Trailer for 4

[sweeper]

I got tired of the rope games trying to tie 3 or more boats onto my vehicle, so I broke down and built a canoe trailer from a trailer I've been storing at my son's house.



I shortened the trailer by a foot and bolted the box on with an extra foot in fro​nt of the axle.



The yards are 1" Black Pipe with 18" spacing

 

[dave0]

Very nice! Looks like a lot of work but well worth the effort! Should be my neighbor!

 

[scoutergriz]

Keep a close eye on those trees. Highway travel can put a ton of force on the joint where the pipes go through from headwinds, bumps, and crosswinds from trucks. Last one I built had 1 1/2" pipe drilled and welded through 2x3 heavy-wall rectangular tube. Even then, I had to gusset it after 2 years!

 

[Guest]

I like it. I built something similar years ago to haul gear on family canoeing and camping trips, complete with side racks to hold bicycles. It worked great, except that I hated hauling a trailer and never developed much proficiency at backing one up. After a trip up a long narrow dirt road that ended prematurely at a wash out, and backing the trailer out for a mile around twists and turns, my distaste for trailer travel reached its inevitable conclusion.

One trailer feature I have not seen is crossbars sized/shaped to accommodate Yakima or Thule accessories. Those things, cradles, gunwale stops, even rocket boxes are plentiful used and it would be nice to be able to accessorize the crossbars as needed.

 

[sweeper]

Keep a close eye on those trees. Highway travel can put a ton of force on the joint where the pipes go through from headwinds, bumps, and crosswinds from trucks. Last one I built had 1 1/2" pipe drilled and welded through 2x3 heavy-wall rectangular tube. Even then, I had to gusset it after 2 years!

Thanks, on your advise I'm going to add more bracing and will look at converting to metal later this summer.

 

[Iskweo]

I like it. I have one that I want to do similar work to but lack the time. We are buried in the middle of kitchen renos presently.Some day, some day.

Christy

 

[sweeper]

New bearings and seals, lights all working, the tree is doubly supported, yards reenforced, the anchors for the box to the frame also reenforced, tow chains replaced and of course that 1/2" carriage bolt in the center of the X bracing landed an inch below the gunnel in the kevlar hull and had to be replace.


We had the 'Rehearsal Tie On' tonight and we're loading the baggage tomorrow morning.





10PM departure for Algonquin PP.

 

[blackfly]

Nice choice in boats!

 

[sweeper]

Thanks, Wait till you see the one I come back with.

 

[snapper]

Great job on your trailer. Back when I was guiding I had a small canoe trailer built for me by a local welder. It looked essentially like yours and I used it for almost 10 years traveling from central NYS to both the Adirondacks and Catskills. The only issue I ever had was it started out in life as a snowmobile trailer and neither he or I took into account the trailer's joint which allowed for the unloading of the sleds. One day while traveling a particularly bad road the joint opened and the back end of the trailer dropped. Luckily what I was hauling at the time were plastic touring kayaks so other than some plastic scraping off the hulls, nothing else was an issue. I would have been a lot worse off had I been hauling canoes so I felt extremely lucky to have lost only a little plastic.

PS - Although considered a "nasty" word on this site, those kayaks are still in use and going strong in a local program!

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[TheIndian]

Love the beer! LOL

Hope to hear how your new trailer worked out when back from Algonquin. I am in same predicament...to many boats and not enough roof space on cars LOL

 

[sweeper]

It made the trip in great shape. I will do some mods to it but not immediately, no need to.

 

[sweeper]

No Title

In getting ready for a short trip into the ADKs I rebuilt my trailer. The first version had an X bracing between the masts, very strong but not that great for bags and the canoes hit the center of the X. So I put in one horizontal brace and a front stay.

P1250209 by Kevin French, on Flickr

I also got the spare out of the bed and mounted it to the tongue

P1250211 by Kevin French, on Flickr

The front stay is a bit oversized but it was on hand.

P1250214 by Kevin French, on Flickr

 

[Boatman53]

I'm doing the same project right now. I'll start my own thread though.
The chain for the front stay does nothing for hard braking, it works for windage but not braking forces.
Jim

 

[sweeper]

Here's to no hard braking. This is only version 2, and maybe not be the final. I look forward to what you come up with, I've known to copy thing that work.

 

[Boatman53]

I will most likely have a wooden brace where your chain is. Still debating if I need to have room for four, as I will be making multiple trips up to Maine. If I do go for four the upper level will be removable because will need to use it for general hauling also.
Jim

 

[sweeper]

Ultimately the front stay and horizontal brace will be metal tubing.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

Did you say 4 or 44?

s-l1600

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canoe-Hauler...QAAOSwPc9WxiWK

This seems to be fall-out from the ill fated buyout of Bell by ORC.

 

[sweeper]

Then I'd need something to pull it. I traded in my Ram CTD a few years back.