At 22:21 25 April 2012, wrote:
On Tuesday, April 24, 2012 11:26:45 AM UTC-4, Steve Koerner wrote:
The structure immediately under the handles had clearly collapsed.
There is no such solid material between the inner and outer laminate
on mine.

The backing plate has resolved the problem quite well.

I've looked at my hinge bolts a number of times, but can't detect any
problems. Are there any symptoms that precede bolt failure, i.e. loose
handles?

TIA,

Frank (TA)


We checked all the Glass fibre top (twin skin) Cobra trailers at our site.
(over 10 older trailers ) None had so far suffered a hinge failure.
The most obvious sign of a potential problem is loose bolts which are
easily tightened. One older trailer had a couple of mm slack that could be
tightened out.
I changed the bolts on mine for longer stronger bolts (12.9 spec) that do
not have the thread section across a load bearing junction.
I noticed a lot of corrosion present on the bolts removed from my 13 year
old trailer stored in a English climate. It might be prudent to replace
them after about 10 years depending on local conditions.
I refitted with a aluminium backing plate for good measure but it probably
is not necessary as all the compression between the twin skins seems to
have taken place.