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PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 12:50 pm 
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I have been searching the forum for Hobie trailer ideas, I usually car-top as am towing a camping trailer. To get on the water faster when not camping I have purchased a 4' Harbor Freight trailer and want to extend the tongue using some square steel tubing. 2 questions I need help with.

1. What is the minimum tongue length needed for a TI? I am assuming that about a 4' over hang at the back would be acceptable and an extra 2 foot of tongue at the front. This would seem to require a total tongue length measured from the front of the trailer of about 10' (so would have a total length of about 14' including the section extending under the trailer), does this sound about right?

2. My local source of steel has 2" steel tubing available in 3 thicknesses, .125" , .187" and .250". I have no real idea of the strength of these relative to the span required but am assuming that the thinnest would be adequate? I am not planning major trips with this trailer probably less than 1 hour trips, mainly off highway.

Thanks in advance and thanks to all for all the help I have already gleaned from scouring the forum.
Any other tips/recommendations also gladly accepted.
Jeremy.


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 9:06 am 
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Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 8:48 am
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Location: Southwest Calif.
I have a Malone trailer for my AI so I can't give you an estimate tongue length but the tongue tube wall thickness for the Malone extension is .187 in.

However, I would suggest that you draw a sketch with all the pertinent details on it so you can visualize all the merging design variations and then you don't have to keep cutting and wondering why the measurements still don't add up correctly.
I'm assuming that you will also want to have some overlap of the tongue and the trailer structure to add strength and rigidity to the entire assembly and to prevent a sagging configuration under load.

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PostPosted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 10:07 pm 
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Location: Pacific Grove, California Central Coast, USA
look around the forums. fusioneng has done a nice mod of a HF trailer (with aluminum tubing). He's a loquatious and helpful fellow, and I expect he will be chiming here pretty soon.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 5:34 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 17, 2011 3:57 am
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Location: Fairfax, CA USA
I'm using the little 4x4 trails with my AI, this afternoon I'll go up and measure the tongue.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 8:51 am 
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Thanks for the replies.

On rereading my post I did not really phrase the question very well given that , at it's simplest, it is just a matter of measuring and some basic math.

The variable that I am trying to nail down is the amount of rear overhang that would be acceptable given that I am planning to use 11/4" PVC pipe to provide support along the length of the trailer frame and that I am planning to store the boat on the trailer? I will be providing some additional support for the front of the boat on the tongue.

I have already spent many hours scouring this and other forums to get a design and have found some great information but remain a little concerned about possible hull deformation.

Thanks.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 11:57 am 
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Location: Southwest Calif.
This fact may save you a lot of pondering. :D JMHO !
I flip my AI over on it's top and just store it on the saddles that are on the crossbars as that is the recommended position for storage by Hobie to prevent hull deformation. It's just a matter of grabbing the side handle and rolling it over 180 degrees onto it's hull when you trailer it.
I then lift the kayak and place a towel across the saddles to make the kayak slide across the rubber saddle easier when it's time to unload and load the kayak back on again.

