Post your trailer!!!!

[Boomy]

Can't remember if I've posted my latest trailer. Built from scratch. Rolls on 31-10.5's.

The rack will hold 4 boats, and pops off to haul a four wheeler. Few other add ons.....

[Overkill]

So in retrospect, the PVC idea was a cool idea... but did not work as planned. After going down an exit ramp off of I-10 east to get to Bucee's and hitting a huge pot hole, the PVC buckled and broke. I have finally re-rigged the trailer, and will be going on our New maiden voyage this weekend.

[ATXJGIII]

I put this together over the last few months. It's designed to haul up to three kayaks on it. I place one on each side railing and a third one in the middle of the lower deck. When I go out alone, I can put place one right in the middle of that upper deck and outfit it while on the trailer. It has rachet straps to hold in whatever I load plus a ring on the back and front of the trailer to tie down the nose/rear of the kayaks. Any thoughts or suggestions as to what my next steps should be? I am adding rod holders on the sides at some point for extra storage and maybe something on the tongue of the trailer to extend it out another foot or two.

[glohse]

Just finished a little X-Mas project to mod the 5x10 utility trailer I was using to haul our two Kayaks. I built two 2x2x8 boxes, one to hold paddles and rods, the other to hold all the "bulk" gear that we carry when fishing. This will now allow us to keep the whole rig in the storage unit and ready to go without having to load all the rods and gear into the truck each time. At the beginning of this project, I told myself that this would only take two days to complete. In the end, in part driven by the humidity we had last week, it took five.

[kayakbassTX]

This is what I have so far.

[JRB-USMC]

Well, I just went through the 25 pages of pictures and designs and didnt find anything like what I want to build. Curious if anyone has built a rack on wheels that can be pushed onto a trailer or pushed off so the trailer can be used for things other than kayak racks? The goal is to not have to remove my ramp or unbolt things prior to or after using it... Thoughts or ideas?

[Taco101]

Very new to kayak fishing, so I went through this thread and got ideas. So, I picked up a Harbor Freight trailer kit(the 1090 capacity one). I started with framing the trailer bed.


Then welded it to a 12' tongue(3"x3" square), along with a riser at the rear.


Added gussets.


Then boxed in the bed with 1"square tubing, added the front upright and then crossmembers. Finally kayak cribs.


Added some bracing and a spare tire carrier.


Finally added some foam and our kayaks!!




Headed for the lake in the morning, should be a good shake down for this beast!

[Rfauss]

[JRB-USMC]

Taco, looks like a real nice rig! How did it pull?

I actually spent the day working on my new kayak rack as well. Got the frame welded up and painted, and now I plan to start the rest of it tomorrow. Once it is complete, I will post pictures.

[Taco101]

Taco, looks like a real nice rig! How did it pull?

I actually spent the day working on my new kayak rack as well. Got the frame welded up and painted, and now I plan to start the rest of it tomorrow. Once it is complete, I will post pictures.

Couldn't even tell it was there. Going to add some eye bolts to make tie down more convenient.

[Poseidon01]

I have modified this trailer since this picture, I added a top rack for extra gear.

[NTXFipp]

Here she is....

[Dmax]

This site rocks! So does this thread. First time posting. I've enjoyed lurking.


I have a galvanized jet ski trailer I want to start to convert. I have a few questions:

I want to put a spot for a cooler and other gear. The cooler will usually be the heaviest.
Should this be placed as far forward as possible. Does a trailer sway or try to tip over if placed in the rear?

How hard is it to weld? Or, Should I bolt a homemade rack onto it? I was thinking of using 1" square tubing.
I'll add a pic of possible frame.....

Any preferences for a brand of paint to use on the galzinized?
I might just use primer and then maybe the spray on truck bed liner for the whole thing. .. Still undecided.

I've never seen a sliding axel on a trailer before. How safe are these? Should I put some one inch welds on it once I know it's square?

[JRB-USMC]

This site rocks! So does this thread. First time posting. I've enjoyed lurking.

Welcome to the website! I speak from experience when I say "You can learn a lot here."

I have a galvanized jet ski trailer I want to start to convert. I have a few questions:

I want to put a spot for a cooler and other gear. The cooler will usually be the heaviest.
Should this be placed as far forward as possible. Does a trailer sway or try to tip over if placed in the rear?

You can Google some pretty good info on this, but ideally the tongue weight is about 10% of the total weight. Long story short, you are going to want the cooler in front of the axle, but maybe not at the very front (above the hitch). This website has some pretty good info to read: http://howto.curtmfg.com/Pages/index.cfm.25.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How hard is it to weld? Or, Should I bolt a homemade rack onto it? I was thinking of using 1" square tubing.
I'll add a pic of possible frame.....

I wouldn't suggest having a trailer as your first welding project. If you weld on the metal and not in the metal, your trailer will fall apart on the first trip you take. It isn't hard to do, but some practice is needed before taking on a project like a trailer. I don't do much stick welding as I am not that good with it, but if you use a wire welder you will get the hang of it pretty quick. You are only talking about welding 1/4" thick (at most) metal and a wire welder can do that all day long. Also, if you don't get everything welded square, you are going to go through tires quicker than normal.

