I discovered this, fortunately, while launching at the beach. The U-bolt that secures the springs to the axle had come loose and the port side of the axle slid a couple of inches aft of the starboard side. A few minutes of moving the axle back to position and tightening the nuts on the U-bolt fixed the problem. The tire on that side was worn a bit due to crabbing down the road but real disaster was avoided on only the third outing of my new boat and trailer.

One disadvantage of trailering among so many high boxes on wheels (i.e.: "SUV's") is that the tippy box driver sits too high to easily notice the low brake lights on the trailer ahead of him/her. Raising the brake lights to the height of the big box's windshield is not necessarily the remedy because too many drivers are also convinced they can drive while constantly yapping about nothing on the phone (noticeable by their meandering path down the road).

My first and only accident was at the start of my second outing with the new boat. The girl behind me drove her Camry right into the stern. The cop couldn't believe she couldn't see a big yeller boat with two big brake lights sitting in a turn lane at a red light. Her insurance paid for a new rudder but that, and a few scratches, was all my boat suffered. The trailer wasn't hurt but the impact did quite a bit of damage to her Camry and had to be towed. She had been on the phone to tell her boss that she would be late for work when she drove into the boat. I wish I had a jamming device that would affect mobile phones once they were within a few car lengths of my boat and trailer.

Pulling a trailer requires more of the boater these days because so many other drivers are distracted in their mobile dens of entertainment.