My wild weekend

[polar21]

I posted a thread earlier about some carb problems I was having on the boat. I had the carb rebuilt and put everything back together. This past Friday, I put the boat in the water and adjusted the carb in high hopes that the boat would be ready to go on Saturday for a b-day bash for my wife at our river house in Foley, Al.

Sat. morning I wake up, clean the boat up, get everything loaded, and start the 45 minute drive to the river house. About 2 miles from my house, I remembered that I needed to put the back straps back on since I had taken them off. So, back on our way we meet up with another couple who is going to follow us out there. At about the 1/2 mark of our journey, I was coming to a section of road that had two small bridges about 100yds apart from one another.

As I cleared the first bridge, I heard a loud POP. At this point, I look in the mirror and much to my dismay the boat is laying over to the passenger side. I was doing about 50mph at this point, and needless to say, it was a wild ride trying to keep the boat and truck straight as I crossed the second short bridge. I managed to get the boat and truck on the side of the rode and hopped out to inspect the damage. Much to my surprise, the tire and rim was no where to be found and the lug nut bolts had completely sheered off (looked like someone had cut them).

The long and short of it is that the tow truck came (glad I had Boat US insurance, they covered the tow) after 3hrs and took the boat back to Pensacola to the trailer shop where they are going to remove the brakes and put open hubs on the axle. We each have our own theory about what happened so I wont go into detail on that unless someone wants me to. The boat appeared to have no damage and the trailer damage looked minimal. It could have been alot worse....

I already know I am going to get some flack here about no brakes being on the trailer...lol

[501]

When I picked up my very first boat (1973 Tri Hull with 1969 Merc 100hp Outboard), we were 15 minutes from home from a 3 hour trip on the busiest highway when the exact same thign happenned. Found the rim and tire in the ditch 300 yards away. I had to pound out all the old bolts and put new ones in the hub and then attached the damadges rim and tire to limp it home.

I almost gave up on boating seeing as I hadn't even taken it on the water yet. 6 years later I'm addicted to the water and own a Moomba

[02Outback]

The same thing happened to me a few months ago. I was lucky enough that I had a buddy follow me and while he pulled up along side me at one point, he heard a wobbling sound. Pulled over and the rim was barely being held on by 2 loose bolts. A few more miles and I would have lost it. Fixed everything right up within an hour and was on my way to the water.

Glad your damage was minimal.

[polar21]

Wow, I didnt think this was a common occurence but I guess I was wrong. One of the theories as to why this happened was that 3 months previous to this I had put on a new rim and tire from wally world replacing the original mag wheel that was on there. I couldnt find any galvanized lug nuts so I just re-used the same acorn style lug nuts. A friend of the family brought this to my attention last Sunday when I was telling him this story. He seems to think that the acorn style nuts didnt seat all the way against the rim and hold it tight. So, as one started coming undone, it didnt take long before all the stress was placed on the other 4 remaining bolts and enough heat was generated to sheer it off. Everything seemed normal up to the point of the wheel sheering off, but it seems like a logical thesis to me.

[maxpower220]

I had an axle spring snap on the I-10/I-12 merger at about 70 mph on my way from San Diego. No damage to the boat, but the trailer needed a lot.

[flex]

I had an axle spring snap on the I-10/I-12 merger at about 70 mph on my way from San Diego. No damage to the boat, but the trailer needed a lot.

roads are terrible in louisiana, especially on that stretch.

any oil in pensacola yet?

[polar21]

Snapped axle springs will rip a trailer apart, especially at that speed!

Here in Pcola, we are starting to see some signs of oil. The tar balls are numerous out on the beach, although the first real sheen is still 9 miles offshore. Its getting a little too close for comfort around here.