Folk boat trailer needed !.sell or rent

[Niander]

Hi i may need to move my 26 foot long keel fb next year by road
does anyone have a road trailer suitable for an fb they could rent
out to me?.....or sell?....or one that could be adapted as i can fabricate/weld etc
cheers

 

[celandine]

Folk boat trailer

PM sent.

 

[Timbow]

It's a problem which occupied me for some of last year. You can't borrow my trailer because my boat is on it but I may be able to help with some ideas.

Are you really in the Outer Hebrides?
Do you need to submerge the trailer or can you crane the boat out?
How far by road?
Do you have a vehicle which can tow the combined weight of trailer and load?
At your destination on land are you under cover? what is the headroom for unloading and for entry?
Do you have a cradle?

Tim W

 

[Timbow]

Actually you can't borrow my trailer under any circumstances, but listen.

If you can weld, have your boat lifted out, chock it up and weld up a perfectly fitting cradle for it as it stands, you can build it around the hull. Then Hire/buy/borrow a flatbed or car trailer (much easier to find than a boat trailer), crane it on and drive to your destination. Then you can jack up the boat on the cradle, pull the trailer out from underneath and with a little ingenuity lower the boat on cradle down onto some sleepers or something. voila.

Advantage is that lifting a boat on and off a trailer requires a lot of headroom and a crane. My East German FB on a trailer just scrapes under a 3m high lintel to get it under cover. On a flatbed you would be a bit higher but maybe you don't have a high dog house. The weight of a folkboat is around 2tons. A bit of water and junk on board, plus the weight of the trailer you could easily be towing 3tons, so your trailer axles and hitch need to be rated to 3tons min and you need a vehicle rated to tow at least 3 tons, maybe 3.5, above which requires lorry type hitch and air brakes anyway.

But maybe you just want to relaunch somewhere else? In that case a hiab type lorry has a crane which will lift 5 tons normally. You need someone who is familiar with propping up boats on vehicles, or again you need a cradle. The hiab on a suitable quay at HW should be able to lift a FB straight out and in again with the right straps.

Good luck.

 

[Niander]

ok thanks for the advice...