TexasKayakFisherman.com

Bighop,

Very nice setup.....If I was going to do a kayak only trailer yours is "spot on" to what I would want. Great job! Though my truck would be jealous of the trailers BFGs!

I have to agree Bighop you did a kick arse job on that trailer!

Just out of curiosty how does she pull at 65-70? Or do you ever take it up too or had the chance to take it up to freeway speeds?

sinkingship wrote:I have to agree Bighop you did a kick arse job on that trailer!

Just out of curiosty how does she pull at 65-70? Or do you ever take it up too or had the chance to take it up to freeway speeds?

Took it out to Indianola yesterday and she pulled great up to 75. No sway, no bounce, pulled straight. Was very happy with the light springs on the bumpy roads to the marina.

Nice!
It looks like you have solid top and hopefully bottoms protecting your rods. A rock an really do som damage.
I was fishing the MOB once, jerked my silver spoon outta some fish lips and it hit my rod. Two casts later the rod just breaks over like a shotgun. That hurt 'cause it was a custom made for me by my wife's uncle. Amazingly he shipped it to them and they sent a free replacement blank.

Also anybody looked at these?
http://www.southwestwheel.com/store/p-2 ... r-kit.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

bighop wrote:Mine:

and the build thread:
http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... 3&t=150933" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks to TKF and Notimetofish, I finally have my kayak trailer. After commenting on Notimetofish's trailer and how it held up, I ended up buying it from him. (yea!) The first thing I wanted to do was mount my Thule carbox on the rack. I started with it in the trailer but a) it took up too much space and b) it was tough crouching down to load and unload it, especially with the the kayaks on the rack.

So that it would fit on the rack, I needed to move them closer. Turns out the easiest thing rather than drill new holes was simply to swap them.

I was still a little unsure about taking it on the highway with the small 12" wheels, so I bought some 13" with nearly new car tires from a local guy on craiglist. Since these were too big to fit under the stock fenders, I had a problem. I could remove the existing fenders, raise them or replace them but that seemed like a lot of hassle for a guy with no welder nearby.

Well this weekend, my dad was in town and suggested we just move the axle to below the springs to give us another couple of inches. Sure enough that worked. It lowered the hubs enough and substantially raised the trailer up to a manageable high so I'm more horizontal with my hitch (already a 5 1/2" drop).

Also in the month I've had it, we added a beverage feature to the left rear - works perfectly.

All in all I'm pleased. Just need to get a spare and i'm good to go. Can't wait to get back down to Rockport. Prior to the tire change, we did get it out camping. Fully loaded with boats, camp gear, ice chest, fire wood it didn't like going much above 60mph, but we'll see how it goes from here with the latest adjustments.

Let me know if you have any tips or other suggestions (or a 13" tire with a 175/70 13 tire on it for sale )

Next step is to add about 2 feet to the tongue.

Here's the beverage feature, courtesy of my brother...)

here it is all finished and now up for sale
4'x5'
extended tounge
spring over lift
31" all terrain tires
undercoated
bed liner
rod holders
removable kayak bars
solid steel
buitl to last forever and go anywhere!

Trailer


Rod Storage

I am too poor to have a single purpose kayak trailer, so I rigged my flatbed trailer to hold a few kayaks.

texasflycaster wrote:I am too poor to have a single purpose kayak trailer, so I rigged my flatbed trailer to hold a few kayaks.

Any closer shots of the rigging?

texasflycaster wrote:I am too poor to have a single purpose kayak trailer, so I rigged my flatbed trailer to hold a few kayaks.

Nice FJ60!

I guess I will have to shoot some closeups of the mounting. I already taped all the pipe insulation to protect it from being destroyed by pressure points of kayaks. Essentially, it's two separate racks bolted on the inside of the trailer via the side rails of the trailer. I also put some plates on the bottom of the racks to 1) help avoid front-to-back sway, and 2) so that I can stand the racks up when not in use and put other things on the racks (held together by two horizontal brackets using same bolt holes as when mounted on trailer.
Typically, I am just running with one or two kayaks on the FJ60 though (one high reach though).

Here's mine. Just finished it.

That tool box on front is very handy, and something I need to figure out how to add to mine without taking away kayak spaces.

texasflycaster wrote:That tool box on front is very handy, and something I need to figure out how to add to mine without taking away kayak spaces.

I have a similar size trailer to this (see above post) and was thinking about extending the tongue about 3 feet to a) center the boats and b) make the backing up a bit easier. I'm toying with the idea of mounting a plastic job box from home depot to the tongue to get more storage while not taking away from the bed. Anyone tried anything like this? seems like a pretty simple job of new steel tubing and coupler...

I believe stretching smaller trailers is a very good idea.

This my trailer project. I have more pics under posting "Kayak limo trailer". I still have more work to do

boonema wrote:Next step is to add about 2 feet to the tongue.

Here's the beverage feature, courtesy of my brother...)

