|
During our Navy years we lived at Virginia Beach, VA for 7 years. Until then I’d been a Bass fisherman but got hooked on the great salt water fishing available in the Chesapeake Bay. So, I traded my bass boat for a big deepvee and a dual axle trailer. It was an inland boat and after the 1st year I had to replace the rotted trailer for a galvanized one. We almost always put-in at the boat ramp at the Navy base at Little Creek. There was a great free fresh water wash down area adjacent to the boat ramping area. It just prolonged the effects the salt water. Then I got a galvanized one and it lasted until I got transferred to FL where I went back to bass fishing.
I learned a lot about how to take care of tires in salt, brackish and fresh water. The effect of nicks in the sidewalls or between the treads will cause them to rot from the inside, out. The salt and brackish water will ruin a damaged tire really fast because it will also eat the steel belts just about as fast as the other cording materials. Galvanized wheels and stainless steel bolts are the best preventative to prolong axle life. After our first year with the galvanized trailer and it’s galvanized wheels we had learned to change tires regularly. Even though we inspected the tires after washing we still changed them every 9-12 months. We kept the best ones for spares. Even back then we were using ST tires. They didn’t cost much and it was a lot easier to change all at once rather than one or two at a time on the side of the road. We never went out of the area so they never saw speeds above 55 MPH.
Our two boys were teens back then and we had some wonderful times drift fishing for flounder or tying-up to the bay-bridge tunnel at markers 10-15 and catching Blues, Gray Trout or an occasional lunker striper (just to name a few).
|