Remember to check the trailer completely BEFORE you get on the road

[Rara Avis]

The recovery story can be found here...
This Sail Boat Sailed Over The Guardrail in Tator Bin Recoveries by Forum

 

[k0ua]

Uh oh.. That can't be a good thing:shocked:

James K0UA

 

[NHmitch]

Thats crazy! I know how busy that area in Mass can be this time of year! They are so lucky that no one was killed. That looks like a light duty coupler. We use this heavier duty style on our horse trailer, and it seems to be much better, and is rated much higher. I wonder if the coupler was overloaded. It also looks like they were towing it with an SUV?

 

[aczlan]

Looking at the rust on the bottom half of the tear, I would guess that it started before and they didn't do a pre-trip to catch it. With better chains they might not have had it go off the road

Aaron Z

 

[JDgreen227]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...very true in this situation. It also makes a good argument for having trailer brakes.....wondering how much of the rust on the coupler was caused by road salt or salt water?

 

[schmism]

my hitch like that developed a stress crack right the transition to were they had welded it to the frame of the trailer. Made for a hellva stressfull tow back to the property while i kept an eye on the trailer and stopped frequently to check to see if the crack was growing.

I ground out the crack welded it and added a gusset plate and have added checking that area as part of the saftey check. (no other issues with it)

my chains are bolted to through the frame about 6" back from hitch, not just welded to the hitch.