Tondelayo's tender is an old Sea-Al 10ft tinnie (Tindelayo) which sits on an old, hand made, galvanised trailer.
This trailer has been a faithful old thing since I got it in 2009 (and it was old then). It has carried "Tindelayo" from Kiama to Jervis Bay and back for 6 years (about a one hour drive) without so much as a flat tyre.
The other day I walked outside to fix the trailer wiring plug as one of the indicator lights had stopped working and next thing you know I had removed the entire undercarriage of the trailer!
To be fair, I knew this day was coming ever since I greased the bearings last year and noticed that my springs and axle were slowly but surely rusting away.
So now the easy part is done and I'm left with a set of stub axles and a trailer frame that has great LED indicator lights (which I fitted last year) and a great plug (which I checked and repaired yesterday).
All I have to do is source some new wheels and tyres, new mud guards, new gal pipe to weld the stub axles onto, new galvanised hubs, new slipper leaf springs and a few nuts and bolts and I'll be good to go for another 10 years or more.
Keep an eye out for a blog titled "Tender Trailer Reconstruction" coming soon.