[reelfishin]

I picked up a freebie boat today, an older Sea King from Wards. The trailer it was on was a little shaky but it made it home.
It's the worst trailer design I've seen yet. Other than being rusty, it has little to no suspension. It has four lateral frame rails, made of super light C channel with the outer two forming the V of the trailer.
The bad part is the axle. The axle goes directly through all three frame rails, is round and is welded into the frame in the middle. The spindles bolt to the ends with four bolt flanges at the outer frame rail. The fender brackets also attach at the same four bolts via one big Y bracket. There are no springs or torsion bars at this point. The only suspension is a short 4" diameter spring at the end of each roller bunk which are clamped to the inner pair of frame rails. The boat bobs around side to side like a bobble head doll. There are shock absorbers at 45 degree angles attached to the outer rails on each end of the roller bunks. The bow stop is a huge gray rubber V block that is welded fixed. The winch is mounted on the back of the bow stop and the rope has a welded on rounded edge guide where it passed though a tube in the bow stop tubing just under the bow stop rubber.
The tires are 10 1/2 x5.80, there are no lug nuts, the hubs and rims are all one and a quick check of the bearings showed it uses 3/4" wheel bearings.
I have no idea of the maker, but I assume its as old as the boat or older.
I don't have any pics, maybe I'll get a few once I get the boat onto a better trailer. This thing is junk yard bound due to the rust if nothing else. The boat does more side to side wobbling around than up and down movement, the springs are pretty stiff but they offer no side to side support. It also only has four bunk rollers in a 5' strip. The fenders are the same as those on my later Tee Nee trailer as is the bow stop style but the winch mount on the rear is a new one as is the through the stand rope design.
It's a painted trailer, it looks to have been bright yellow or white with some red trim.

[tashasdaddy]

sure sounds homemade. very common trailer axle in the 50's.

[reelfishin]

It could very well be homemade but I'd venture to guess it was probably factory made. Although it's a scary set up, there's too many specialty parts and the fit and finish of whats there is too perfect. The cross members are flared and spot welded in between each frame rail and the bow stop end is cast and brazed into the tube or arm which extends to the boat. The fenders have spring steel brackets that bolt on behind the spindle flanges into the frame.
(It looks like you can unbolt the spindles from each side, only the axle tube is welded into the frame. Everything is pretty rusty, its probably been sitting for a long time where I found it, the tires were rotted completely off the rims and the rims aren't too pretty either. There are a few spare rims but they aren't too sound looking either. I'll be moving it again this week, I'll bring it back to the shop to lift the boat off it. I can't wait to get the boat on a real trailer. That thing is just plain scary. I can't imagine how it tows, with no suspension, it has to transmit every bit of road noise to the tow vehicle and the boat must bounce around like a bobble head doll.