Taking care of the wheels

One of the most utilitarian features of the Albin-25 is that it is road mobile. This means that in order to get to our next cruise's departure point in Georgetown, SC, we need only back the trailer into the river with my trusty truck, load the boat and drive away. It's going to be about a 4-hour trip. That compares to four days from my dock to Georgetown, should I elect to go by water. This makes it easy to understand the importance of a trailer for long-range Albin-25 cruising.

Some boaters take their trailers for granted. I do not. Ms. Bettencourt's trailer is heavily built of galvanized steel. It's a double-axle model and it weighs about 1,500 pounds. When on the trailer, the boat sits on two bunks, each of which is made of two bolted-together 2x12s. The bunks are carpeted, both to protect the hull of the boat and the underlying wooden timbers.

Here's a shot of the trailer's main bunks.  Click on the photos to enlarge. I have it parked in a clearing carved out of an outlying part of our property. Doesn't that foliage look like a tropical jungle? I believe there are mosquitoes in there the size of condors.

This is a closeup of what's left of the carpet on one of the bunks. The other bunk is just as bad.

The last time the bunks were re-carpeted was in December 2008, so it is time to renew the stuff.







Last week, I towed the trailer over to my friend Major's house, where the mosquitoes are somewhat smaller. I have the new carpet and fasteners. We think the re-carpeting work will take about two days.

Other trailer safety measures we will attend to before loading the boat include checking: tire pressures, wheel hub lubricant, brake fluid, safety chains, the winch and winch strap and the directional and brake lights.

I tow this rig with a carefully maintained full-sized V-8 powered Ford-150 pickup truck.

All of which goes to prove that there is a lot more to boating than just the boat.