Bramber Trailers ???????

[Jackwabbit]

Originally Posted by xpertski

just a little bit worries as i have bought a humber ocean pro 6.3 from humber, and i think it has a bramber trailer, certainly dont want any problems takin the boat 12 hours to the north of scotland...

If I was you I would phone them quick & find out, & if it is a Bramber trailer I would ask for something different or arrange to get your own trailer from somewhere else.

Last weekend at Bridport out of the 20 or so trailers on the top of the slipway each day ours was the only trailer to have the ALKO hubs, & ours was the only Bramber trailer. It was also interesting to note they all had more rollers than ours & the spindles for the rollers were solid galvanised steel without any holes through them for mounting, unlike our Bramber trailer where the spindles are aluminium tubes drilled through the middle to mount them on the trailer.
No wonder the keep snapping where the hole is!

[Jackwabbit]

Here we go again!
Sorry to bring this up again but unfortunately the saga still continues.

Today was the first time the weather was right & we had enough people to go diving, arrived at the boat shed at 06:45 to pick up the boat & tow it the 60 miles down to the coast.
07:05 sitting on the hard shoulder of the M25 waiting for the recovery service to get the boat back to the boat shed, deep joy!.

After being in discussions with Humber & Bramber since October last year, we were almost at a point where we were going to book up an independent report on the trailer.
Now the near side wheel baring has collapsed, so here we are again unable to use the boat because of this trailer.

In the last 18months we have had 4 sets of wobble rollers break, the winch break, brakes replace, brake cables replaced, winch post break, & now the bearings, what else can go wrong?

Our Snipe trailer is now 8 years old & still on the same brakes, cables & bearings, so if Snipe can do it why cant Bramber?

Now we have to decide whether to repair it again or cut our losses & get something else.

[bogib]

Sadly to read about this.

We took a container load of their trailers and this shipment will be the only one we will ever take from them not up to our standard we still have quite a few of them on stock, they have not been of a trouble but are not strongly built.

We will stick with Shorelander, Riba and Majava trailers in the future and order enough trailers for the season, we ran out of trailers and we took Bramber as they where the only one able to supply immediately this summer.

Bogi

[Jackwabbit]

For those of you who may have been following this thread I can now say we finally have a resolution.
The independent report was carried out & their comments weren’t very complementary, as soon as they looked at it they said the trailer was obviously overloaded. The wheels were far too close to the mudguards & the suspension arm’s was horizontal instead of sloping down at about 25 degrees. They then went on to say in their opinion the trailer didn’t have enough rollers to support the boat correctly.
This report was sent along with some photos to Bramber & Humber.
After speaking to Bramber they agreed that the trailer looked as if it was overloaded which would be why we were having problems, I then told them that 2 of the photos were taken in Humber’s yard on the day of picking up the boat & trailer; this was also pointed out to Humber.
At the start of this thread I was too harsh on my assumption of Bramber trailers & if anyone who works there reads this I sincerely apologise, Bramber have gone well out of their way to resolve the problem, which involved them going up to Humber before agreeing to exchange our RG650 for a 3 month old RG950 complete with a full 1 year warrantee.
We meat up with a very nice man from Bramber early on Saturday morning, who had brought the RG950, this took him all morning to set up to match our boat, before he ran into another problem. The trailer is about 8” too long from the end of the back rollers to the winch post for our boat, the winch post couldn’t be moved back any further so Bramber have promised to make a new top section with a longer arm, as well as changing the angle of it to fit our boat perfectly. I don’t think we could have asked for more, & I would like to thank everyone at Bramber for their efforts.
Now looking forward to this years diving!

[xpertski]

glad to gear all was resolved!!! this thread has been running for a while and has been interesting to see the progression!!! havent as of yet had any problems with the bramber trailer, so will continue to use it, and if in the future i decide to get a new trailer after this one has had much use then i will probably consider a different trailer, maybe sbs, and a 4 wheel version

[Jeff Pike]

Horrified to read this thread when it came up again - first time I have seen it. Bought a Bramber trailer with my Humber last year. So far no problems other than a split pin falling out. Didn't like the winch though - bit wimpy for the size of boat - have bought something a bit bigger with twin gears. Brakes did seize up once last year - will have to check them over at the weekend - something else to worry about! Glad you got it sorted. Happy diving.

