Being Land Yacht(Caravan) users for a few years we got the bug for sailing and quickly completed our RYA Day Skipper in Greece.
Myself and Avril had viewed a few Macs before meeting a lovely couple on the Norfolk Boards who showed us round the inside of their Mac, they were members of the UK user group and after our meeting we were convinced the Mac was the right boat for us, so the next step was to get our Mac .

After missing out on a couple of Macs, We viewed a boat close to the Thames, I checked every inch of the outside, Av checked every inch of the inside, the Mac was on it’s trailer, I checked the trailer, it had tyres that looked like they had just been fitted, shinny sealed wheel bearings , grease on the nipples and relevant points and a gleaming trailer chassis, it was missing a right mud guard but apart from that looked in amazing condition, hardly used said the seller !

We haggled and agreed a price, three days later I came back on my own to collect her, being used to towing a 1600kg caravan I was not too worried about the towing aspect, I set off at 2.30 and took it steady, she was a bit longer than the caravan so I was very mindful of how she would handle above 40mph, all seemed to be going well until 25 miles into the Journey I heard a noise from behind, I was on a dual carriage way and looked for the next lay by, it was 1 mile ahead, ½ a mile later I saw the only mud guard get ripped off and fly into the hedge, I pulled over to find the left tyre had worn down to the metal liner, taking a closer look I could see the U brackets were loose and the mud guard bracket had rubbed the tyre bare, I had a quick look and saw that the axle was mounted to buggy that seemed to be welded to the trailer frame so I decide the brackets were best removed so that they didn’t rub on the replacement tyre (Those of you familiar with trailers will be thinking that the axle is not normally welded).
I continued my journey down the M4 to the M25 now with no spare, worried about this I stopped at a garage and bought some tyre slime in case I got a puncture, I stopped a few times to check everything, checking the temperature of the tyres every time, I was a little nervous now but not put off, I made it around the M25 and came off towards the A1, while queuing for a roundabout on a downhill slope I was concerned I didn’t need my foot on the brakes as we sat without been pushed forward, this would not happen in the caravan, I pulled over in the next lay by and had a closer look at the coupling, I knew very little about them but it looked too rusty to be good, I jacked a wheel, spun it forwards and it seemed to be turning okay , it was now getting late and Av was getting a little worried and also eager to see our boat, I carried on and made it to the A1, it was rush hour and I was conscious I was slowing the traffic so I tried to drive at around 56mph with the lorries, there was lots of stop start driving due to the traffic, about 35 miles from home I started to hear another noise, mindful of what had happened before I stopped and checked the unit, I couldn’t see anything, was I now becoming paranoid ?
I continued my trip letting Av know I would be home in 45mins, 28miles to go I came around a roundabout and increased my speed back to around 55mph keen to get home, then it happened, a loud bang and the car slowed quickly like I had tried an emergency stop, this is not good on the busy A1, I controlled the skid and came to a stop on the inside lane of the carriage way, I could see in the mirror the right tyre had blown, I tried to move forward but the unit wouldn’t move, I assumed it was because the tyre rubber was jamming the wheel, I put out a traffic cone and placed my warning triangle some 100 meters behind and put on my fluorescent jacket, I could see the left tyre had a huge flat spot and the right tyre was a blowout so I decide to put the previously worn tyre back on so I could move off the A1, I replaced the wheel and tried to move forward but I couldn’t budge the trailer, at this point the police arrived and were very sympathetic to my situation and complemented me on my use of cones and triangles, the traffic was still moving on the outside lane but was tailing back to the roundabout, after some deliberation they decide to close the Northbound A1 so I could reverse back 200m to a little side road, god I must have been popular with the traffic, I was still very conscious it was rush hour, I reversed backwards and into the side road, as look would have it there was a grass verge that accommodated the trailer and my car, the A1 was reopened and the police after asking if I was okay wished me luck and continued on their way.

The police had already informed the home owners who property I was next to of my problem and they quickly came out to reassure me the boat was safe there and provided me with a well needs hot drink and biscuits.

I rang Av and explained what had happened, it was now 7pm, she quickly called the local tyre companies but they were closed or didn’t have the tyre whe needed, I asked her to try Halfords, they had spare trailer wheels, after some measurments and several phone calls between us she managed to get one the same size. While I waited for her, I jacked up the trailer to take off the worn wheel, I used a jacking point just to the right of the axle buggy, as I jacked up the trailer the buggy came away from the trailer, I thought the welds had broke, dam I thought, but on closer inspection I realised it wasn’t welded but instead was held on by something else …… the U brackets, the very ones I had removed earlier , there were no bolts on the right side at all, it suddenly dawned on me, the trailer was just sitting on the axle buggy and every time I braked or accelerated the buggy was free to move, just the weight of the boat holding it in place. I wondered if as I had accelerated the brake rod locked the brakes on the trailer ?

I looked at the coupling head, it was seized in, the brakes were fully on, hence the reason I couldn’t move forward but could reverse back of the A1 earlier. At this point I felt a fool for not spotting it when we viewed the boat.

Av arrived with the new wheel, quick check and it was the same size, great I thought……but it wasn’t our day, the wheel was for 5 wheel nuts and not 4 as I required, she had also brought a selection of my tools and some WD40, she had done a great job in getting everything so quickly, but we needed another plan. It was now 8pm, the man who lived next to where we were said it was quite there and he would also look after her overnight and we could come back the next morning, he provided some blocks and I took the wheels off as I intended to get them replaced before coming back the next day.

We reluctantly left our new pride and joy and drove the 28 miles home, the next morning I was lucky and able to get two new tyres fitted , I returned with some axle stands, and after lots of WD40 persuaded the coupling to move, releasing the brakes but it was not free running. After more coffee from our local saint and the use of his workshop I knew it was not going to be fixable, I repaid his fantastic help with a bottle of Red and wished him well. I then drove back very carefully, I managed to get her home without having to use the trailer brakes (some very long braking zones).

At the weekend a further inspection showed that the coupling had not been maintained and we had to replace it, one of the brake cables was also rusting inside so we swapped them for stainless steel ones, we built some new trailer brackets and added mudguards, the trailer is now in excellent condition and our trailer knowledge had improved 10 fold.

The moral of my story is that while you will be more interested in the boat don’t overlook the trailer, be wary if it is shiny and too good to be true, an unused older trailer is probably worse that a well used maintained one. We have since towed the boat over 200 miles and we are slowly getting our confidence back

As for the boat…..well she’s just great !

Si & Av