New trailer for the Snowgoose!!!!

tod osier

Well-known member
Gold Sponsor
Got the new trailer for the Snowgoose and finally have it road worthy. Overall, I really like the build/design of this trailer. I would pay quite a bit more to have it built with more hot dipped hardware. I spent a lot of time removing plated hardware and replacing them with galvanized or stainless. Things like zinc plated safety chains and nearly all the fasteners were plated, which just gets eaten up in the salt. I like the size of a lot of the components, which are nicely oversized, in general. I love the clean build that will help getting it rinsed out well. The torsion axles are sweet and very resistant to rusting.

Rig ready for the road!
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Boat and trailer.
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I made new bunk boards. I ripped down 2x6s a bit to clean them up, but kept them at 5 inches vs 3 1/2.
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I always glue the carpet on, they last a lot better when glued (especially when the boat is frozen to the trailer and forced off when launching ;) ). I staple one side of the carpet along the bottom, apply glue to the inside, top and outside, and then wrap the carpet and finish stapling. Easy, fast and not too messy.
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Original bunk boards without and with the carpet removed to see how nice they were.
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I wanted to get the boat sitting low and in the trailer. I bought from Load Rite partly because they offer a 76 inch wide version that will accommodate the Snowgoose between the wheels.
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I had a spool roller that I really liked on the old trailer that accommodated my 3 inch wide keel runner, but the material did not hold up. It was 2 part design and the core was separating from the outside (can see a lump in pics). Not being able to find a quality urethane option in the shape I wanted, I had to go custom.
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Starting.
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Final.
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I was able to turn the urethane down to proper shape taking progressive passes with the table saw, rolling the roller in the little fixture I clamped the fence of the saw. Did not seem as sketchy as it looked and worked beautifully.
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On the trailer.
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We took the boat and trailer for a test run. The only hiccup was that one of the bearings was getting hot about 15 minutes into the trip. We turned around, tore it apart and, sure enough, the castle nut was too tight. I reset it and we made to the launch with cool bearings all around.

We put some time on the motor and were able to scoop up some crabs. We don not have crabs like Jode does, but late summer we can get a few this far north. We actually had a lot of action for us and ended up with a dozen keepers to pick for crab cakes. Scooping them is just motoring around docks and pilings on a falling tide looking for them to scoop (vs. the more common chicken neck on a string). Anyway, it is fun and exciting action trying to scoop them without hitting the bottom with the boat or a piling and fighting the current and trying to outsmart those mean little bastards.

Gus on the net.
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Our catch.
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Got this pic in an email yesterday!
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Tod,

Nice looking trailer. Ya know, they make a tool for working with round objects. You may have even heard of about this tool, it's called a lathe. You should get out more, sheesh.
 
I think the LoadRite was a good choice. I had one outlast the boat it was bought for, and still going. Your boat has a serious keel, the custom roller looks to be a great fit but I agree with Dave. Save your fingers, get a lathe.

Which one of the little wigglers is yours? Or do you choose in a few weeks? A new puppy is always fun, best of luck.
 
SJ Fairbank said:
I think the LoadRite was a good choice. I had one outlast the boat it was bought for, and still going. Your boat has a serious keel, the custom roller looks to be a great fit but I agree with Dave. Save your fingers, get a lathe.

Which one of the little wigglers is yours? Or do you choose in a few weeks? A new puppy is always fun, best of luck.

Good to know on the LoadRite, I like the build. My EZ loader the boat was sitting on is nearing 20 years at this point and in good shape other than where the frame bent when a U bolt gave way. It is in need of some TLC and more work than I want to put into a 20 year old trailer, so I figgured I'd send it down the road and get a new one.

We are 3rd on a male from the litter, going to be a busy fall!
 
Huntindave McCann said:
Tod,

Nice looking trailer. Ya know, they make a tool for working with round objects. You may have even heard of about this tool, it's called a lathe. You should get out more, sheesh.

I know about lathes, I even know I guy that is pretty good with one, but he isn't all that good a communicator, so I didn't bug him. ;)

I was pretty pleased with my ingenuity with that one, worked out pretty slick and all told took about 15 minutes.
 
Tod,

[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]"but he isn't all that good a communicator, so I didn't bug him." Ya , guilty as charged. I'm still struggling with ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I'll get back to you, might be a few more days.[/font]
[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]
[/font]
[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I'm actually hand digging a couple holes in my yard today to transplant a small (7ft tall) Maple tree and a smaller Poplar from the fence line. Working on my chiseled physique. [w00t][/font]
 
Huntindave McCann said:
Tod,

[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]"but he isn't all that good a communicator, so I didn't bug him." Ya , guilty as charged. I'm still struggling with ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I'll get back to you, might be a few more days.[/font]
[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]
[/font]
[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I'm actually hand digging a couple holes in my yard today to transplant a small (7ft tall) Maple tree and a smaller Poplar from the fence line. Working on my chiseled physique. [w00t][/font]

I'm just taking any opportunity to give you a hard time. No rush, I have all the time in the world. Lot of details we could discuss if it would help any.
 
Phil Nowack said:
You bringing that out to WI?

