So, help you out there. I need to get bigger wheels for my little trailer, like 10 or 12 inch. Trouble is the axles on the trailer have a larger diameter than any of the wheels available on Okinawa. I need a wheel that has a bearing size of about 3 cm diameter.
You get the picture
For those of you who have bad eyes.
If anyone has any ideas on how to procure such wheels, they will have my eternal gratitude. Anyway, today is Saturday and I go sailing! Before I set off, I do various little jobs around the boat. I re-rig the main sheet and glue covers on the mysterious holes in the cockpit. I also rub dubbing into the oar leathers.
This is grease that I bought with the Brooks saddle for Big Red. It does a great job on the oar leathers.
The wind is fairly strong so I put in a reef. I swoop off to practice manoeuvres. This such fun. There is a channel through the reef, er, reef like as in big bank of coral rather than as in sail reduction. It is not easy to navigate as it zig zags. I am very conscious, after a year of sailing, that efficient sailing down this channel in heavy weather can make the difference between happiness and joy rather than misery and pain. I practice this entry several times and obligingly the wind freshens and starts to blow straight onshore, giving different parameters for the approach. It is a wonderful trip, especially after I shake out the reef. I manage to sail straight back onto the mooring- always satisfying. Although it is only April, I am in shorts and t-shirt. So much fun to be had as the Summer approaches. I must remember to wear a hat. Here is a poor video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ55K8ZTe2s I plan to go for an evening sail but alas the low tide makes this impossible.
Aground as the sun sets
This is a wonderful place to live.
More sailing tomorrow when this thing comes around again.
The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond 
No problem with getting 10″ trailer wheels here – lots on Gumtree http://www.gumtree.com/wheel-rims-tyres/uk/trailer or Ebay. Are there no similar internet selling sites in Okinawa? Another thought – are there no little metal-bashing workshops around? There’s a guy down the road from me who’d weld you a couple of old Mini wheel mounts onto your trailer, nae bother. Must have them in Okinawa, surely?
Alternatively couldn’t you get new (bigger) tyres for the same old wheels ?
Hi Mike
Unfortunately the other hub is destroyed by moth and rust.
Hi Alan,
Getting 10 inch wheels is no problem, it is the diameter of the axle hole that is the rub.
Use spacers to move the wheel outwards to clear the hub? You’d need new and longer studs but it is a traditional method. Old Don Beamish in Willen would have run them up for you in an evening – remember the titanium footrest he made for your motorbike? Don’t you have technial guys at OIST? Otherwise new hubs welded into place would do – my house-sitter Clare’s highly qualified welder boyfriend would leap at the chance to be bought a ticket to Okinawa. His main work these days is repairing agricultural machinery of all kinds and a trailer would be a doddle. Though a new trailer might be a cheaper option for you as his awamori consumption would be prodigious.