There is more to towing a boat than simply putting your boat on and hooking the trailer to your truck. The maintenance aspects of owning a boat with a trailer are essential to being able to safely enjoy the boat. One of the most important aspects is using correctly rated tires for the size and weight of the vessel. This usually happens when the old tires wear out, but in some cases you may be building a trailer from scratch and you will have to choose components accordingly.

They may look the same, but car wheels and tires are not the same as boat trailer wheels and tires. Trailer tires are designed specifically to be able to handle loads over a long stretch of road. They are designed to handle the abuse of having to carry all that weight for long periods of time. They wear differently and are not as grippy as steering or driving tires in a car. Trailer tires are given a letter rating for the weight amount they are intended for. The larger the letter the bigger the load-bearing capacity. For example, a tire rated “C” will not accept as much weight as a tire rated “D.”

It is essential that you properly research the market for quality tires for your boat trailer before you go out and buy. A good idea is to find reviews about them to find out what other boaters have to say about particular models. It is fairly safe to say however, that big brand tires are likely better than low-budget no name brand tires. These bigger companies usually have better research and development budgets to churn out better product overall. Looking at these brand name tires is the best place to start. Some known names in trailer tires are Goodyear and Carlisle but even smaller more “boutique” brand such as Maxxis are making a good name for themselves these days. Make sure that your family camping trips are not ruined just because you bought poor quality boat trailer tires.