Thread: Boat trailer brakes

Adam

At 2.5T GTM you need brakes on all 4 wheels with break-away system and because it's a boat trailer the best braking system will be disk brakes that allow the water drain through. The other thing is that you don't want to be submersing electric drum brakes into the water.

I'd be fitting something like Al-Ko hydraulic disk brakes on the four wheels and then an Al-Ko Sensabrake (electric/hydraulic) system onto the trailer and tow vehicle. (Or another brand electric over hydraulic system)

See AL-KO Website » Current Brochures

generally your gonna be better with hydraulic calipers and discs for a boat trailer that size
To register for >2tonne atm it will need brakes on all wheels and a breakaway system that applies the brakes in the event of a separation from vehicle event.

So you need an electric brake controller
An electric over hydraulic with breakaway system on trailer
Hydraulic lines to four calipers on hubs with discs.

If you are trying to do it less expensively than alko components, commondore or falcon single circuit aluminium calipers hold up pretty well in such a system
The electric over hydraulic with breakaway is gonna cost though

Can the rig weigh in at 1995kg? ?

Then you can run simple over ride hydraulics on the front axle only


Steve

Hey Steve,

the old trailer was much lighter than the new one, so I'm concerned that even stripping the gear out of the boat (outboard, water & junk) wont get me below 2t. I'm not 100% sure though, so might try and get it on a weighbridge before committing to a plan.

I'd be comfortable with the over ride brakes as this was all I had before and we've towed the boat all over Aus, including to Darwin. It will come down to the weight though, I think.

Thanks for the input so far - most helpful.

Cheers,

Adam

Originally Posted by akelly

<snip>
I'd be comfortable with the over ride brakes as this was all I had before and we've towed the boat all over Aus, including to Darwin. It will come down to the weight though, I think.
<snip>

Hi Adam

If you can't get the loaded weight of the trailer (with boat, motors and gear) below 2T, over-ride brakes will not comply as you have to be able to control the trailer brakes from the drivers position.

Remember above 2T GTM, if not already there you also need to have two sets of chains on the trailer.

One other option, is to go the old vacuum trailer brake system. You can acquire the components at swap meets and on ebay very cheaply but you need to make sure it has the brake away equipment.

Diana

Thanks Diana,

Since I have a weighbridge ticket from the old trailer, with the fully loaded boat, I was thinking I should just weigh the new trailer then do some maths. That should give me a idea if I can get it in under the 2t.

Are vaccuum brakes still allowed?

Cheers,

Adam

Originally Posted by akelly

<snip>
Are vaccuum brakes still allowed?

Cheers,

Adam

Yes still legal.

The big problem is the requirement to fit two vacuum pipes from the engine to the rear, the bulk and fitting of the actuator and somewhere to fit the vacuum acumulator tank. All this is expensive to install and hard to find places on modern vehicles.

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Yes still legal.

The big problem is the requirement to fit two vacuum pipes from the engine to the rear, the bulk and fitting of the actuator and somewhere to fit the vacuum acumulator tank. All this is expensive to install and hard to find places on modern vehicles.

I used to have a whole system around somewhere - pulled from an old rangie - not sure where it got to, will have a scrounge. Most of the gear should fit the defender, might need to look at how it would fit in with the vac system on the truck though.

Thanks for the tip!

Adam