www.iFourWinns.com

Bringing the boat back from Maine and avoided potential disaster on 95 when I looked out the right mirror and saw the spare hanging at 90 degrees --- straight out from the trailer! The plate where the bracket is attached to the trailer (by two u-shaped bolts with threads at both ends)snapped in half. Looks like it just got weak and corroded from 2 plus years of dipping in the salt water. We have the Four Winns galvanized trailer for our 230.

I removed it the rest of the way and put it in the car...just wanted to pass along the news. It wouldn't have been fun to watch the boat bouncing over the spare, or the car/trucks behind me cursing as they dodged it!

...now looking for an aftermarket bracket.....

Ernie

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JustBreathe
'05 230 Horizon

That sucks! Good tip! A co-worker was on vacation with his family in FL a few years ago and had a spare tire come loose ahead of them on the highway. It went through their windshield and could *easily* have killed them all. He and his wife were very banged up.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

I suggest having a bracket welded on like 99% of other trailer builders do. Or even better get a cradle built under the frame.

It's a scary thought to think that could happen to anybody with a trailer.

I guess I would have to ask is how "corroded" were the u-bolts? Anytime I expose anything to salt water or just the open environment... rule of thumb - when it shows corrosion, rust, etc - time to switch them out?

Should this have been the case after 2 years -- absolutely not...

Or at least maybe at that point, it's worth investigating welding.

I ordered the spare tire package with my 240... and I will be checking out the mounting system now that this has come up.

Just gives me the shakes thinking how much a bouncing wheel and bracket could cause at 65 mph on the freeway. wow.

Ernie, where did the u-bolts break exactly? I'm wondering if they overtorqued the nuts (extremely) and weakened the threads, similar to snapping off a wheel stud.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Here's the best part --- the U bolts themselves are perfect. A little rust, but not much...the plate they bolt to snapped in half...almost perfectly in half. Not even at a joint or anything. Doesnt really make sense -- I wouldn't have anticipated any stress there.

Most of the brackets at West Marine attach in the same way. I like Txjole's suggestion of a cradle underneath. I will keep looking.

Ernie

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JustBreathe
'05 230 Horizon

Change that ....I just went out and looked at it again.... indeed the plate snapped right in the middle, but just above where the angle bracket (that the wheel attaches to) is welded to it. So clearly there is stress there from the weight of the spare, and/or "possibly" if the ubolts themselves were tightened too much....but where the openings are in the plate, I doubt it....looks like just bouncing/stress of the spare.

Ernie

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JustBreathe
'05 230 Horizon

That's extremely interesting. I would strongly encourage you to call FW tech support and tell them about it. Not that I expect anything to happen from doing so, but if they get a few calls about the same thing, it might cause them to start using a different part or mounting method, if not recall the ones that are out there. In the meantime, it definitely sounds like something we all need to keep an eye on. That *is* a lot of weight bouncing on that mount.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

I'd let them know as well, that's kind of suprising, since the aftermarket bracket I got from WM has been fine on my used in salt water trailer. Maybe they had a bad run of brackets.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

how about posting a picture so we can see.
thanks

Check out http://www.easternmarine.com
or
http://www.championtrailers.com
both sell a similar bracket, some come with locks.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II