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Surfer
05-11-2007, 08:13 AM
I learned a big lesson last night....I put all my efforts into keeping the boat as tight as possible, and left the trailer for later. The big lesson, axils rot from the inside out, check your trailer. Thankfully I did not roll the boat, the wheel let go at 30MPH, but superior driving skills kept it stright. Inspect your trailer often, trailer parts are cheap, you never want to see your boat on a flatbed...thats a whole other story.:smash:

Kirbyvv
05-11-2007, 10:21 AM
I hit a pot hole and broke a leaf spring on I-81 in Pennsylvania on Friday night of Labor Day weekend. Axle dropped back into the wheel well, trashed the tire, but didn't loose the boat. Got to spend a night and full day in Frackville, PA. This was when I had just purchased the boat, met the boat in PA and was bringing it home.

BUIZILLA
05-11-2007, 10:36 AM
I can relate to the PA I-81 thingy.... last summer I went this way coming back from LG.... and we broke 3 cabinet drawer slides, toppled a chair, shuffled the basement goodies, broke a glass door latch, and a curtain hangar in my coach, and cracked the aluminum tow bar for my Jeep, in a matter of a few miles, now this coach has been to Vancouver and back from FLA, with not a rattle.... until we got to PA roads... we had to stop in Knoxville the next day, and get everything we broke in PA fixed, before we could go on, that killed a whole day... i'll NEVER go thru there again...

:eek!:

chappy
05-11-2007, 01:44 PM
"Pennsylvania Potholes", I never knew what that meant until I moved here. Our roads are the worst of any state or commonwealth I've ever driven in.:frown:
Rich
P.S. Nice save not rolling the boat Surfer:yes:

Cuda
05-11-2007, 03:31 PM
I broke an axle on my fishboat (single axle trailer) a few years ago when we were headed to the Suwannee to go scalloping. I was on US 19, they were doing a bunch of repaving, so there were places where new paving met where they ground off the top of the old paving, and there were bumps at all of them. Luckily, I wasn't going fast, and manged to get it into a brand new just blacktopped parking lot. Mind you, it was on July 3rd. That lot was unbearably hot. I had to drive back 40 miles to get everything to rebuild the entire undercarriage right there in the lot. I had to go twice, because I didn't have all the measurements. 8.5 hours later, we were headed back up to the Suwannee. If you're ever driving through the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge, and the water is way down, you might see a broken axle, leaf springs and hangers in a road ditch.

hardcrab
05-11-2007, 03:47 PM
"Pennsylvania Potholes", I never knew what that meant until I moved here. Our roads are the worst of any state or commonwealth I've ever driven in.:frown:
Rich
P.S. Nice save not rolling the boat Surfer:yes:
Ain't THAT the truth !

You can tell where the state line is without any roadsigns.

need for speed
05-11-2007, 04:35 PM
I can relate to the PA I-81 thingy.... last summer I went this way coming back from LG.... and we broke 3 cabinet drawer slides, toppled a chair, shuffled the basement goodies, broke a glass door latch, and a curtain hangar in my coach, and cracked the aluminum tow bar for my Jeep, in a matter of a few miles, now this coach has been to Vancouver and back from FLA, with not a rattle.... until we got to PA roads... we had to stop in Knoxville the next day, and get everything we broke in PA fixed, before we could go on, that killed a whole day... i'll NEVER go thru there again...
:eek!:


And I tought I would go up to LG that way this year ....I will Have to watch out for those bad spots

BUIZILLA
05-11-2007, 07:31 PM
NFS... I think Air22 and Danny Boy fixed me up with better directions this time around, we'll talk as time gets closer..

Dr. Dan
05-12-2007, 05:52 AM
NFS... I think Air22 and Danny Boy fixed me up with better directions this time around, we'll talk as time gets closer..

:bonk: Yep, James is correct.... can you imagine driving over 50,000 miles a year in this state? I do it all of the time... but I have learned the best routes, the lanes with the least Pot Holes and where the Boys hide with the Radar Guns! As for the Trailer ... well some years back our original Trailer decided to split itself in two peices on the way home from the Chesapeake one weekend. Never realized it until I was giving the Donzi its "ritualistic after play bath", and as I inspected the boat and trailer...I realized the damn Keel had ridden home on the Trailer Axles, the Trailer had failed and had rusted in the two main front cross members.... such a deal? As I couldn't afford to get a new $4000 Trailer... we went to a Trailer Place and created a Terminator Trailer.... rebuilt, Thru Bolted Plates... it was Mr. Destructo for a couple more years...

Now I am a spoiled brat on the "Performance Custom Trailer" from Lake George New York! This thing is like a Porsche carrying the Donzi, Dual Torsion Axles each with Disc Brakes, Twin Spare Carriers, and a tad of Diamond Plate Bling to accent the Jet Black Paint and the LED Lights, to top it off I had the Main Beams Sealed to eliminate and no internal wiring...only two cross members will have to be replaced should I ever go that route... but odds are... I will just buy another...:wink:

I have the best shortcuts thru this ridiculous state highway system.... what aggrivates this entire condition is the Carlisle, Pa is considered one of the largest National Trucking Distribution Hubs ... probably on the Planet! As it turns out...(bit O Trivia here) Carlisle , Pa is within a days drive or 10 hours of over 70% of the U.S. most populated areas. From Chicago,Kansas City/St. Louis, Atlanta,Boston, NYC, Washington D.C., Detroit....its pretty ridiculous!

As a result the T-Pike, and definitely I-81 which is one of the most if not the most heavily Traveled Trucking Distribution Lanes in the U.S., these roads get chewed up....

Good Luck and Safe Driving this Summer!

Doc of Navigational Fortitude :wink:

BUIZILLA
05-12-2007, 06:24 AM
I will say that when we got down to MD, and all through VA and TN, I-81 was absolutely s_m_o_o_t_h as a baby's butt, and real nice scenery, but 78 and 81 flat out suck north of there....