Forum members have bantered about various ideas to fix the manufacturing defect with these Pacific Baja trailers. To mention only a few, owners have suggested:
- Raising the bunk boards that support the boat. This would likely work, but then... why have a “baja” style trailer? Also, with higher bunk boards I have horrible visions of the boat sliding out over the fenders!
- Installing “spacers” between the hub and the wheel to move the tire out. This might also solve the problem, but they would have to be very thick “spacers,” since the tires protrude at least 1" beyond the fenders.
- Installing a wider axle. This is the only suggestion that Pacific Trailer has responded with to date, albeit at our own “discounted expense.” I personally balk at paying more to the manufacturer who caused the problem to begin with. Moreover, I have a concern about the width of the trailer. Mine is now 8'2" wide, and the legal limit in my state is 8'6." That doesn't leave a lot of room to spare. Plus, the process could be complicated, since one would have to disassemble and then reassemble the braking system onto the new axle.
That pre-drilled, unused hole for mounting a wider fender onto the trailer (see Part 1) convinced me that this was where I would focus my prime efforts. I therefore searched the web for trailer parts and found that 9" fenders are a “standard” recommendation for 14"/15" tires. No surprise here, given our experience. I decided to order a pair, this time with pre-installed fenderbacks for added protection, from USA Trailer Parts. The model number is F9X32-1RWB; the cost, nearly $55 with shipping.
| In the photo to the right you will see the original and the new fenders side-by-side. Clearly, the new fender is wider, yet it also has other larger dimensions. For example, the old fender was 30.25" long with an arc (the length along the curve) of 47.25". The new fender was 32" long with an arc of 48.25".
Obviously, I would have to “compress” the new fender slightly to mount it through the innermost and outermost holes in the trailer’s steps. Happily, this actually produced an unexpected benefit in the results —as I will explain below. |
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| Not wanting to hit my newly repaired hull with the fenders while mounting them, I decided that the first step was to glue marine carpeting onto the fenderbacks.
I simply used the curved shape of the fender as a guide to mark and cut the carpeting to fit it. However, I then installed the carpeting with about 1" overlapping the edge and folded onto the top of the fender. My reasoning was that I didn't want that edge exposed, should it ever come in contact with Harried Potter. For glue, I used 3M 77 Multipurpose Adhesive, but I would also recommend having a bottle of Goof Off or Goo Gone on hand to clean up any overspray on the fender or the carpeting. While I was at it, I then decided to glue carpeting to the top of the fender, all the way to the curved outside edge and overlapping the fold from the fenderback piece along the inside edge —but not all the way, since I didn’t want the backing of the top piece to come in contact with the boat either. The two photos on the left show the result, both back and front. You will note that I did not (yet) install carpeting over the entire top of the fender. I did this because I knew that the edge sections would need to “slide” up between the steps while mounting them and I didn't want carpeting getting “squished” or otherwise impeding the process. I figured that I would simply have to fit more carpeting onto those areas once the fenders were installed. At least now I was reassured that the metal of the fenders would not strike against Harried Potter as I tried to mount them. |
Now came the hard part, a chicken-and-egg dilemma. How can you tell where to drill mounting holes without mounting the fender? And how can you mount the fender without mounting holes? I suppose that if had two jacks on both ends of the fenders, I could have simulated mounting them and marked the holes accordingly. But I only had one jack available (the scissors jack from my car), so I had to resort to trial-and-error to find the optimum position for the fenders.
The result is that I drilled more holes that were necessary. But, hey! I am happy to be the guinea pig here if my experience will help other P-19 owners. Here are the steps that I would recommend to those who wish to duplicate my efforts:
- Take one of the washers with which the original fenders were mounted.
- Place the washer on the underside of the new fender, its rounded edge touching the vertical wall of the fenderback, and 4" dead center from the fender’s end.
- Trace the round hole of the washer with a pencil or fine-tipped marker.
- Tap the very middle of the traced circle a couple of times with a metal punch (to create a small dent for the drill bit to bite into).
- Drill out the hole with a bit as large as the original bolts.
- File off any sharp pieces around the edges of the hole.
- Follow the same above steps for the other end of the fender.
You have now drilled the inside holes for the fender which will correspond to those pre-drilled, unused holes closest to the trailer. Do not try to measure, mark, and drill the outside holes yet: that comes later.
Now you should trying mounting the fender using only the holes that you have drilled so far. If you only have one jack (as I did), here is what I suggest:
- Place the fender over the hub and between the steps to which it will mount. If you have disc brakes, you will note that the inside of the fenderback will end up rubbing against an upper bolt of the brake assembly. Do not worry about this for now: the concern will disappear for reasons that I will explain below.
- Rest one end of the fender on top of your jack, low enough to allow you to lift the other end and insert the bolt and washer through the hole you drilled and the step’s innermost, previously unused hole.
