Trailer wheel wells?

[kalninm]

Background:
Purchased a 1989 Bass Tracker TX17 recently as a project and upgrade. It is sitting on a homemade dual axle trailer, it trailered home just fine but the trailer as a whole is not great. Gotta start on the trailer before the boat obviously so that's what I did. Wire wheeled the whole thing, repainted with rustoleum self etch primer and rustoleum gloss black, new front post and winch, one of the axles needed replaced so I've already replaced that, new hubs and new tires. Have all the hardware needed and in Spring it will be getting new bunks as well

Question:
1) I hate the look of my trailer, while its years above what it was when I bought it, I hate the dual axle with small 13" tires. However with it trailering as well as it did on the hour ride home I don't want to mess with those right now, but there are no wheel well/fenders on it. I think it would look a lot better with fenders on it while reducing the amount of kick up that goes back into the boat while trailering. The mounting brackets without hardware cost almost as much as the fenders, and all in all this would be about $150+ to do this. Is this worth it, have i missed some major pros or cons, and if it is worth it what would you guys recommend for products and installation?

Thanks

 

[Johnny]

PHOTOS of your concerns would help the gallery help you




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[kalninm]

Fair enough.....as you wish
This pic is before I did all the work to the trailer, but it'll work for this question

 

[Johnny]

I can't speak for the other boaters here, but, I think the general consensus
will be along the lines of fenders saves the paint on your boat and, as you stated,
keeps debris out of your boat..... and the secondary bonus would be to keep
rocks from being thrown into the cars following you.
just a personal preference I guess. (and I would go with 14 or 15" "trailer specific" wheels on that rig).


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[CedarRiverScooter]

I have got stuff from these guys before:

https://www.championtrailers.com/tandem-aluminum-fender-68-l-x-10-w-x-16-h/

 

[Hanr3]

Not sure where you live, however in Illinois you must have fenders. One of those minimum safety requirements for all vehicles on the road, trailers included.

As for tire size. Not so much the tire size, its the speed rating of the tires and how fast you drive. Smaller tires tend to have lower speed ratings. On the plus side, smaller tires are less expensive to purchase as well.

If it were 12" tires, I would go up in size if I could. 13" isn't a bad size. What ever you do, do it before you buy fenders. Fenders are sized according to trailer tire size.

 

[TheLastCall]

If it’s the law or not I’d put fenders on it. It’s cheap protection for your boat and the cars behind you.

As for tires match them to the weight and speed your towing. Smaller tires are cheaper and allow the boat to sit lower in the water making loading and unloading easier, the bad side is your boat and motor are closer to pavement.

I personally like the tandem axle. It makes reversing easier, tends to track straighter. It reduces trailer sway when towing. And if you blow a tire and you’re close to home you can limp it home or at least tow it somewhere where it’s safe to change a tire.




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[Johnny]

like Hanr3 said - check with your state to see if fenders are optional or required.
I have to replace the fenders on my 16' utility trailer soon and will probably get them
from Northern Tools or Tractor Supply. some places online may have a better price
if you spend some time in your research for "Tandem Axle Trailer Fenders".






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[S&MFISH]

IMO, fenders like Johnny posted are a must have item.

 

[kalninm]

It's on my to do list..... but that won't be until spring most likely. I have all the hardware to do new bunks I just have to build the bunks and get some open water to dump the boat in. Still have to finish up the wiring on the trailer too, and attach the steps I got for it over Christmas. Then I still need to get it inspected and weighed on a certified scale so I can register it as homemade........at some point after that I would like to add wheel wells ........just more money lol, but I guess I knew that.....it is a boat after all.

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

I'm curious as to the registration comment. Why do you want it to be registered as homemade?

I was going to do this for my jet jon, but the lady at county office didn't want to go that way.

From what I gathered, there is no USCG inspection involved (I called them).

I still am interested in going homemade route, as Alumnacraft didn't make a high powered jetjon & maybe someday a DNR guy would take issue with that out on the water.

Thanks for filling in some blanks.

 

[kalninm]

So my boat is already registered and I have the title for it. However the issue is with the trailer. At some point through it's 30 year life someone ditched the factory trailer and made a homemade trailer for it....with that being said the homemade trailer was never registered. So since it hasn't been registered I need to get a certified weight on the trailer by itself....which is a huge PITA....and then go tot he DMV and fill out about 4 pages of documents and bring a "receipt" for how much I paid for the trailer so they can take their sales tax. Then they'll give me my plates and I'll be legal.... that is once I get the trailer inspected lol