[Tony Woods.]

Dear All,

May I first of all put my cards on the table. I am Tony Woods, Sales Director for Bramber Trailers.

To all those that have posted complimentary notes regarding Bramber Trailers, it is gratifying to hear. I wouldn't normally enter discussions on a public website regarding the problems that Swanley Dive Club have experienced.

Having read some of the points that have been made, perhaps it would be prudent to simply point out that there are various reasons why trailer problems occur which include safe working loads, regular maintainance, set up, tie down procedure, and of course trailer design.

We at Bramber Trailers are proud of our commitmant to customer service, and in Swanley Dive Club's case, I can assure those reading this that everything has been done to ensure that they are happy with Bramber trailers. I know this to be true, because I gave my weekend up to ensure this was the case! Like any commercial organisation we are sometimes disappointed that bad news is posted on public websites whilst good news remains a secret. We will have to put this down to experience.

I am unable to comment on behalf of Humber for obvious reasons, however having dealt with them for a long time both with Bramber and Indespension, I can only comment that like Bramber they are a customer focused organisation that is in the business of keeping customers happy.

As a trailer manufacturer, I have found some of the attached threads about trailers in general most interesting. Regarding the alco axle with the waterproof bearings, I have experianced standard axles without any protection to the bearing chamber previously and can vouch that the problems they experiance can be horrendous. The addition of bearing savers to these axles helps but does not cure the problems they suffer from. In summary we at Bramber believe the alco axle to be the very best available. To those boaters that rigaously strip the bearings down after every launch, I acknowledge that the alco bearing unit is difficult to gain access to. We along with all trailer manufacturers have to design a product that meets the requirements of those that don't service after every launch because the majority of boaters don't.

Without wishing to turn this post in to a Bramber advert, I can assure all readers that no other trailer manufacturer is researching new brakeing systems, and bearing design, and chassis material developement like we are. Like all all developement projects, we have to design trailers that not only work, but meet the construction and use regulations, and most importantly meet the target price you guys will pay. Our military trailer specification is absaloutly superb, with disc brakes, adjustable towing heights, etc, they can even be lifted by a helicopter! Could we sell this spec in the liesure market? I fear not.

All our current braked trailers have waterproof bearings, stainless brake cables, and fresh water flushing systems as standard. Nobody else can match this specification.

We at Bramber aren't perfect, but we are happy to listen to any customers that have any feedback for us, good or bad. I can be contacted at tony@brambertrailers.com or 07875 359613.

Kind Regards, Tony Woods.

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by Tony Woods.

Like any commercial organisation we are sometimes disappointed that bad news is posted on public websites whilst good news remains a secret.

I think that Jackwabbit's post of 6 March (two messages up) makes the good news about as clear as possible in the circumstances!

Welcome to RIBnet by the way.

John

[Jono]

Originally Posted by Tony Woods.

....... In summary we at Bramber believe the alco axle to be the very best available. To those boaters that rigaously strip the bearings down after every launch, I acknowledge that the alco bearing unit is difficult to gain access to. We along with all trailer manufacturers have to design a product that meets the requirements of those that don't service after every launch because the majority of boaters don't......

Tony, thanks for the courtesy of a response. I will say that my Bramber trailer tows extremely well and appears robustly made, the only issue I have is with the Al-Ko “sealed for life” bearings. The impracticality and cost involved when they are fitted to a boat trailer that will, on occasion, be fully submerged in salt water is my concern. Firstly they are NOT waterproof and as a consequence of their construction and the way they are installed, they are a very expensive proposition. They might last “100,000” miles on a caravan, but they certainly don’t fair so well on a boat trailer and are damned expensive to replace, including a new brake drum/hub every second time. One-shot nuts means cleaning out the brakes, lubing the pivots Etc is an expensive business too.
How about a bearing unit with reasonably priced conventional taper rollers, fitted with bearing savers and an easily accessible greasing point along with a fresh water flush point fitted to the drums with a drain?
I assume that as boat trailers are a very small part of the overall trailer market that we end up with whatever axles are developed and most suitable for the majority?