The attachment IMG_0382.jpg is no longer available

The attachment IMG_0383.JPG is no longer available

I have almost the identical set up. Tractor Supply Trailer 4x6 and Trac Rack racks. My question is when you moved the axle to the bottom of the spring, when you take the two u bolts loose does that bottom plate come loose so you can invert it and retighten the u bolts or did you need another plate made? Also my trailer has a removeable tongue which I removed and had a longer one made. 3' longer. I got the material for the tongue (box beam) from metals 4 u on IH 35 near Pflugerville. Thanks for any help as I may add larger wheels to mine, although I have had no problems pulling my 70+ on the highway.

texasflycaster wrote:I believe stretching smaller trailers is a very good idea.

Me too! Here's the extended product with new basket for added storage. Have yet to reinstall the cartop box.

We salvaged a piece of 2x4 steel tube from an old sign, had a piece of angle iron lying around, and salvaged the expanded metal as well for the new basket.

texan4ut wrote:

boonema wrote:Next step is to add about 2 feet to the tongue.

Here's the beverage feature, courtesy of my brother...)

IMG_0382.jpg

IMG_0383.JPG

I have almost the identical set up. Tractor Supply Trailer 4x6 and Trac Rack racks. My question is when you moved the axle to the bottom of the spring, when you take the two u bolts loose does that bottom plate come loose so you can invert it and retighten the u bolts or did you need another plate made? Also my trailer has a removeable tongue which I removed and had a longer one made. 3' longer. I got the material for the tongue (box beam) from metals 4 u on IH 35 near Pflugerville. Thanks for any help as I may add larger wheels to mine, although I have had no problems pulling my 70+ on the highway.

I highly recommend the larger wheels. I personally feel better about them than the little 12" that were on there before.

As for the axle, that plate isn't welded or anything and fit just fine on the other side. I don't recall if we had to switch side for some mirror effect or not, but it was a pretty simple activity. I think your set-up is what I first saw that put me on the hunt and found Notimetofish's rig he was looking to offload.

I saw a plastic box at Lowes that will likely fit perfectly in the new basket for storing my PFDs and anchor, maybe even the whole crate. I'm thinking I'll add that and bolt it to the basket, maybe with a strap for extra safety. Good Luck

boonema wrote:

texan4ut wrote:

boonema wrote:Next step is to add about 2 feet to the tongue.

Here's the beverage feature, courtesy of my brother...)

IMG_0382.jpg

IMG_0383.JPG

I have almost the identical set up. Tractor Supply Trailer 4x6 and Trac Rack racks. My question is when you moved the axle to the bottom of the spring, when you take the two u bolts loose does that bottom plate come loose so you can invert it and retighten the u bolts or did you need another plate made? Also my trailer has a removeable tongue which I removed and had a longer one made. 3' longer. I got the material for the tongue (box beam) from metals 4 u on IH 35 near Pflugerville. Thanks for any help as I may add larger wheels to mine, although I have had no problems pulling my 70+ on the highway.

I highly recommend the larger wheels. I personally feel better about them than the little 12" that were on there before.

As for the axle, that plate isn't welded or anything and fit just fine on the other side. I don't recall if we had to switch side for some mirror effect or not, but it was a pretty simple activity. I think your set-up is what I first saw that put me on the hunt and found Notimetofish's rig he was looking to offload.

I saw a plastic box at Lowes that will likely fit perfectly in the new basket for storing my PFDs and anchor, maybe even the whole crate. I'm thinking I'll add that and bolt it to the basket, maybe with a strap for extra safety. Good Luck

The large storage box on mine I got at Home Depot for about 50 bucks. Going to add the cargo rack to mine eventually. Thanks for the info. I will go to larger wheels eventually I think

My new "Low Loader" with center securable rod box.

Old age tells me to stop lifting boats over my head so I built this baby to haul my wooden SOT and my ole faithful Bumble Bee.

Stake out poles are secured under the rod box in 1" PVC . . . Paddles mount on the passenger side of the rod box. Rod box holds 8 rods in racks.

I am using rope with lockable pulleys to tie the boats down. I feed the 3/8" rope through rubber pipe insulation tubes to protect the boat finish.

Rod box locks and boats are secured with a steel cable that is secured with the same lock.

preacher,

How are you securing the boats while on the road?

msr wrote:preacher,

How are you securing the boats while on the road?

I use a locking pulley system with a 3/8" rope and hooks on each end. Pick them up at Depot for $19.00 a pop. I run the rope through a foam rubber insulation tube for 1/2" pipe to protect the finish of the boats. Ratchet straps are on my other trailer but will be replaced soon. The rope pulley is much faster and easier to me.

I lock the boats with the steel dog cable by hooking the rod box pad lock through the loops on each end of the cable after running one end of the cable through the boat scuppers.

This is soon to be adventure trailer/kayak trailer.will have solar panels to charge battery bank portable hot water unit for showers and kitchen set up, currently has homemade awning on other side made out of canvas.the trailer is going to have 33 in tires to match the 87 4runner