’m going to do the rest of the work myself instead of relying on the mechanic to do it for us. He said he wouldn’t be able to get to it until the second week of June anyway. This will give me something to do, some problems to figure out along the way, and hopefully, it will help us save money getting the boat up and running. I’ll likely be able to get it running in a couple of weeks instead of a month. By then, I hope Virginia will open the boat ramps and we’ll be able to enjoy some time out on the water together.

This was really stressful, but I’m proud of the communication that we were able to have with one another. Remembering how I behave in stressful situations allows me to recognize triggers, then adapt and overcome stress instead of letting the stress get the better of me and snapping at the family.

Boats are a lot of work; I wasn’t planning on doing this myself, but now that I’ve gotten started, I think it’s going to be a good thing to do myself. I’ll keep you posted as I go along and work the problems that I’m sure I’ll encounter. Wish me luck.