BYYB Forums

I am putting the final touches, replacing the rollers with carpeted bunks, on my trailer and a concern occurred to me.  In Montana about half of our roads are gravel.  The national average for windshields cracked by rocks is 7 years.  In Montana it happens about ever 6 months.  I rarely drive on the highway without a rock strike to the hood or windshield.  Rock strikes are a given on gravel.  The speed limit on gravel roads here is 55 and it is not unusual to me or be passed by someone doing 70.

As I was bolting on the bunks I noticed that most of the boats hull is unprotected.  Are rock strikes a reality or am I just being concerned about "what ifs"?  If the car ahead of me is kicking up enough rocks to damage my car will my pickup or car kick up rocks into my boat?  I am not talking blemish type rock strikes.  Many of the rocks that hit cars out here are the size of golf balls and they do serious damage if the hit is direct.

Most rock strikes on gravel roads come from the wheels. The trailer wheels can be sealed, with a rubber sheet, between the frame and back side of the fender. Using mud flaps helps a lot too. The tow vehicle should also have a full width mud flap and this should be the rubber or plastic type, not the brush kind. Some well placed deflectors at the front of the trailer, under the bow of the boat will go a long way to knocking down the rocks, before they get to your hull paint. You could get real anal about this an weld some "expanded" wire grating (below), between the trailer frame rails. This will knock down all but the most determined pea size stone.

Thanks Paul.  I don't want to be anal about it but it seems there is some validity to my concern.  The trailer is designated homebuilt because someone in the past welded larger wrap around type fenders in place of the lighter ones that you normally see so putting a sheet of something on the inside of each fender would be fairly easy.  I think the rocks off the tires, from the tow vehicle and trailer, are my biggest concerns so good mudflaps along with the fender additions would probably address the problem.

Get the full vehicle width mud flap. It looks a little silly, but knocks down the junk.

I walked out and took a look at the pickup I will be using to tow the boat and trailer.  It has no mud flaps at all so I decided that a big, unibrow type, mudflap had to be added.  I will also add the rubber or something on the inside of the wheels since it will be very easy with the oversized fenders that are there.