I've been doing some work on the trailer to get it ready for the trip around the United States.  It is the original trailer (Trailright) and, other than washing it down after launching and retreiving from salt water, it has suffered from benign neglect for 19 years.  There was a deep rust spot on the tongue, and while trying to grind it off, it opened to a big hole.  I had the tongue replaced and made 3 feet longer.  The winch post was replaced and (after seeing it done on other M-sailboats) the top of the post was raised and the winch was re-located under it to avoid the cable cutting the rubber snubber on retreival.The rest of the trailer had a fair amount of rust but nothing deep and that is a testiment to the quality of the trailer made comepletely out of channel iron.  To get it sandblasted would have cost $250, so I bought a Craftman grinder and went to work.  After some dirty work grinding, I primed and painted the trailer completely.

The leafsprings showed some flaking rust, and while the trailer shop said it wasn't extensive enough to be concerned about, the thought of trailering into Mexico on rusted springs had me worrying.  The price per spring was only $28, so I am having them replaced, and since the fenders were deeply pitted and even rusted thru in some small areas, they will be replaced at the same time.

All the wiring on the trailer was replaced, and since all the light problems I've encountered were associated with poor ground contacts on the trailer,  I ran a dedicated ground wire to the lights. The wiring on the truck was definitely after market, and was the second most common trailer light proble.  The circular connector was replaced with a flat four connecter - as was the trailer.

Then came the part that I thought would be a big problem: the bearings.  Although the bearings came with a bearing buddy system, and I religously keep them full, the bearings were never actually checked.  After 19 years, and a lot of miles, I was wondering what we would find when my buddy showed me how to check them.  Surprisingly, there wasn't a speck of rust or pitting on the bearings or the rear seals.
We only had to replace the grease, repackthe bearings and re-install them.  Both rear seals were damaged when we pushed them out, and we tried to replace them.  I also wanted a spare set of bearings to take with me just in case. Finding the seals and bearings proved difficult.  The bearing numbers could not be found in any cross check catalog, and the seals didn't have any number on them at all; in fact they were metal while all the newer models have a rubber outside ring.  Finally a fellow at Car Zone took this on as a quest, and using the inside diameter and outside diameter measurments we had taken, finally came up not only with the bearings but the seal also.  For those with an older M17 trailright trailer here are the part numbers:

Smaller bearing   Timken Set 14
                 Bearing:  Timken #  KL44643  71   Outer ring: Timken #  KL44610  71

Larger bearing     Timken  Set 17
                  Bearing:  Timken # L 68149          Outer ring : Timken #  L68111  +

Rear Seal  NAPA 16667


Now it's time for work on the truck and the sailboat.  It's only 6 weeks until the start and there's still lots to do, but I managed to do some sailing last weekend.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, with winds about 10K out of the southeast and Miss T sailed gracefully and fast. 

John Edwards
Miss T
M17 # 372
  1983