Considering buying Starcraft SS - 16 vs 18'? Common Issues? Where to Find?

[ahicks]

Nice find! Best of luck with it.

 

[82rude]

Nice find.Hard to really tell from pictures but if those are 10 inch tires dump them and go 12 inch min or so.

 

[MTboatguy]

Nice find.Hard to really tell from pictures but if those are 10 inch tires dump them and go 12 inch min or so.

My 16 SS is sitting on an EZloader roller trailer with 14" tires and it rides great, I will never go back to a smaller tire trailer.

 

[bchaney]

Yea the trailer is kinda rough, I have debated replacing it. The wheels are 10". The trailer mostly supports the boat with rollers down the keel, there are a couple rollers outboard of the keel at the rear of the trailer but that's it. It also seems to have a lot of tongue weight but that may be an issue with the hitch setup on my truck - I need to add more rise and see if that helps. The wiring insulation is dryed out and cracking and it's got some surface rust as you can see in the pics.

All that said, it does have bearing buddies and seems to be structurally sound - it survived the 170mi trip back to our house when we bought it and has been used with this boat for many years with no issues as far as I know. At least I haven't found that it's caused any damage to the boat. What attracted me to this particular boat was the motor, only 53hrs on it, verified with a diagnostic cable and yamaha software on my laptop before purchase. I was more willing to overlook the crappy trailer because of the nice motor.

What is the benefit of larger wheels/tires? Just to keep the temps down and get a longer tire life? I may look into that when it comes time to replace the tires, but I would have to modify the fenders to get clearance and I'm thinking it'd make the tongue weight issue even worse.

 

[cdndewey]

Yea the trailer is kinda rough, I have debated replacing it. The wheels are 10". The trailer mostly supports the boat with rollers down the keel, there are a couple rollers outboard of the keel at the rear of the trailer but that's it. It also seems to have a lot of tongue weight but that may be an issue with the hitch setup on my truck - I need to add more rise and see if that helps. The wiring insulation is dryed out and cracking and it's got some surface rust as you can see in the pics.

All that said, it does have bearing buddies and seems to be structurally sound - it survived the 170mi trip back to our house when we bought it and has been used with this boat for many years with no issues as far as I know. At least I haven't found that it's caused any damage to the boat. What attracted me to this particular boat was the motor, only 53hrs on it, verified with a diagnostic cable and yamaha software on my laptop before purchase. I was more willing to overlook the crappy trailer because of the nice motor.

What is the benefit of larger wheels/tires? Just to keep the temps down and get a longer tire life? I may look into that when it comes time to replace the tires, but I would have to modify the fenders to get clearance and I'm thinking it'd make the tongue weight issue even worse.

It's not so much to keep tire temp down as it is wheel bearing life. Say for instance...and I'm just using some numbers for ease of calculations....you have two tires, one 15" diameter and one 20" diameter. The circumference on each would be approximately 45" and 60". So for every revolution of the 20" diameter tire the 15" diameter would have to turn 1-1/3 revolution. so for every 30 revolutions of the 20" diameter tire the 15" diameter tire would turn 40 revolutions. So you can see the wheel bearing on the 15" diameter tire would turn 33-1/3 % more revolutions to cover the same distance as a 20" diameter tire.

I hope this helps a bit.

 

[ahicks]

Properly maintained 10" tires are fine, even when pulled at x-way speeds. Same story with the bearings they use. They keep the trailer as low as possible making it easier to load or unload. They are bias ply tires so you can run the air pressure you need vs. the air pressure shown on the sidewall (ST rated tires). They're available up to 10 ply rated, making them good for way more capacity than most people consider/give them credit for.

The trick with both tires and bearings is to service them regularly. You can also stop a few miles down the road and put your hand on the sidewalls to confirm they are not hot, and a couple of fingertips on the bearing hubs to do the same thing. If they are hot, you haven't been doing your homework and you'll need to deal with that issue immediately.....

 

[bchaney]

Thanks for the tips fellas. I understand the bearing concerns. I checked the bearing temps a couple times on the journey back home with the old fingertip thermometer and they were fine. I will be sure to keep them greased to prevent issues. I pumped some grease into them when I was winterizing the boat but how do you know when they're full? I couldn't see excess grease coming out of the bearing and I pumped a good bit in there.

 

[briangcc]

Congrats on the purchase! Looks like a very happy daughter of yours. Neoprene or any soft shell is the key - even as they get older.

That Yammie will serve you well.