Boat trailer broke

[PACMEN]

On my last trip to Willard Bay 27 July, as I was launching the boat, I noticed the bow stand was broken off where it was welded to the mount plate. So before releasing the boat, I pulled back up the ramp and rigged a ratcheting cargo strap to the stand and secured it to the trailer to provide some opposing "pull".  


     

  I got back to my storage unit,  removed the bow stand from trailer, removed the ratcheting assembly and cleaned the two pieces of the broken stand the best I could.  Then took them to a local muffler shop that does small job welding.  



Re-weld was completed Tuesday morning 1 Aug. Returned to my storage unit, primed and painted new weld area, re-installed on trailer. Re-installed the ratchet strap assembly. 

      

Between Thursday, 27 July when I took the stand in to be welded and Tuesday, 1 Aug when it was completed, I figured with the boat a little loose on the trailer, was a good time to replace the carpet on the side guides. 


     
 
Was hoping to get back on the water yesterday or today,  but weather and thunder storms will make me hold off until tomorrow.

I would guess the cause of the failure is that the drain hole in the plate is bolted tight to the , thus trapping water.
When I build something like this for the boat trailer I always make a couple of drain holes between the upright and the base plate, skipping the weld right there.
I think if you drill a 1/4" hole on each side tight down against the base plate you will never see this problem again.

Most likely this advice is worth what you paid for it.