Need new tires and spare for H16 trailer…where to go?

In my experience, if you run them at max pressure with a light load, they will (prematurely) wear out down the centerline. I have satisfactorily run mine at 50 - 55 psi for a very long time.

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

As the original poster, just wanted to update this thread and thank everyone for the good advice. I ended up putting 4.80 x 12 high speed tires on there - got 'em from Northern Tool. Trailered it from Lake Lanier in GA to Wilmington NC with no issues.

PSI on tires when I picked them up was around 70, but recommended pressure was something around 90 (the tire is rated to carry much heavier weight). I left it at 70 since I figured boat and trailer were probably less than 600 lbs and everything rode just fine.

On a related not every tire I have ever seen that would fit my Hobie trailer is not rated for over 55mph. I push mine to 75 all the time. Is this just a very disregarded suggestion, or am I asking for trouble?

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Catamaran Racing Association of Michigan - Marketing Officer
USF18 - Social Media Manager

2010 NACRA Infusion
2004 F18 Hobie Tiger - SOLD
Hobie 16 - BREAKPOINT - SOLD

We put radial tires on our old boat trailer. the boat and trailer aren't really heavy enough to justify totally needing trailer tires on it. radial tires may even be cheaper and will ride better. I wouldn't ever limit yourself to just trailer tires unless your stuff is really heavy or you are double stacking boats.

ThanksHobart,

I'm about to head to Tractor Supply to get some trailer parts myself.

You should throw that boat on the trailer and head up to Duck, NC to race with us this weekend. There should be a really good turnout of Hobie 16's.

I know it is kind of late notice, but let me know if you are interested and I'll get you more info. This is a distance race in protected waters, so if you've never raced before you won't have to worry about all the starting sequences and so forth.

This will be a jump on the boat when you hear the horn kind of race. It is a blast.

Also, I don't sail in Wilmington much anymore just because of the hassle to get a boat on the beach, but I do sail at Lake Waccamaw frequently. We'd love for you to come join us sometime if you are interested. They have a sailing club there that is extremely cat friendly with awesome facilities and nice beachy areas for launching. It's less than 40 miles from Wilmington by road and is close enough to the coast to get the sea breeze.

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

Awww man, that sounds awesome! I would like to come up to Duck but we are all tied up at home this weekend. If it's an annual event, we will be there one way or another next year though.

Hey, I would love to come out to Lake Waccamaw - it looks like a pretty sweet setup there and beachy areas that are accessible without beach wheels are hard to find around here. My fiance and I are total newbs, so our first order of business is probably to do a test rig on dry land to make sure everything looks right and we're not missing anything big before we take to the water.

I'll definitely give you a shout once we're good to go and maybe we can work out a time to meet. Or, if you're going out soon and don't mind a few extra crew members let me know (my email is on my forum profile) - might do us some good to see how someone who knows the ropes (literally) does things.

Zach

any fender clearance problems when converting from 8 inch to 12 inch wheels?

I didn't have any, although of course YMMV. Here's a before shot with the 8 inch wheels still on there - this just illustrates that there was a decent amount of room to size up (and the boat is on the trailer as well) - sorry I don't have a good "after" shot. If I recall, there are still a few inches of clearance, at least on my trailer. Seems like it would take a pretty huge bump and a lot of weight being carried on the trailer to cause it to rub...

https://flic.kr/p/tQJBkR

If the tires are shot and the trailer is old, you might want to give the hubs an inspection and possibly replacement, too.

One safety note about tires. I've been building trailers for 25+ years and the major cause of tire failure is underrinflation. ESPECIALLY with bias ply tires. They heat up and delaminate. Not a fun situation on a single axle trailer. If it calls for 90. Put 90PSI into them. Getting to the water should not be aan adventure.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I've never built a trailer, but I've hauled cats many thousands of miles on them. The pressure spec on the tire is for max load. If you inflate to that pressure when you have much less load (as is the often the case since cats are so light), you will prematurely wear the tire out down the middle and make the trailer bounce more. The optimum pressure will be low enough to prevent that, but high enough so as not to overheat. I've never seen any vehicle that recommended inflation to the max load pressure rating of the tire.

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

I agree rattle, however, I'd rather wear out a cheap tire than blow one in the middle of nowhere. The problem with being low enough to prevent premature wear yet high enough so as not to overheat is that it is an arbitrary pressure. Cars and trucks have a "recommended" tire pressure on the door pillar based on the actual weight of the vehicle plus average load. That label was required by law after the Firestone debacle years ago when Ford SUVs rolled over (TREAD act). If you know the actual load on the tires and the tire manufacturer can supply you with a recommended tire pressure for the load, I'd go with that. However, most trailer tires today are inexpensive Chinese tires without load specifications. My experience with my customers who have pulled trailers for hundreds of thousands of miles is to keep the pressure up. You'll likely need to replace a tire due to dry rot than premature wear.

Food for thought. If you're under inflating a load range "c" 745 lb (90 psi) tire because you aren't at the max load, then maybe you should be using a load range "b" 590 lb (60 psi) tire, inflated at 60 psi. I agree that safety and accomplishing the mission is the primary goal. I towed my 16 about 4000 miles last year, making sure to keep the tires as close to 60 psi. I did notice some wear across the tread with slightly more in the center. Nothing scientific to provide any real data though. I have noticed a big difference in fuel economy between an accidentally under inflated tire (~30 psi) versus 60 psi.

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Bradley M. Davis - Hobie High Life YouTube Videos
2012 H16 (with 2018 Cayman Main) #115139

Thanks for the additional input, smattie and bmdumr. I've been lucky and never had a blowout on any of my cat trailers. Once broke one of the u-bolts that hold the axle on.....that was interesting!

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

I'll echo rattle 'n hum, thanks for providing some context around tire inflation - I'll be honest and say I hadn't thought of all the factors you both mentioned.

P.S. Bradley Davis, those YouTube videos are awesome, keep 'em coming!