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 1:08 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
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Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
jslewis1 :
I'm sure you looked at my simple trailer setup, the way I figured mine out was to strap the boat down to the trailer, I started out with the back sticking out 4 ft behind the furthest point back on the trailer ( I believe the legal minimum in Florida for the trailer light location) I didn't include the rudder, figuring I can explain that as being removable to the cop if I get pulled over.
Since my boat has a 2 ft bow sprit my dimensions won't do you any good. Besides I didn't really measure anything as I went anyway. I just put the hitch on the back of my car (that 4 ft piece of red sq tubing that the hitch is mounted to (note: don't remove or cover up the safety plaques attached on the side of that sq tube). I strapped the boat to that piece making sure the front of the boat cleared the back of the car easily. I also have a winch mounted up there so I made sure that cleared as well. I then took two pieces of 1/8 x 2" aluminum and bent them together by hand to form something that looked like a safety stop that prevents the boat from sliding forward if you have to break hard (my winch is attached to that). I used 2 pieces of 1/8 in stock because I can bend them easily with my hands and my vise (one at a time), then bolt the whole works together. One piece of 1/8 x 2" aluminum was not strong enough, and I couldn't bend the 1/4" stuff with my bare hands (plus I had the 1/8 stuff already in my garage, I tend to use what I got LOL).
With the front strapped to the boat and on the hitch of the car, and the back part strapped to the boat, I then just measured what I needed and cut some tubing to connect the two, I'm pretty sure I cut it from a 10 ft standard length piece of tubing. Actually if you look at the pics of mine, I ended up doing a crazy two piece trailer (I never use that feature and it was a waste of time). So don't follow my design, I used two ten ft pieces of 1"sq tubing to connect the front and back half of the trailer together. It would have been much easier to just connect them together with 1 1/2" or 2" square tubing like I think you are describing (that's the way I should have done mine in retrospect). I can't give you a dimension to use, it's something you just need to assemble and figure out as you go.
The only reason I kept that front piece of the original trailer (with the hitch on it), was because all the legal mumbo jumbo plaques were attached to that piece. The receiver itself that they supply with the trailer is a POS, it might be easier for you to just buy some standard sq pipe, and a standard receiver that fits over that pipe, and make that the entire front of your trailer, I'm sure any trailer shop can supply you with the correct stuff (that's what I should have done). Attaching the new front to the existing back of the trailer should be easy with just bolts. I switched out all the zinc bolts that came with the trailer with stainless steel bolts (about $20 bucks worth)
Hope this helps
Bob
Edit: I just went out and measured mine, if I were to get rid of the receiver that came with the trailer, then got a piece of sq tubing and a new receiver to fit over it, my tubing would need to be 15' long. On your boat which is shorter by 2 feet (because of my stupid bow sprit thingy), that tubing would need to be about 13 ft long. This would give you enough material to attach the sq tubing to both the front cross bar and the center cross bar on the HF trailer. I may dump the setup I currently have and do exactly the same thing.
Bob


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:02 pm 
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Location: Fairfax, CA USA
I solved fusioneng "legal mumbo jumbo" tags by just drilling them out and re-riveting them to the new tongue...

:)

My AI overhangs 3 feet, bow is 1 foot back of the receiver (just enough to clear the car rear hatch)


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 7:07 pm 
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Many thanks for replies they have all helped me to formulate a plan.

I also had a bit of luck today, I (re)remembered that one of my daughters school friends has a father who owns a steel supply and fabrication shop :) I went and had a chat with him today and he is going to be a great resource for materials and some fabrication help.

I am thinking of trying to center the support for the yak under the strongest areas (the drive wells I believe). To do this I would move it further back on the trailer and support the central section with 2 lengths of PVC pipe of 6 or 7 feet. Then provide additional support to the rear by running a single tongue from the front, under the bed and out about 4' behind. Possibly making this removeable to aid loading/unloading. Not an original design but a cheaper, steel version of this one....
viewtopic.php?f=73&t=45956 created by Lomcevak.

The only drawback that I can see is that maybe the reduced tongue weight may effect it's towing characteristics, but I could always use the sway control from my popup trailer.

I may lash the amas on top in the same way as I do when car topping. I have padded the cross rails with pool noodles cut to fit and then I reverse the amas with there sterns pointing forward and snug them down with cam locks. They fit very well this way around and I have travelled about a thousand miles with loaded this way this summer without issue. I was worried about how badly all that on the roof would effect fuel consumption but was surprised to find it only cost about another 2 mpg over just pulling the camper.

Thanks again,
Jeremy.
P.s. I was going to post a photo of my car-topping set up but don't seem to be able to add attachments?


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 11:52 pm 
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Location: Forster, NSW, Australia
Obviously you can add a centre backbone behind the wheels to support the hull (here, we are not supposed to have a rear overhang greater than 3 feet).

Here is my rig.
Image[/URL]

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2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker


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