[Tony Woods.]

Jono,
Thanks for your reply. Your comments are valid regarding the Marine Industry not being large enough to warrent a purpose designed 'marine application' axle. We are back in the realms of manufacturing a product that meets the target price in the market. However we at Bramber (And I'm sure other manufacturers before I get in to trouble!) are researching all avenues. We are currently in contact with an American source, which is capable of meeting European specs.
I will contact Alco and ask them for thier views and post my findings. Alco are our supplier, and I can assure you that we encourage them at every opportunity to design thier products with marine applications in mind.
Kind Regards, Tony Woods.

[Scary Des]

Tony
Are you aware that Al-Ko do serviceable bearing and mechanical disc brakes But not in the UK for some reason Des

[Tony Woods.]

Hi Des,
Yes, we stumbled across the products on the Austalian (Just to show we are trying!) Alco site. Terry Williams the owner of Bramber approached Alco about letting us test them out. Unfortunately they showed no sign of interest in promoting the product in the U.K. I haven't given up and will call a meeting with Alco. I will inform you of my findings.
Regards, Tony Woods.

[Scary Des]

Originally Posted by Tony Woods.

Hi Des,
Yes, we stumbled across the products on the Austalian (Just to show we are trying!) Alco site. Terry Williams the owner of Bramber approached Alco about letting us test them out. Unfortunately they showed no sign of interest in promoting the product in the U.K. I haven't given up and will call a meeting with Alco. I will inform you of my findings.
Regards, Tony Woods.

They are also available in the German market, but for some reason not over here, which I find strange
Mechanical disc brakes are a big improvement over drum for reliability and servicing in a salt water environment and are used extensively in the states and down under where drum brakes are a thing of the past.
If I was a suspicious person I would say that lack of UK supply was because the component manufactures were making loads of money selling spares for virtually obsolete drum brake systems into a naive market Good job I’m not suspicious then Des

[Nasher]

Des

Hi. I have some very good contacts in Germany.

How many hub assemblies do you think we can get in the back of my Shogun?

Nasher.

[jwalker]

Ignoring brake efficiency, why do you think disc brakes are better than drums brakes for marine use?

[Jono]

Originally Posted by jwalker

Ignoring brake efficiency, why do you think disc brakes are better than drums brakes for marine use?

........easier to hose down with fresh water when you flush your motor?
........easier to check on lining wear?
........easier to replace linings?

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Scary Des

They are also available in the German market, but for some reason not over here, which I find strange
Mechanical disc brakes are a big improvement over drum for reliability and servicing in a salt water environment and are used extensively in the states and down under where drum brakes are a thing of the past.
If I was a suspicious person I would say that lack of UK supply was because the component manufactures were making loads of money selling spares for virtually obsolete drum brake systems into a naive market Good job I’m not suspicious then Des

If they are available to the Krauts then they are obviously EU approved!!!

[Scary Des]

Originally Posted by Jono

........easier to hose down with fresh water when you flush your motor?
........easier to check on lining wear?
........easier to replace linings?

And easier to adjust
Less moving parts
Oh and the Al Ko ones are galvanised where appropriate and discs are easier to lathe if they become pitted
apart from that not much Des

[wavelength]

To those boaters that rigaously strip the bearings down after every launch,

Well I dont do that and never have done - but I do like to strip them once a year to check condition and then re pack with grease, and that is the "protection for the bearing chamber". I have had trailed boats for 30years or so and did have lots of trouble in my early niave days (as opposed to my later niave days )before I realised that not all greases are waterproof. After changing to castrol heavy (unfortunately no longer available) I never had another bearing problem. Prior to that I learned how to change a bearing at the side of the road on numerous occassions. We have a number of trailers here-The oldest probably 5 years old and still on its original bearings. It does have bearing savers on it but I think it is the quality of the grease (proper waterproof stuff) rather than the saver that helps preserve the bits. In fairness we also have one trailer with sealed bearings and we have had no problems with those bearings to date-but it is rarely used and is only a couple of years old.