Let's talk trailers

My trailer is well over 30 years old and weighs 400 (found the last weigh slip) without the sail tube, 485 with the sail tube. My car, ford focus, struggles to climb the steep hills when I've got the trailer loaded down with the boat and gear. It does it, but there is a LOT of shifting.

What are my options for a lighter trailer, without losing my tube? I really don't want to drop the $1700 for an aluminum trailer.

Something in the 250 to 300lb range before the sail tube would be acceptable.

I've thought about just replacing my rails with aluminum 2x2, but have strength concerns. Would 1/8" wall aluminum tube be strong enough, and how much weight would it really save me.

What type of motor does it have inside? 4 cyl or 6? What HP does it have? Do you plan to keep the boat for years to come (or replace with new in time)? Do you like to travel distances for regattas or family trips with the boat? I've always had vehicles with large motors. My Ford E350 van (one of those 15 passenger ones) could tow anything like it wasn't even there. Now I have a Chevy Tahoe (5.7 4X4) which tows our 21' powerboat easily. The owner's manual sez it's okay to tow in OD, however, the insurance co. said to tow it in 3rd. When towing the boat from San Diego to San Francisco for the Alameda NACs the Tahoe (in 3rd) handled great. Steep grades did slow us down a bit though.

1/8" would not be enough for a just a plain square or rectangular tube/pipe. The extrusion that Trailex uses has the grooves on all four sides and that helps with rigidity and strength.

I built mine out of 1/4" wall, and wonder if I shouldn't have gone thicker.

I'd say either lower you expectations on how fast you're going to get to places, or get a bigger tow vehicle. I don't think shaving 100#'s off your trailer weight is going to help much, if at all.

http://www.trailex.com Your local Hobie dealer can get them.



202lbs

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Sail Revolution
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I switched from a heavy channel steel trailer to an aluminum trailex this year for better towing with my 4-cyl vehicle. I think it helped. I'm probably around 1/2 the max listed towing capacity rather than about 2/3 which I think is significant. I still definitely feel the trailer behind the car, but less shifting. Trailex isn't cheap though. Apparantly they only ship on their trucks, so the shipping was like $500 alone. Plus any accessories are extras puts you over $2k. But they seem to be quality trailers that last a long time, so if you're planning to continue sailing for a while, it's worth it.

The other thing is to just slow down and if possible, turn off the overdrive if you're in an automatic. I usually keep the speed to around 65mph max when towing.

sm

It's not so much the weight of the trailer / boat that slows you down. It's the air resistance. A Hobie 16 has a lot of frontal area, lines, wires, etc. that's like having a parachute behind you.

Air resistance increases as the square of the velocity (2 x speed = 4 x resistance).

I do notice a huge difference in how it pulls if I take the sail tube off.


My trailer is in pretty bad shape and probably needs to be replaced next season. Would some of the newer galvanized trailers be any lighter?

Surf City is right; get yourself a trailex trailer. Sometimes you can find them in the cat classifieds, but they go really fast because they are so light and everyone loves them. If you are lucky, you can find a used one for $800, but a new one will go around $1,800 with all the options. They are also really easy to manuever by hand.

We have a 1980 trailex for my daughter's H16; we've replaced the wheels and gone through three sets of trailer lights and wiring. Small prices for a wonderful trailer. I have one for my H18 and wouldn't think of owning anything else.

Wyatt

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Sails off Angola, NY, Lake Erie.

If you are not scared to do a little sanding and cheap spray paint, E-bay and Craigs list has trailers pretty cheap that you could make work. You are here asking questions so I am sure you are on the PC often enough. Just keep your eye on those to sites...the summer is ending people want to get ride of this stuff.

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complete rookie but I have sold my Sea-Doo......and have never been so happy

I know I'm in the minority on this, but I had a Trailex, and it was the biggest lump of poo. I hated it. Everything was bolted tight, but yet every connection was loose. Newer ones that I looked at didn't seem that much better.

If I were to build another trailer, I'd pony up the cash and have it built from Stainless. I'm sure that'd add about $750 onto what it cost me to build my last trailer, which was at least $2500.

These look pretty light http://www.trailnsail.com/Catamaran.htm

Best I can tell, there have been and are a lot of different cat trailers made by Trailex. For example, one of the things recommended to me was to get the version that has the center tube that runs the full length of the trailer (hitch to rear crossbar) rather than the center tube that stops at the front crossbar. It seems plenty stiff to me and I know lots of people use them for double stacking.

A custom all stainless trailer would be MUCHO expensive. But would certainly last forever if its built right. If you're going to go that route, why not build a carbon fiber trailer- super strong, super light, corrosion resistant.

sm

I actually preffer heavy trailers, they tow better. Loaded up with gear and the boat my trailer weighs 1430#'s, with the jetski sitting on the tounge I'm almost at the max for the axle, but most of that weight is on the ball. As far as catamaran trailers go, the one I had built is super nice, but I would not have a custom trailer built for this specific application again. It pulls better than any of the others I had previously owned, but for a bit extra money I could've picked up a used 4 place, open, snowmobile trailer. I think that's the route I'm going with next time.
-With a 22' deck the boat will be just about completely protected from road debris. No more rock chips in bows
-Tandem axle means if I have a flat or bearing failure at the intersection of No and Where at 2am, I can still limp somewhere to get it fixed.
-Plenty of capacity to double stack
-Enough length that I can lay the mast on the deck, I'm about positive the mast crutch knocks a huge hole in mileage.

I've got a crack pot idea about building a small camper on the front so I've got a dry place to sleep too. If I were to do that I'll build a box all the way around the boat as well. Just big enough to stand up in, and an area to sleep that hangs over the front of the boat.

I know it's been a while since I last posted but get the trailex. I have had a galvanized, painted steel, and the trailex. The trailex is by far the best of the three. You will get the corrosion resistance, a very light trailer (the shipping document claimed 200# for the H18 version), and one that is very easy to bolt accessories on to. My tow vehicle was a 1.8L VW Passat. Not a huge power house. I was able to easily travel at highway speeds. The drag of having a boat that is wider than your car will destroy your mileage. However, there are two distinct advantages of saving 200# + in weight.

1) With a small car the brakes are not designed to stop lots of weight. The boat and trailer are like putting 3-4 very large people in a compact car. It will drive, but it takes substantially longer to safely stop. Same with a trailer. The less weight your car sees the longer the brakes and tranny will last.

2) When moving the trailer while not attached to your car, the extra weight will not be missed.

No matter what you do, keep your trailer properly balanced. This will make towing much safer.

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Nick

Current Boat
In the market
Previous boats owned
'74 Pearson 30
'84 H16
'82 H18 Magnum
St. Louis, MO