I need a trailer!

[ghostlymoron]

For my 1 ton bilge keeler. I've abandoned the self build idea and put wanted ads in various places and am now watching ebay regularly. What else can i do?
If anyone knows of one in their boat yard, could you let me know. Must have brakes but don't need electrics, 'fixer upper' ok, 2 or 4 wheeler.

 

[Lakesailor]

Don't forget to look for rubbish boats which have a good trailer with them. Keep the trailer and sell the boat or break it and sell the bits. Lead keels are worth a bit to start with.

 

[lw395]

For my 1 ton bilge keeler. I've abandoned the self build idea and put wanted ads in various places and am now watching ebay regularly. What else can i do?
If anyone knows of one in their boat yard, could you let me know. Must have brakes but don't need electrics, 'fixer upper' ok, 2 or 4 wheeler.

You could consider getting a 4 wheel yard dolly for it, then hiring a car trailer when you need to move it?
Height might be an issue.
Would it go on a plant or other flatbed trailer?
Boats and Outboards
Apollo Duck

 

[Seajet]

It's notoriously difficult to find a decent secondhand trailer which hasn't been turned into an immobile string vest by rust.

Do you actually need a trailer ? If there's a club with good sailing waters and moorings near enough to you with a hoist / hired in crane and shore storage, that would be the way the majority of people go.

If you want to tow the boat around to different locations, it's going to be expensive and IMO hassle.

 

[ghostlymoron]

What I want to do is to sail it during the summer but store it at home in the winter as I live 2hrs drive from the nearest coast. I may have to go for the crane out store ashore option if I can't find a trailer.
Doing maintenance/upgrades is a lot easier if the boat is just outside your door.
I'll keep looking.

 

[Seajet]

I can only agree, my boat is 1, 1/4 hours drive away and it's been a problem this winter, as by sods' law I have a particularly large amount to do, in fact I was planning to be there right now but the better weather seems to have shifted to tomorrow.

However it usually works out fine, I've been doing it this way since 1978; I'd love to get the boat home to work on but there isn't access at home, plus being a lift keeler I like to get her craned onto high trestles for maintenance.

OTOH my chum trailed his similar boat home making me very jealous, until I noticed his non-sailing SWMBO still ensured he didn't get any work done !

Keeping the boat at a club does have plenty of benefits, such as help from other members who will hopefully become friends - and crew - and I usually find it an enjoyable day out, taking in chandleries or other essential places I'd have had to visit anyway.

 

[alahol2]

Keeping the boat at a club does have plenty of benefits, such as help from other members who will hopefully become friends - and crew - and I usually find it an enjoyable day out, taking in chandleries or other essential places I'd have had to visit anyway.

Keeping a boat at a club is definitely useful for ad hoc advice/assistance etc but I always find that at least half (sometimes more) of the time is spent drinking tea and discussing boat problems, work, the state of the nation, etc etc.

 

[Seajet]

I know what you mean, I have a chum experiencing his first winter with the boat ashore at the club; he openly admits he treats her as his ' version of a garden shed to sit, drink tea and dream ', nothing wrong with that at all as he doesn't have much to do, I just pry myself away and have to get on with my jobs.

The club members do help each other a great deal, from forming maintenance groups to go out and work on moorings ( and a dedicated volunteer mooring team who look after the heavy stuff like laying sinkers & fitting ground chains ) to swapping / giving boat bits, fitting engines, assisting with masts up & down and generally helping each other a lot; it would be a lot harder and more lonely without the club, and / or much more expensive too using a yard / marina as I found out the hard way with another boat.

Then again one has to be careful and a little lucky with clubs !

 

[rob2]

I wonder how many have trailed their boat home and, as it's so close, embark on a major renovation and never sail again? I'd love to be able to get my boat home, but around here I think i'd spend too much time repairing the vandalism!

Rob.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I didn't find it a problem when I had my last trailable boat.