Any preferences for a brand of paint to use on the galzinized?
I might just use primer and then maybe the spray on truck bed liner for the whole thing. .. Still undecided.

Don't be worried about the brand of paint too much. Actually, if it is all galvanize then you don't really have to worry about paint either. If you do want to paint it, you can use any basic primer on the galvanize and it will hold. I would highly recommend primer on top of galvanize, then you can paint on top of the primer. Don't buy an all in one as they aren't as good. I imagine bed liner would be alright, but I don't have any personal experience with that. My only concern with something thick like bed liner is how it can create spots for cathodic corrosion.

I have no comments on the sliding axle as I don't know anything about them.

[Kirk B.]

Also of concern!!!! Welding galvanized metal will cause Zinc poisoning! It is serious! Either grind away the galvanizing where you plan to weld (both sides!) or keep a fan behind you to blow the smoke away from you. As I remember from days of yore, drinking copious volumes of milk helps remediate the effects.

Set the trailer level, with your wife's bathroom scale under one wheel, and the other one up on 2x4's to keep it level. Throw everything on the trailer that you plan to carry on it, in the approximate place you want it mounted.
Double the weight, (or weigh both wheels if the load isn't centered), weigh the tongue and add it all together. 10 to 15% of the total should be the tongue weight. Move your heaviest piece(s) back and forth to get the tongue weight right. Tongue HEAVY is better than tongue light. A tongue light trailer will tend to sway back and forth, sometimes violently, under tow.

Good luck! Can't wait to see it finished.

Kirk B.

[Dmax]

Thanks for the input JRB and Kirk.
It's been quit a few years but I used to do some welding. Never galvanized, and knew nothing about it.

When I find the right placing for my axels, do you think I should put down a couple of big tacks? Or do you think it's not necessary ? .. I can picture myself hitting a pot hole and throwing the trailer out of square.

[JRB-USMC]

Also of concern!!!! Welding galvanized metal will cause Zinc poisoning! It is serious! Either grind away the galvanizing where you plan to weld (both sides!) or keep a fan behind you to blow the smoke away from you. As I remember from days of yore, drinking copious volumes of milk helps remediate the effects.

Kirk, thanks for mentioning this as I meant to say something about it and completely forgot too. It can be a problem if you aren't careful!

[JRB-USMC]

Thanks for the input JRB and Kirk.
It's been quit a few years but I used to do some welding. Never galvanized, and knew nothing about it.

When I find the right placing for my axels, do you think I should put down a couple of big tacks? Or do you think it's not necessary ? .. I can picture myself hitting a pot hole and throwing the trailer out of square.

That depends on what type of axle you get. Some can be bolted and some have to be welded.

[rbdavis3591]

Here she is....

Question, how did you mount the orange driveway markers on your trailer? I am needing to do the same thing but would prefer that they be mounted semi-permanently so I can see the trailer position not only while backing it up but also driving down the road. Thanks.

[Ripleyb]

Here's my trailer. It came out perfect with my Thule racks.

[NTXFipp]

Mine are removable, but you could mount them similarly for a more permanent result. I just used "rubber insulated metal clamps" found on the electrical aisle at stores like Lowes or Home Depot. I got the best fit I could. I'm using two per side, a small one at the base that the marker wont slide through, and one they will above it. You could build up the thickness of the marker with electrical tape and clamp them securely.

I used these.

rubber insulated metal clamp.jpg (1.33 KiB) Viewed 47619 times

Another option you may look at, but I've not tried would be to use a grounding block/lug, also from the electrical aisle. They call them "stranded ADR2 conductor one hole mount." I'd want two of these per side, too.

You could try something like these.

Stranded ADR2 Conductor 1 hole mount.jpg (1.24 KiB) Viewed 47619 times

Marker mount.jpg (25.69 KiB) Viewed 47618 times

[Boomy]

Ready to go...

[rbdavis3591]

Mine are removable, but you could mount them similarly for a more permanent result. I just used "rubber insulated metal clamps" found on the electrical aisle at stores like Lowes or Home Depot. I got the best fit I could. I'm using two per side, a small one at the base that the marker wont slide through, and one they will above it. You could build up the thickness of the marker with electrical tape and clamp them securely.

Another option you may look at, but I've not tried would be to use a grounding block/lug, also from the electrical aisle. They call them "stranded ADR2 conductor one hole mount." I'd want two of these per side, too.

Thanks for the ideas, I will stop by Home Depot/Lowe's on Saturday to look at the items in your set up.

I really would like to find something that would allow for me to just fold down the markers while the trailer is parked in the garage but can be moved to an upright position when ready to travel yet not have the markers come out of their holders while bouncing down rutted back road.

[C130]

2013 Triton jet ski trailer, two Hobie PA12's, no modifications needed besides adjusting the bunks.

[Brandon317]

This is my first post so I hope I'm doing this right...