I can’t speak for you, but in my case - I am glad I followed the wife's idea on more than one occasion

Me too.

Another note:

My GPS (and cell of course) was a valuable asset during this event. I didn't rely on it (GPS) like I could have (automatically reverting to my old pre-GPS ways of solving problems), but after my initial plan was in motion, I played with it just to play out a scenario in my head.

Since cell phones are so common place now, it is virtually impossible to find a phone booth (and yellow pages) nowadays. 5 of the last 6 times over the years I've asked retailers/gas stations etc for a yellow pages, they don't have (or can't/unwilling to find) one.

After the fact toying, my GPS had nearby position listings for:
- Tow companies/services - (location and contact info)
- The Boat dealer I was looking for - (I had the name wrong, but could have searched on 'boat')
- Auto Parts shop - (I used this one to find a buy a handheld grease gun).

I won't be travelling anywhere beyond 20mi w/o my GPS from now on!

I don't have gps on my phone, but can access google maps. It's great! I've used it several times when out of town, to find things like a Jamba Juice, etc...

Also always check the traffic when heading out or back into town to try to take the clearest route.

Well got the rig back today, all seems well.

The problem is I can't concretely identify what it was, and I don't think I will until I dismantle and examine things myself.

As agreed the owner charged me for a 'summer service' that includes a 23 step check and change program for the boat and trailer. It was equivalent to a 50 Hour service with an added comment for the tech to 'check brake adjustment'. (Fair treatment, no railroading )

It cost me $227 for a basic boat and trailer groom so I'm not unhappy, but it would have been nice to concretely know what went wrong. The owner believed it was stuck brakes, but the main tech wasn't there when I picked it up. In either case I don't get the impression they pulled the drum and inspected the 'innards'...

The Jr. tech in training was there, and when I arrived for pick up, I asked him to swap out the the superheated tire with the spare, so I have some confidence in running a tire that was not heat compromised (my own logic).

While small talking to him I asked a few questions, in case he had any insight. First about the emergency brake cable, he assured me that it would have to be pulled out rather far and with force for it to actuate, and if it did the wheels would lock (not just drag). So that didn't seem the cause.

When he spun the wheels at my request while changing the spare he nor I noticed any resistance beyond normal light shoe contact while spinning the drum. He also rocked the drum/hub to see any play/bearing wear, there was none.

I asked him about the hubs (bearing buddys), which they zerk filled as part of the groom. There seemed (to me) to be a lot of grease coming out the front outer edges of the bearing buddy. I thought maybe that was a failure of the bearing buddy and the cause for my troubles, grease leaking by/out. He assured me that is how they fill them, until overflow, pushing out old grease.

So I drove the rig home with no problems, stopping a couple of times in the 20 mile return to check for heat.

So now I still have more questions than answers until I can tear things apart myself, but at least it's home and I'm only $200 bucks lighter, but with the boat oil and filter changed, prop greased, all zerks filled, and trailer checked, brakes examined and hubs greased and 15 or so more checks...

Now my questions:
1) My bearing buddy procedure says to 'rock' the piston to check and indicate grease level and fill them until they (blue center piston) protrude 1/8 to 1/4 beyond the outer edge of the buddy.

I've never purposely pressed grease out the sides. Is this what I should have been doing all along? If so, maybe they were under greased...

I might just change these buddys out for peace of mind, repacking (and checking) the bearings, spindle, and brakes in the process.

Even after I got home there was more grease leaked out under the cap, and the blue piston seemed withdrawn a bit.

2) Kind of losing faith in my Penzoil Grease also. It seems to separate under normal temperature. (Maybe they all do and I'm just paranoid now...)

3) I guess the easiest tale tale is to pull the drums. Worn, glossy shoes would be the smoking gun (I assume....)

We'll it's home. Captured some lessons learned fromt he event. Got a 50 Hour service on the boat (and trailer), but I still have questions....

My experience with my 'brand' of Bearing Buddies is that there should not be any grease leaking out around the zerk-fitting area.

I had that happen and it turns out that I blew out the "O" ring that keeps grease from doing exactly that. I removed the buddy bearing and it was quite obvious what had happened, part of he "O" ring was outside of the groove it sits in, and the spring pressure that usually forces grease into the bearings was forcing it the opposite direction out the front of the unit.

By the way, the spring pressure is relatively light. If you give the end of the buddy a mild kick with your foot, you can add enough pressure to blow out the "O" ring.

You can also apply too much pressure and blow out the bearing seal resulting in grease finding it's way onto the inside of your wheel. Had one do that too.... So adding to much grease is not good. Just add enough to get 1/4 inch of color showing on the buddies. Add it slow so that is has time to move the indicator out without blowing the inner seals.

