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This is a friendly reminder to all those that trailer their boats to check the condition of your valve stems. As you can expect, this reminder comes from a bad experiance this weekend.
My wife, 6 month old son, and I headed out late Thursday night on a 120 mile trip to our parents place in Southwest Indiana. About 30 miles into the trip, a guy in a car started to pass me in the left lane, but I noticed he was passing me very slowly. At first I figured he was probably just gazing at the boat wishing he too were headed to the lake. However, as I looked back in the side mirror again, I noticed the driver side tire on the boat trailer was very low. I quickly pulled into a gas station to check the damage. Luckily I caught it before it did any damage to the tire, but the valve stem had dry rotted at the base and finally let go during our late night trip. It looked fine at first glance, but the issue was only visible when I started to bend it around and inspect the base of the stem. I put the spare on and attempted to find a tire shop that was still open at 9:00 pm, but I was unsuccessful. Needless to say, I was pretty nervous for the remaining 90 miles. I eventually made it without any more issues, but the next day I got all 3 valve stems replaced.
So long story short, make sure to closely check your valve stems. They may look fine at first glance, but looks can be deceiving. Hope everyone had a great and safe 4th weekend.
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2001 Four Winns Horizon 180LE, VP 4.3GL/SX
2006 Ford F-150 Extended Cab 4x4, 5.4L
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