How do you determine if your brakes (boat trailer) are submergible?

I would guess use the same criteria as one would for an automobile/truck. I know that I replaced drum breaks on our trailer with disc primarily because the drums would hold the water and rusted out. However, a disc is sort of self draining. By the way disc breaks were a quantum jump improvement compared to drum!

3pointstar

Thanks 3pointstar............the reason I ask is, when I bought my boat the myco triple axle trailer needed a few things before 1100 mile journey home (new tires, bearings, wiring & brakes)
The hauler said, "You trailer has regular brakes the type that a U-haul would be fitted for and not submergable like a boat trailer should be fitted with".....I have no Idea now if I can submerge
them........I called the mechanic that installed the trailer brakes and he said, of course there submergable. ....sooooo how do I prove one way or the other?

No difference. Wives tale

3 kinds of brake systems:

(Straight) Electric Brakes, normally a drum brake with electric current that energizes a magnet. Some folks swear that it's fine to use these on boat trailers, but I don't think would. Worst case if this is what you have, unplug them before submerging.

Surge or Hydraulic Brakes, can be disk or drum brakes, no issue with submerging.

Electric Over Hydraulic Brakes, most often disk brakes, but can be drum; no issue with submerging.

Of note:
It is of good practice to let your brakes cool down before you dunk them. As in, if you just had to tow the last 5-10 miles from the interstate to the ramp along roads that had moderate to heavy braking, make sure you pause for a while to let your brakes cool down from their sometimes 200-300 degree temps before you dip them in the lake/river/ocean/etc.

Stop and think about this it takes a few minutes to untie make sure the drain plug is in and of course all the beverages have been properly stowed. This should allow for the breaks to cool down before the splash

I totally agree, but some of us are faster at the ramp than others.

I've had several trailers with electric drum breaks.
They are perfectly good to dunk in the water. No need to unplug. Run it and enjoy it. The next step up is disk breaks and once you do that you won't want to go back to drum.

I usually make my wife ride in the cuddy for the last leg of any trip to the lake with lines at the ready (no fenders out, though- I'm not Cash Bar). Then when we pull into the launch she makes "beep, beep, beep" noises while I back up the trailer into the water at a fervent pace to quench the super-hot brakes.





Just kidding! (Except for the Cash Bar/fender part- there's truth in that, even some photographic evidence if memory serves)
Dunking hot brakes in cool water is bad for the seals, I'm told. Still can't remember seeing any seals at the local boat launch though....Maybe dipping hot brakes kills seals similar to how a kitten dies every time I.... oh, nevermind.

I used to think that standard electric drum brakes were not to be submerged until I did a little research. They can actually work better than surge drum.