Probably going to have to be a tactical strike, travelling as light as an F250 can :). Right now, WI is a state that we would have to quarantine for 14 days were we to spend more than 24 hours there, so we are planning a quick in and out. Was planning a stop at the alma mater in Madison on the way, but with a positivity rate among students nearing 10%, I think we may have to reconsider that idea.
 
Beauti-ful savory swimmer in oil with homemade chipotle mayonnaise, garden beans and a nice brew. Hot diggity dang.

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Loadrite makes a great trailer. Picked up my 4th yesterday ,a 2008, used from facebook sales. Spent today putting new, longer bunks and adjusting them to the 15' ghenooe put on it. Don,t forget to pop off those wheels and slather some never seize on hub face and on wheel studs when you put them back on. If your dipping her in the salt it will make pulling that wheel down the road a lot easier. Even if you don,t get to hub on entry it saves a lot of heartbreak down the road. Loving their newer style axles with the grease zerks on the back side of hub . Sure makes it a lot easier to not blow out rear seal when greasing and no bearing buddy needed.
 
roy brewington said:
Loadrite makes a great trailer. Picked up my 4th yesterday ,a 2008, used from facebook sales. Spent today putting new, longer bunks and adjusting them to the 15' ghenooe put on it. Don,t forget to pop off those wheels and slather some never seize on hub face and on wheel studs when you put them back on. If your dipping her in the salt it will make pulling that wheel down the road a lot easier. Even if you don,t get to hub on entry it saves a lot of heartbreak down the road. Loving their newer style axles with the grease zerks on the back side of hub . Sure makes it a lot easier to not blow out rear seal when greasing and no bearing buddy needed.

Good to hear. There are a number of things I like with this trailer - the hubs are galvanized, I like that. I like your thought on the neverseize. Don't tell anyone, but I grease the contact area and the studs, I have for years and it has worked well for me although I know you are not supposed to grease them.

The new LoadRites have zerks in the spindle end hidden by a cap (not centered, offset a bit, but in the end), and the zerk is meant to push grease through from the inner to the outer. I have similar on my camper ( dexter EZ-Lube), but I don't use them since I've had issues with grease pass by the inner seal and contaminating the brake pads (and the inner seal is hidden by the brake backing plate when the hub is on, so you can't check). With these, the inner seal is exposed, so if there is leakage, it is easy to see and wipe up a little mess or change the seal if it gets bad. Dealer mechanic said pump a little in every couple trips.
 
Thats the same setup w/zerks in spindle my largest loadrite trailer has under 2072. 10 years old and going strong and easy to lube. The 2 I have now under Ghenooe and 1648 both have the back side of hub zirk. After making new bunks yesterday and fitting to ghenooe on used Loadrite I purchased sunday today I started to install new lights and lenghten plug wireng a bit. Unfortunately ran into an issue with some breaks inside frame some where and didn,t get lucky enough that old wireing still good . Just going to go ahead and rewire instead of chasing down the breaks. Now looking for 16 gauge marine wire in proper colors.
 
Very nice Tod. I have the same zerks on my Duckwater trailer. They are very handy. Especially if you trailer a lot. The ramp I use most is 35 miles one way, so 70 round trip and with 40+ trailering days ahead of me this season, it's nice to just pop the cap and squirt some grease in until it just starts to come back out. The only issue I have had is loosing the hub cap from frequent removal. I switched a couple dust/hub caps over to these
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Time will tell how often you can pull that rubber seal before you loose those. Congrats on the new trailer.
 
Troy Fields said:
Very nice Tod. I have the same zerks on my Duckwater trailer. They are very handy. Especially if you trailer a lot. The ramp I use most is 35 miles one way, so 70 round trip and with 40+ trailering days ahead of me this season, it's nice to just pop the cap and squirt some grease in until it just starts to come back out. The only issue I have had is loosing the hub cap from frequent removal. I switched a couple dust/hub caps over to these [.img]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcRrIOu4fi45ZDwU6EexZto3_BsazAJx0mw5VosWVKV-SRBzp1aB7KPiNDgzBOIGDmbDyzcEof8&usqp=CAc[/img]


Time will tell how often you can pull that rubber seal before you loose those. Congrats on the new trailer.

Thanks Troy. The factory caps have the rubber insert already (I think yours may be solid). I have a batch of caps like that from my dexter axles too with the rubber insert, I need to check the diameter to see if they will work, that would be nice, since I have several and a bunch of inserts.
 
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Dave Diefenderfer said:
Be careful when you run your finger around the inside of that cap, it will slice through the paper towel and your finger!

I cut the tip of a rubber glove clear off the first time I did it, so you were right on the mark there.

The guy that installed mine was in a hurry and stuffed the first rubber insert/cap too far In and left it. It confused the heck out of me pulling the rubber cap off and sticking my finger in there to feel grease and a second rubber insert, not really sure what I?d find, but knowing there was supposed to be a zerk. Same guy that overtightened the castle nut.
 
Tod,
Unfortunately, things like this is why I do as much of my own maintenance as possible, to include greasing hubs and rotating tires.
 
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