alanfox55
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2011
- Messages
- 476
No Title
The Trailer
I've written a lot about my new Trailex Trailer in the thread "Nice Inflatable Boat Trailer" but I didn't say anything about what led me to it or about my first trailer. A friend of mine had a nice Easy Loader PWC trailer he was willing to sell me for $300 but I first had to know if my boat would fit on it. I measured and remeasured to make sure it would fit and found that yes it would fit but the nose of the boat would be so close to my truck that I wouldn't be able to let down my tail gate all the way...time to put the boat on the trailer and have a look see. It was a tight fit but after a drive around with it I went ahead and bought it. Next up get the motor installed.
My motor has a 20in shaft and the boat a 15in transom so I decided to use an inexpensive and light weight jack plate. My motor weighs 155lbs and is bolt on only so I also decided that I would have someone else do the installation. The thirty mile trip to the marina where the work was being done went well and everything looked good on arrival but not so good after the installation. I didn't know at the time that having the bunks under the floorboards rather on the tubes was not a good thing but that's where they were. It was clear that the floor was being stressed more than it should be by how much it was bending upward But I needed to get home so off I went hoping for the best. Another problem was the trailer was way to rear heavy and there was no way to move the axle back to transfer some weight. Because there was almost no weight on the tongue the trailer would bounce on the hitch ball continuously while travelling...I was not to happy about that.
I got the boat home and found the floor was even more stressed and bent but nothing broke or cracked thankfully but this was not going to work. I took the boat off the trailer and modified the bunks so I could get the maximum adjustment from them and was able to get the rear onto to the tubes. Everything looked much better and the front boards seemed to be not affected from sitting on the bunks but I still didn't like it. After looking long and hard underneath the boat I decided there were a few things needed before I would be comfortable hauling my boat around on this trailer. First the bunks needed to run the length of the tubes and the boards needed to be wider or maybe two bunks side by side to form a V to support the tubes. Second the tongue needed to be much longer to get more weight on it and third it needed some kind of transom support.
A lot of this was going to be more than what I had skill to do so I was going to have to find someone else to do the work. After getting some estimates for the work I decided the cost was going to be more than I wanted to pay so I started searching for a real inflatable boat trailer. My search ended finding only one and that was a Trailex trailer. It seemed to be just what I was looking for but it wasn't inexpensive. After a lot of thought I gave them a call. I had been looking at their biggest trailer but they said I could get by using a smaller one with a longer tongue. If I did that I would get free shipping and lower the overall coast by $700 so I went ahead and ordered it. Ended up the only addition I felt I needed was a keel support for the front end which are cheap and easy to find.
The trailer was shipped in pieces by FedX to my door so it was going to be me that was going to have to put it together. Because of the way this trailer is constructed using t-bolts in slots everything went together quickly and easily in one weekend. The only issue I had was it looked like the axle was to far forward which would mean I would have the same problem as my other trailer being rear heavy. Sure enough that was the case but a good thing about this trailer is everything is fully adjustable including the axle. It was no problem at all to lift the trailer,loosen some t-bolts and slide it back which put plenty of weight up front on the tongue. Afterwards I took it on a 120 mile trip for a test spin and everything was good. So far I have been very happy with this trailer and would highly recommend it.
The Trailer
I've written a lot about my new Trailex Trailer in the thread "Nice Inflatable Boat Trailer" but I didn't say anything about what led me to it or about my first trailer. A friend of mine had a nice Easy Loader PWC trailer he was willing to sell me for $300 but I first had to know if my boat would fit on it. I measured and remeasured to make sure it would fit and found that yes it would fit but the nose of the boat would be so close to my truck that I wouldn't be able to let down my tail gate all the way...time to put the boat on the trailer and have a look see. It was a tight fit but after a drive around with it I went ahead and bought it. Next up get the motor installed.
My motor has a 20in shaft and the boat a 15in transom so I decided to use an inexpensive and light weight jack plate. My motor weighs 155lbs and is bolt on only so I also decided that I would have someone else do the installation. The thirty mile trip to the marina where the work was being done went well and everything looked good on arrival but not so good after the installation. I didn't know at the time that having the bunks under the floorboards rather on the tubes was not a good thing but that's where they were. It was clear that the floor was being stressed more than it should be by how much it was bending upward But I needed to get home so off I went hoping for the best. Another problem was the trailer was way to rear heavy and there was no way to move the axle back to transfer some weight. Because there was almost no weight on the tongue the trailer would bounce on the hitch ball continuously while travelling...I was not to happy about that.
I got the boat home and found the floor was even more stressed and bent but nothing broke or cracked thankfully but this was not going to work. I took the boat off the trailer and modified the bunks so I could get the maximum adjustment from them and was able to get the rear onto to the tubes. Everything looked much better and the front boards seemed to be not affected from sitting on the bunks but I still didn't like it. After looking long and hard underneath the boat I decided there were a few things needed before I would be comfortable hauling my boat around on this trailer. First the bunks needed to run the length of the tubes and the boards needed to be wider or maybe two bunks side by side to form a V to support the tubes. Second the tongue needed to be much longer to get more weight on it and third it needed some kind of transom support.
A lot of this was going to be more than what I had skill to do so I was going to have to find someone else to do the work. After getting some estimates for the work I decided the cost was going to be more than I wanted to pay so I started searching for a real inflatable boat trailer. My search ended finding only one and that was a Trailex trailer. It seemed to be just what I was looking for but it wasn't inexpensive. After a lot of thought I gave them a call. I had been looking at their biggest trailer but they said I could get by using a smaller one with a longer tongue. If I did that I would get free shipping and lower the overall coast by $700 so I went ahead and ordered it. Ended up the only addition I felt I needed was a keel support for the front end which are cheap and easy to find.
The trailer was shipped in pieces by FedX to my door so it was going to be me that was going to have to put it together. Because of the way this trailer is constructed using t-bolts in slots everything went together quickly and easily in one weekend. The only issue I had was it looked like the axle was to far forward which would mean I would have the same problem as my other trailer being rear heavy. Sure enough that was the case but a good thing about this trailer is everything is fully adjustable including the axle. It was no problem at all to lift the trailer,loosen some t-bolts and slide it back which put plenty of weight up front on the tongue. Afterwards I took it on a 120 mile trip for a test spin and everything was good. So far I have been very happy with this trailer and would highly recommend it.