Trailer Advice Regarding Saltwater and Brackish Water

[Panama]

My four year old trailer is a RangerTrail trailer with their road armor coating. It is a channel steel trailer and NOT a hollow tube trailer. It has never been put in brackish or saltwater.

I have a freshwater ramp about 4 miles from my house when we are in Florida. We stay the winter down here. I have always mainly fished freshwater. Freshwater is all my trailer has ever seen. I am fishing some brackish water and saltwater with a buddy who has an aluminum trailer. I want to be able to fish this water more and would like to fish it with my boat. I have been told by some friends here that if I fish it and then go to my freshwater ramp and dunk my trailer a couple of times that I will be OK.....or that if the ramp is closed like it is at sunset that I could do a wand type spray carwash and be OK. I don't want to turn my trailer into rust.

I will be 70 soon and think the trailer might last me the rest of the time I fish down here.....but am not sure. I hate to buy a new aluminum trailer because I could not really get anything for my existing trailer. I am thinking about just using it until I have to buy a replacement......but I am not sure how long it might last or sure what to do.

What advice would you have?

Thanks.

[The gurg]

you can probably get away with spraying good with a pressure washer, especially since it's painted. It'll rust some eventually but it's a slow process. Washing it will make it alot slower. If it starts rusting more than you like, just clean it really good and stop using it in the salt water.

[Jeff Hahn]

If you go into the salt or brackish water, why not stop at the fresh water ramp near your house on the way home and dunk the trailer inthe fresh water? I would back it in and pull it out several times to slosh the water in all the little hidey holes.

[mikesxpress]

I live on the brackish section of the Potomac and frequently fish there, down river in true saltwater, and also in fresh water. I've been doing this since 2003 and "dunking" the steel trailer isn't going to help much after it's been sitting at the ramp with saltwater on it for hours while you fish as the corrosion process has already begun. I conducted heavy revamp on my previous steel trailer every year and still couldn't keep up with the saltwater degradation even though I was doing a through pressure washing after every trip. Aluminum trailer on my Intracoastal now and I still pressure wash it after every trip as you still have steel components in the brake system. Only issues since I went to the aluminum in 2013 is the retaining ears on the back of the disc brake pads that lock them into the caliper cup. I cold galvanize the back of the pads/ears and this has helped extend the life for 2 years before the ears disintegrate and the pad is loose. *No way for the water to escape from the cup....

[SmlRanger]

i would never put a ranger trailer into salt water. galvanized or aluminum only. you will be sorry if you do!

[billnorman1]

Sounds like you're doing the best you can, and are ahead of the curve using a trailer that isn't a tube trailer. Any steel or iron that isn't coated will rust even in fresh water. Maybe spray down nooks and crannies with WD-40 once in a while.