Hey all, I recently bought an Advantage 32 Victory that came on a Ziemen triple axle trailer. The trailer is in real good shape (except I had to replace all 6 tires!), but when I looked at the boat, then the trailer I never thought to actually check out the BRAKES! I bought it on a Friday, then pulled it to our place on the lake about 80 miles away. Cruising down the freeway at about 75, I mentioned to my buddy "Hey, this thing pulls great!" about 30 seconds later, I top a ridge and see traffic is stopped about 200 yards ahead!! It wasn't til then I realized this thing has NO BRAKES!!! I know, stupid ME! Anyway, thankfully my 2500HD did get it stopped, but not without making all sorts of horrible sounds from the anti-lock brakes. Sorry for the long story, now, I found out the rear axle brake line had been severed hence the no brakes. I figure this boat has sat for quite a while with no brake fluid in the lines or resevoir in the actuator. My question, would the actuator still be good after being without fluid for this long? I figured I would just fix the rear axle line and fill her back up and bleed the system. I'm REALLY hoping I don't have replace the whole actuator (or maybe even the calipers). Any thoughts?

If the master cyl did not rust up you might be ok...fill with fluid and bleed the brakes..ck for leaks...block the back of the wheels pull forward with a truck, them back up against the block, thats the pumping of the brakes...good luck

Wow!!

Glad you made it ok. Like said before if it works it works, but if something is questionable it is best to replace it all.

When I bled my surge brakes I used my trailer hitch(just the ball part) and a big friend. He pushed down on the hitch inserted into my coupler and i was at the wheel with the wrench letting the fluid out. It worked for mine. Hopefully u will be able to reuse your parts. Just remember, dont cheap out on important stuff. Whats it really going to run you? A couple hundred to protect your investment?? JMHO

The master cylinders are pretty simple. I would pull it apart, hone the cylinder walls (you can get a hone if you don't have one that fits on the end of a drill) and get a seal kit for about 5 bucks.

Thanks guys. My plan is to simply fix the broken line, fill and bleed. If it works great, but if not and the MC and calipers look in the least bad, I'm gonna have an electric over hydraulic system installed. Of course I will have to find a reputable shop to do this since I don't feel confident enough to tackle that big a job (plus I don't have a clue about these systems) With a boat this size, the LAST thing I want is to worry about the brakes. Thanks again.

The install isnt to bad on the electric over hyd. The basic do-it-yourselfer can do this, no problem. Just take your time, follow directions, and enjoy a superior braking system!

yep. Installing and working on EOH is easier than a surge system.

Any suggestions on a source? And do they sell "packages" that include all the hardware AND instructions? I would really like to do this myself since I wouldn't have to find a place for the boat on land. I could launch the boat and keep it in a buddy's slip for a day or two if I did the work myself. If I took it somewhere else, I'm sure it would take at least a week or more, and I don't want to leave the boat in the water that long.

http://www.easternmarine.com/Electri...ake-Actuators/


Bought mine from here. You need the pump unit, breakaway switch, battery, box, charger and wiring. They also have a plug and play version for more. I bought the standard Brakerite pump and converted my disc brake trailer over myself. Not hard to do. The boat was on the trailer during the conversion. Once the boat was at the lake, then the trailer was taken to an auto paint shop to have the tongue painted from having the coupler welded solid.

Depending on your truck, a controller. I installed the MaxBrake controller. A little more than the others, but for a reason. Don't use the regular $50 controllers. Most EOH compatible controllers of quality start around $150.

Do a search here. I have pics of my install, also another member has a good thread on his change over.

Found link:
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/t...iler-redo.html

I had the exact same thing on my AT when I bought it. Broken brake line and no fluid in the res. I fixed the brake line and when I put fluid in, it all leaked out of the master cylinder. I bought a new master cylinder and all was well. It was only about a $100 and pretty simple to replace.