I ordered a Karavan axle that had specs very similar to my old axle. The old one was round, mounted underneath the leaf springs, and was 56 inches long end-to-end with 42-inch spring centers. The new axle is 1 inch longer, with 42-1/4" spring centers.
Luckily for me, it was an easy drop-in fit.
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| New axle, mounted on top of the leaf springs. |
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| New wheels attached. |
The new axle came with 5-bolt hubs attached. Academy Sports was great about letting me return the 4-bolt hub kit and wheel I'd bought, and exchange them for a pair of 5-hole wheels / tires and a couple sets of lug nuts. The whole thing went on very easily.
I mounted the new axle on top of the leaf springs, since this is how I'd seen it done in numerous YouTube videos. It was also the easiest way, being a one-man operation. I used new mounting hardware for the axle, tightened everything up, lowered the trailer, and tightened the lug nuts some more. Done.
A little repair to the hull
The last time I was at the lake, I got the boat askew as it floated back onto the trailer. The bow came alongside the front roller of the trailer, and the cotter pin at the end of the roller axle scratched through the paint in the hull. The damage was minimal, but still noticeable, leaving a scar at the bow, just under the chine. Thankfully, it didn't seem to go through the layers of epoxy and fiberglass, though a little wood was visible.
To repair it, I simply sanded the area around the blemish, applied two coats of primer, and 3 coats of paint.
Now, barring any unforeseen problems, trailer is roadworthy and the boat is ready for G11.
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| Primer, applied over the sanded blemish. |
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| The first coat of paint, drying. |
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| With the first coat of paint dry, the primer underneath was still visible. |
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| Third coat of paint. |
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