Trailer

[azzo]

Hi,
I am thinking about making my own trailer for my 24ft lifting keel boat.
Buying a new one is too expensive and finding a second hand one has so far been impossible.
Has anyone out there done this ?
Any advice would be welcome.
Possibly converting a car trailer.

Best Regards

John

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[VicS]

You should be able to make a trailer for well under 1/2 the price of a ready made one. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.indespension.com>Indespension </A> are the people to contact.
They have agents around the country; they used to publish a book with plans telling you how to build your own and supplied units so that you could use old car hubs brakes etc. They also used to vet your own plans.

It's many years since I built my trailer so things have probably changed a bit and I have no idea how the law stands now on home built trailers.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>Ne te confundant illegitimi.</font color=purple>

 

[castaway]

I built one for my 29ft fin keeler I was building 15 yrs back. I used Indespension units and common sense!

You will need a good/reasonable priced person to do the welding, check the Yellow Pages for a steel stockholder and get them to saw cut all the steel to size.

Keep the design simple. My trailed lasted for years and I only sold it about a year back and recovered the outlay!!

Regds Nick

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.yachtsite.co.uk/fairweather>http://www.yachtsite.co.uk/fairweather</A>

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[penfold]

also try Autow for trailer bits.

<hr width=100% size=1>What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin' on here?

 

[pete]

Hi
Is it a road trailer or a yard trolley you are making ?as it will cost you a lot more to build a road legal trailer with suspension,brakes ect
A lot of parts can be had from vehicle/wagon/ breakers but make sure the size of the tyres you intend to fit are available to take the weight of the boat loaded and the trailer weight (as I could not get 13 inch tyres with a weight loading suitable for a Leisure 23).
I have recently built a yard trolley for a Hunter 27 and have used 2 ford cargo front axles suitably widened to accept the keel width. with steering on both axles if req and no suspension the trailer is only slightly longer than the keels ,with a towing pin on each end and a long removable draw bar.
Also if possible I would not use box section as it can rust away inside unseen, I have used reclamed heavyweight channel so it can be painted all round Keep the boat as low as possible for easy launch and recovery.

Good luck

Pete

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[nickjaxe]

The advise I would give you is get it galvinised its not to expencive.

Nick in cheshire

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[BrendanS]

Do a search on Mobo Chat for the legalities of having a plate attached to the trailer showing all the legally required information.

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[Avocet]

Try to find a caravan breaker. You will be able to get a lot of stuff that just needs bearings, brake linings and other service items replacing. Remember you'll need brakes for anything over 3/4 tonne (and I assume yours will be well & truly over!). also remember to match the weight with the damped towing hitch.

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[BarryH]

I doubt much of the stuff used for caravan manufacture will be 'man' enough to cope with the wieght of a boat.
Your looking at something to carry in the region of 2000 kilos. Twin axle job will be needed here. I'd play safe and build the trailer to carry around 2700 kgs. You should get away with 13" rims using commercially rated tyres. Uniroyal do'em. I use them on my trailer. Inflated to about 40 psi they cope well with both the wieght and heat generated tugging the thing along at 60 odd mph.

As far as the law is concerned. Its an ass. Even the coppers haven't got a full grip on it. They like E marks. They love the things. It makes they're job easier. If its got an E mark they don't have to think.
Realistically, the only thing thats going to be tailor made will be the trailer chassis. The rest of the stuff can be bought off the shell at your locak trailer stockists. Don't go to a camping shop. Find a trailer company that deals in nothing but trailers.
If you plan it properly and write yourself a shopping list of everything you need and buy it all at once you can often get a bit of discount.
I did this when refurbing my trailer. I got all the coupling, suspension, brake units, wheels even nuts and bolts at a lot less than listed prices. I got the five wheels for 75 quid. The 3000kg coupling for less than 150 quid. Not bad when the normal price should have been closer to 200 quid.

Plating! Bit of a grey area. I was pulled by the plod and they had a field day because the trailer wasn't plated with a munufacturers plate. It had all the wights on it. UL weight, GW weight, axle weights etc. But not stamped onto a plate. This is another grey area. After a certain date trailers have to have a chassis plate with all the relevent info on it along with a chassis serial number. But whats to say the trailer you build wasn't built before that date and you've just updated it.

For example. My trailer is a twin axle job. Originally it had only one braked axle. Insurance co say that if 2 axles both have to have brakes. The DOT say all wheels have to be braked. So when I refurb'd my trailer I brake all the wheels. Plod says its not an old trailer and was built after changeover date, which is blatently wrong cos apart from the running gear, you can see the rest of the trailer is old!

Thats the road going stuff. If its for the road get the trailer Book by idespension. Its your bilbe! If its just a yard trailer, cobble any old crap together.It don't matter. Theres a few companies out there that are really helpful, others just want to sell you overpriced scrap metal.

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[Avocet]

Would the boat really be that heavy? We had a 22-footer that weighed 1.3 tonnes a while back. Fair comment about caravan stuff but I don't think the suspension / tow hitch manufacturers design specifically for a particular type of application - caravans, boats, landscape gardeners and horse boxes are probably all the same to them! If you're using two axles (sounds like a good idea to me) be really careful about tow hitch height otherwise one pair of wheels will end up taking most of the load. if your car was made after about 1996 (or 1998 can't remember which) it MUST have an e-marked towbar with the maximum permitted trailer nose weight marked on it. Can't remember the dates but after a certain date, the brakes need to be the auto-reverse type. Try a search on the internet. I've found useful trailer legislation sites in the past but can't remember where!

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[BarryH]

I always like a safety margin. Don't know the boat in question so not entirly sure about the weight involved. 24 foot trailer sailer, ok build the thing with 4 1300kg suspension units. That'll give an approx load on the trailer of around 2100-2300kgs, roughly. Add all the kit and stuff that normally gets chucked in the boat, an outboard, and the usual anchor and chain etc etc. Your getting near the limit of your trailer.

In saying that you 'should' have all the heavy stuff in your tow car. Keep that heavy and the trailer light. Otherwise things get interesting on the road. As the caravan thing goes. I've seen very few caravans that weigh much more than 1200kgs. We've a 22ft Avondale. That goes to max 1150kgs and the coupling is only rated at 1000kgs. I know, I can't understand it either, but it came from the factory that way. Have a look at a few caravan chassis. They're as light as the manufactures can get away with.

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[Dave_Knowles]

Many older boats weighed a lot due to lack of knowledge of fibreglass. They tended to make hulls much thicker. Also the interiors were made out of much heavier timber. My 7m Cleopatra weighs 2041kg in its basic form.

<hr width=100% size=1>Take care.

Dave

Dave Knowles
Southampton - UK

http://www.MyCleopatra.co.uk