Many thanks to DogsLife for inspring me to build my own version of his trailer.
Finished up my trailer last week, it cost me about $400 total. I picked up my new Dune TI from Next Adventure in Portland on Thursday and went Sailing Friday and Saturday on Lacamas Lake about 2 minutes from my house. Lots of fun and lots more to learn!
Folding the Harbor Freight Trailer is probably a non-starter. Taking the fastening bolts out to fold up the Harbor Freight trailer is way too much work, in my opinion. Not to mention if you have added the 3/4" plywood deck, 4x4 beams and 4'x8' Poly Lattice for the TI Cradle.
The best reasons for having a trailer for your TI are:
1. Don't need to take off the amas, just drive up the the water, install the seats, step the mast, drop in the drives and go! Even an ancient rookie like me can do it in 10 minutes.
2. No need to remove the TI from the trailer to store it, the bunk will cradle your baby nice and soft, no worries about deformation when storing on a rack, etc. I ordered a cover to protect my TI during transport and storage.
3. Easy to change vehicles (my wife prefers to take her car when we travel) so I can use any car with a 1-7/8" hitch ball. I priced getting two sets of roof racks and it was more than I paid to build my trailer, not to mention that then I'd have to buy and rig a Garage Gator to lift it.
4. No massive strain getting the TI up and down from the roof. It's about 200lb loaded up. The trailer is high enough to allow me to install the cart in the rear scuppers and just slide her off the trailer. I know you youngsters are happy to flex your muscles but I save my strength for the tennis court.
I haven't tried just launching directly from the trailer into the water from a ramp, last weekend was way too crowded at the lake. Once I get good at that launching and loading will be about 5 minutes each.
5. Less danger of damage loading/unloading (both to myself and my TI). Also probably will get better mileage towing than car topping.
I'll post some more photos of the finished trailer on this site later. Meanwhile, here are some shots of the materials I used and base structure of the unit.
This is the almost finished product, simple design: 3/4" plywood deck bolted to the trailer frame plus 8 ft. 4x4 lag screwed to the deck.
Lag screws through angle iron:
Front view:
4x8 ft. plastic privacy lattice (denser than standard lattice):
Exterior screws to hold lattice to 4x4 beams (easy to screw below flush):
Since this trailer is too short to handle the TI I added an 18" extension from Harbor Freight plus 72" heavy duty safety chain.