Trailer brackets on King trailers for the CD-25

J

JamesTXSD

Active member
This came up on our Wild Blue cruising thread, but I thought it might be a good idea to post it separately for CD-25 owners. We had the front brackets on the outside bunks break while towing cross country. We didn't lose the boat, but it could have been a REAL problem. Here's the situation...

BrokenBracketE.jpg

Fred (Anita Marie) posted on our thread that he had the same problem. He doesn't trailer much, we trailer a lot; so this may not be a metal fatigue situation. The guy who welded ours felt the design was not great, with those brackets carrying so much weight at a bend.

This is a heads-up for those with these boats and trailers to check the brackets at the inverted "Y" under the bunks.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Can't REALLY tell the configuration, but it looks like the top section was welded to the bottom with a poor weld ??? Lack of penetration on the weld is my guess and IF that's the case have a good welder grind them out and re-weld - PROPERLY. JMOO
 
Thanks Jim for the post. Again...often our trailers are overlooked....or more accurately.... enough is not shared when something goes wrong with our systems. That is a great use of this site and our owners group. Not sure unless you did a lot of welding...or just got lucky that you could have seen a bad weld...and, the visible outside/topside may have looked fine anyway.

I have another friend who had a very interesting event with his trailer. I think after everybody in the mix got finished pointing fingers at the others, the bottom line ended up with the trailer builder putting too short of axles on the trailer, and when the boat ran down the road, with a good load on it, the flex in the sidewalls of the tires rubbed on the inside edge of the tire, against the trailer fender. This ...."occasional inside the tire rub) was not visible....but, in some miles..... the sidewalls gave out one day when the boat weight "landed" on the trailer while retrieving the boat.

Now, good news...is these sidewalls on the tires due to the on again off again rub.... went out at zero forward speed .....rather than at some intersection of some interstate right at rush hour traffic.... That could have been deadly.

So... go ahead all... get behind your boat while loaded and check that clearance between the tires...and the fender....

Jim... I am sorry you had this problem, I am so glad you, your family and your boat are fine. Ya done good bringing this out for others to see.

Byrdman
 
Just had the same problem with my King Trailer. Replaced the brackets. Haven't figured out what caused it yet. It's only the outside brackest on that bolt to the front axle.
Toyman, the brackets are all one piece. No welds.
 
Oh, boy. :shock: Mahalo...good to know. I'll keep an eye on them. I ususally do a visual "once over" on the entire trailer upon every return home, as I'm cleaning the boat. But now I've got something to SPECIFICALLY look for in more detail.
 
Jim and all-

For What It's Worth- I concur with the welder. That's a really poor design!

The loading is all transferred at that weld from the inverted "Y" to the lower part of the bracket.

The straps ought to extend down along the lower bracket, be welded both at the top and bottom, so as to distribute the loading on over a larger area, and at several places.

The way it's set up, the whole load transfers at the weld, the area is too small, and flexing and metal fatigue take their toll.

Recipe for failure. Hope the engineer didn't design any airplanes , submarines, bridges, etc. :shock:

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
I sent an e-mail and pictures to the factory about this as I had the same problem. As expected, no reply. I'll keep a watch on the brackets and if they start to crack again I'll fabricate a new type out of aluminum.
 
Watch the new trailers coming out from this manufacturer (King Trailers).

Do they have the same bracket on their new trailers now?

Will the bracket design be changed within the next few months or so?

They probably don't want to admit to the faulty design for liability purposes, but a change in the brackets being put on the new trailers would indicated a recognition of the problem.

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Add one more to the list. The starboard front bunk mount just gave way. We launched yesterday in Everett and I noticed it when I parked the truck/trailer. Was not like that on our Friday Harbor trip. Stupid design as it cracks right at the bend; metal fatigue I'd guess. Gonna look at making one myself. A friend has a CNC plasma machine and can cut up to 1/4" steel.
 
So I crawled underneath. I am sure the breakages are due to metal fatigue. The starboard one is 100% broken like the original picture. The port on is 100% broken at the rear and the forward side is about 30% cracked across the bend. It will give out in no time. Stupid...stupid....STUPID design. These brackets have the widest base and the sharpest angles (of bend). I'm gonna talk to my buddy and see if he can cut me something better.
 
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