Don Horn wrote:

> Since I posted that message, I went back and read the owner's manual (who'd
> have ever thought of that? :>) ) and found that my trailer came with
> tubeless tires, so no split rims. (Interestingly, it appears that the
> Caravel was the only model having tubeless tires that year). That doesn't
> mean I won't be running tube tires sooner or later, but at least I won't
> have to replace the rims. In fact, it may have tube tires on it now, I
> don't know. I'm waiting for the latest storm to pass by so I can drive out
> and pick it up before the next one comes in.

Depending on how long the rig's been sitting and under what conditions, you may want to check those tires over pretty carefully. Sun damage to the sidewalls, and flat spots on the tread from sitting too long in one place, are the things to watch for. I've had RV radials, that had developed a flat spot from sitting too long, bubble up and delaminate going down the highway. Not much fun. If something like that is going to happen, you can be sure it will be on a Sunday in some remote place 300 miles from the nearest tire shop.

I got a little carried away there with my offroad experiences. If you are on road all the time and carry a spare, it becomes a different game, because if you are as lazy as I am you are going to change the wheel and then take the punctured one to a tire shop to be fixed. You will not ordinarily have to fix it
yourself. The main advantage of tubed over tubeless is that you can almost always fix them in the
field. Doesn't apply in your case. I'm sure you'll be fine with tubeless tires. Hard to get anything else these days, anyway. Availability is also a consideration, once you have settled on a tire it's nice to have them all match, and so you don't want to pick anything too exotic. Also, you are probably just as well sticking with the manufacturer's recommendation (as per owner's manual) of tire size and type.

If you are going off road or to the beach or whatever, the part about radials on soft going still applies. In Arabia I had a 26 foot Bertram on an appropriately sized, dual axle trailer. I put big radials on the trailer and using a Range Rover was able to tow anywhere in the desert, with or without a road, and
launch off the softest of sand beaches without difficulty. Only needed 14 inches of water to launch. On the highway the rig handled fine but you couldn't go faster than about 40 mph because the big bow flare of the Bertram generated too much lift. I learned that the hard way (and scared myself silly for a few seconds) by lifting the Range Rover's rear wheels right off the ground in 5 lanes of traffic, talk about negative tongue weight! Could have fixed that by building a spoiler, of course, but didn't
bother because I was rarely on the highway with that rig anyway. Mostly off road. Wouldn't be street legal in the States, that boat was 10 feet 3 inches wide and you'd need an oversize permit every time you moved it.

Of course if you are towing to Baja or something like that, it might be a different story, I haven't been there and so can't really say.

John

Susi and John Burchard
Tepe Gawra Salukis
saluqi@ix.netcom.com