For $227 --and this is just my opinion-- They dam well better have pulled the drums, inspected the shoes, and most important, inspected the wheel cylinders for proper operation! Because of getting dunked in water twice per trip, water can get past the not-so-marine rated (again, my opinion) rubber plunger seals on the cylinders. The water then causes surface rust to form on the cylinder walls. And this surface rust will cause the plunger piston to hang in the cylinder. And when it hangs, your brakes hang. BTDT more than once. I would ask AGAIN if the wheel cylinders (and master cylinder for that matter) were inspected. If not, I would check your axle temps OFTEN, and especially after retrieving the boat and heading home....

that said----as for the explanation you got concerning your emergency brake...most emergency brake systems I've seen on surge brakes are simply a lever that, when moved, compresses the master cylinder plunger. This means that, just like with a brake pedal, the more you move the lever, the more you activate the brakes. So unless you have some sort of "all-or-nothing" emergency brake activator, I see no reason why your brakes couldn't have been "partially" activated? FWIW, it's my belief THAT was the cause of your problem...

I follow FR's emergency brake understanding, but the ones I have had seem to "pop" into an unrelease mode once you pull them so far.

FR, I agree with your post above, but wanted to make you aware that there is such a thing as an "all or nothing" e-brake set up. My Shoreland'r trailer has one. Just a pull away wire cable that has to be pulled all the way out or nothing happens. Just a little FYI.

Cool, good to know...

The lever-style brake on the PC trailer has a "catch" for the lever to lock, but the catch effectively narrows the lever slot, creating a friction-fit as the lever moves, and the lever will "stay put" if it's moved. Of course, mine is just one of many...

That's too much grease in my opinion. When the drums warm up the grease will expand and before it can push the excess out from the front it will blow out the rear axle seal and grease your brakes. I know because I did this once.

When they say to gently rock the piston they mean it. It should be able to be rocked but not very much. That way there is plenty of piston travel for when the drums get warm and expand the grease. I made the mistake of thinking more is better.

I would go online to the site of the manufacturer of the brake actuater,(mine was made by UFP), and they should have step by step instructions for maintenance of the entire brake system.

Once you have done it I bet you can do a re-pack, clean the drums and pads and bleed and re-adjust in less than two hours. And do it at the end of the season so it does not sit over the winter with watery grease/brake fluid rusting things up.

Good info prober. Mine are UFP Trailer Buddys also.

I pulled one of the buddys off today to dissect it and see how it works (and whether any seals within it were blown out).

It looked fine, lots of grease overflowing, but the ring seal was in place in its groove. It looks like it is built in a way that can deal with some overflow (past the seal), but I don't see a reason to force it. The expansion of the piston would indeed indicate a good amount of grease between the nut and piston area, that no forced overflow would be required for ample grease.

As for relieving out the edges, the way it looks designed is that the piston will still contact the seal when full, but will expand beyond the seal to relieve pressure in the event of overfill or expansion from trailing.

So assuming that I did fill them correctly from home, I'm back to suspect grease, or brakes.

Guess I'll be one with the trailer brakes/axle and hub this weekend...

Well it took me a while before I could finally attack (become one with) the trailer this weekend. My boating season is slipping fast, and my time on the water this year is looking slim with what's left of the summer...

In any case back to the trailer. Pulled the front drums/hubs today and positively identified that it was the brakes dragging. Noticeable material smear/wear. Spindle and Bearings looked as good as new. (So I guess I can relax on the grease brand comparison/replacement hunt)

Seems only the left brake/drum was dragging. After spending 1/2 the afternoon chasing down the local auto parts equivalent replacement brake shoes (why are trailer parts so ill documented??!! ), I finally found the set.

Changed out both sides, even though the right side was as good as new with lots of lining. Cleaned, bled, reinstalled and re-lubed both sides as well as the lubricated the surge/hitch/master cylinder assy. Still not sure the exact cause, but I'm suspecting it was a stuck cylinder, since it was only on one side that seemed in trouble....

Even though it's back together and the cylinder seemed to be working, I'm probably going to replace the left/suspect cylinder anyway. It was showing a little rust/corrosion around the cylinder/piston area under the boot (like FR suspected).

Now to find the local auto parts store equivalent.....

(Scouring the web and some 50 images on NapaOnline, it looks like Part # UP 36074 (Left) and UP 36075 (Right) are the bandits....)

A couple of epiphany's today:

1) A good portion of my axle parts are made by the same folks that made the Trailer Buddys. I guess they (UFP) have a complete line of Trailer products a lot of trailer builders use.

2) A co-worker suggested inserting my empty/unattached drawbar into the trailer coupler to leverage bleeding the brakes. Worked like a champ! Had my 6 year old 1st mate push it down (lean on it) while I opened the bleed valve. Then, once I closed the valve, had him raise it up to expand the Master cylinder again. Easy as pie!

I've talked to the guys at UFP. You can usually get some pretty good info from them. You can buy parts from DHM trailers in Sac if you want to go with UFP parts.

Thanks SB. Needed some options. I'm sure their stuff is available online, but was hoping to find some local store automotive equivalent for the sake of time, especically for the non-marine specific stuff like brakes.

Longer term project stuff, I'd definitely go online. Thanks for the lead.

I'll be interesting to see how they communicate with customers. I sent them an email over the weekend on some brake automotive equivalent part numbers, that I've since found. I guess their response could range from "call one of our dealers" to "here's the part number you are looking for" .