- Finger tighten the nylon nut onto that bolt under the step.
- Line the hole on the jack end up with the one above it in its corresponding step.
- Slowly raise the jack, compressing and sliding the fender up toward this step.
- As you raise the jack, periodically tighten the nut on the mounted bolt in the opposite end, but not all the way, so that the fender will have some “wiggle” room when mounted.
- You will note that, as the fender gets higher, the fenderback will start to bow out in an arched curve away from the brake assembly and towards the trailer until it touches the frame itself. This is actually a good thing! You will see why later on.
- When the holes on the jack end are in proximity to each other, you might have to tap the fender with a rubber mallet slightly to get them to line up.
- Install another bolt, washer, and nut through those holes, again not tightening them completely.
- You can now “pivot” the fender a bit to determine the best location to mark the outside holes. Pivoting the fender toward the trailer will place the (now arched) fenderback all the way against the boat; pivoting it down will allow a little space between them. I opted for the latter, but if I had to do it all over again I would probably position the fenderback against the hull. My reasoning here is that eventually the two will come in contact with one another anyway, so why not give in to the inevitable and make the boat more secure?
- Once you get the fender where you want it, look under the steps on both ends and trace their outermost holes on the fender. This is where you will drill the outside holes for the fender (remember that I told you not to drill them yet?).
- Remove the fender, drill the outside holes, follow the same jacking procedure as above to remount it, but this time mount all four bolts tightly.
- Voila! Now you get to do the same thing for the other side of the boat.
| At the right you can see the mounted fender from the side. Notice that I have allowed plenty of space between the top of the tire and fender above it so that they will not come in contact with one another if I happen to hit a large pothole in the road and the springs compress that far.
You will also note that, after mounting my fenders, I finished gluing marine carpeting onto the remaining exposed areas, as well as onto the tops of the steps. Although you can see the seams between the various pieces, they are not that noticeable and in any case the overall appearance looks a lot better than I would have imagined. |
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| To the left is the most crucial view: how the mounted fender looks from the rear. Peering between the fender and the boat, you can see how the arched fenderback bows out toward the trailer, creating a sort of inclined “wedge” that will henceforth prevent the chine from ever again coming in contact with a spinning tire.
The unanticipated plus that I mentioned earlier is this: an arch is much stronger than a mere flat fenderback. When and if the hull ever shifts against that arch, there is no way it could collapse, because the fender’s ends have no room to “give,” bolted as they are against the trailer’s steps. |
| The photo to the right provides an even clearer view of that “wedge,” since the boat is not on the trailer. (Yes! I finally got Harried Potter back in the water!)
The outing revealed yet another unanticipated benefit to the fenderback’s arched shape. When pulling my P-19 out of the water, I noticed that the “wedge” acted like a “shoehorn” that helped center Harried Potter on the trailer far more effectively that the guide posts at the rear of the trailer. As the wind was blowing horrendously from the side that day, I was pleasantly surprised to discover this feature. |
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One concern expressed about this fenderback solution is that the carpeting could leave scuff marks on the chines. My perspective is that this already occurs with the trailer’s bunk boards under the hull and the protective carpeting on the tie-down strap. It will also likely happen with guide boards along the side of the vessel (see Part 5). In short, carpet scuffs are inevitable, but those blemishes seem very minor in comparison to the kind of damage caused by a spinning, grinding tire. In point of fact, because of those strong crosswinds during my last outing, the starboard side of Harried Potter rubbed along the fenderback while I winched her onto the trailer. Sure enough, there were some carpet streaks along that side of the hull, but a light rub with my wet sailing glove removed them completely.
There is another important point to make. After driving up a steep, slanted mountain road to get Harried Potter back home, and despite using triple tie-downs (see Part 4), I noticed that she had indeed shifted very slightly to one side so that the chine was touching the carpeted fenderback. Obviously wet hulls and bunk boards must be slicker than dry ones. The contact produced no scuffs in this instance, but it sure made me glad that the protection was there, isolating the hull from the tire!
| Do I have any concerns about these fenders? A few. For example, they are not galvanized. I assume, therefore, that they will probably rust enough over time that I will need to replace them yet again. Still, that’s preferable to continuing to damage my chines.
Also, some forum members have reported that the problem might be exacerbated by poor suspension, i.e., the springs give too much, allowing the axle and consequently the tires to tip toward the trailer. The only way for me to determine if this will still occur is to monitor the inside of the fenderbacks. So far, I haven’t seen any tire marks underneath the fender. Of course, the arched shape of the fenderback increases the available space between it and the tire, as seen in the photo to the left taken from below, looking up into the wheel well itself. I suppose that time will tell. If I do start to notice tire marks on the fenderbacks... I will have to seek additional solutions (beefier springs?) —and let other forum members know. |
