I'm thinking of installing electric brakes on it maybe this weekend... i had a lot of weight on it and just fried my brakes this past weekend going down a steep hill..
If the DOT somehow catches you with no breaks on that trailer, they will impound it. When I hauled campers (travel trailers) for a living some of the guys used to add a lead link to the safety chains, that way if the trailer wrecked the truck would break the link in the chains and release the trailer. The scale master at the scale house on US 6 walked out one night and checked one camper hauler and happened to jump up on the safety chain and it snapped. It was an automatic $ 1000. fine payable on the spot before he could leave. When it comes to the DOT, you don't mess with safety.