It’s not as glamorous as the boat, but your boat trailer is an essential part of the boating experience – it will get the boat and all your gear to the water and home again, safely and in one piece.
Although a basic trailer will do the job, we’ve found some boat trailer accessories that you can add to make your trailer look flash and make towing your boat a whole lot easier.
Winch
A boat winch will save your back and a whole lot of time when you’re hauling the boat out of the water. Winches can be mechanical or powered.
- Mechanical: Available with cable or webbing and for different capacities, a good mechanical marine winch will have multiple speeds that you select depending on whether you’re lining the boat up with the rollers, or pulling it onto the trailer.
- Powered: Power winches work on 12V, with cable that rolls out freely and powers back in. There are more expensive models that come with remote control.
Jockey wheel
The jockey wheel is one of the most useful boat trailer accessories. Is your jockey wheel up to the job? If it’s the basic 6-inch marine model it might not be sufficient for manoeuvring a larger boat trailer.
Depending on how you want to use it and how much weight it’s lifting, you have a wide choice of jockey wheels: standard or fixed, swivel bracket or auto-retract, with wide solid rubber tyres. To really make light of that heavy load, take a look at the power mover that lets you ratchet the boat trailer forwards or backwards with minimum fuss using the handle.
Wheel clamp
A wheel clamp will keep the trailer safe while you’re on the water as it prevents movement or access to the wheel nuts and acts as a visual deterrent. In some cases it is a marine insurance requirement.
Spare tyre
A spare tyre isn’t an indulgence – it’s a must-have accessory. A tyre mount could be considered an extra, but again, it just makes plain sense to have one.
Bearing protectors
Bearing protectors will give long-life protection to wheel bearings by sealing the area from outside contaminants such as water and dirt.
Submersible tail lights
If you’re constantly immersing the rear end of the trailer in water, consider upgrading its tail lights to a set that are fully sealed against leakage and condensation, with rust-resistant stainless steel mountings. For a step-by-step guide to replacing trailer lights, see our article on Replacing LED Trailer Lights in 4 Easy Steps.
These are just a few accessories to pimp your trailer and make towing easier so that you have more time to enjoy your boating.
For serious boat trailer upgrades, you could look at getting better brakes, a decent set of tyres or suspension that won’t rust after a dip in the water.
Want to know about the latest security devices for your boat trailer? Take a look here.
