Trailer thickness?

[Daneforth]

Hello everyone!

I have a 12ft Sears fiberglass gamefisher that I've torn apart and added casting decks and storage to. it's also equipped with a 15hp 2 stroke outboard that weighs roughly 60-70lbs. I'd say when the boat is fully loaded it'll weigh just over 300lbs MAX during transit.

I can't find any trailers on Craigslist in my area and don't want to spend 900$ on a cheaply manufactured trailer. I can build a good one for much cheaper, but my question is do you think 1/8" (11 gauge) 2x3" rectangular steel tubing would be enough for the tongue of the trailer? I have an older trailer with pretty much all I need, so the cost is solely in powder coat and steel.

Do you think I should go with 1/8" or 3/16" 2x3's? I see harbor fright trailers are made of 1/8" but I won't use those as good example of a reliable and safe trailer.

Thanks a million!
Dane.

 

[Frank Acampora]

Since a lot of light trailers use .080 square tubing for the tongue, 1/8 is more than sufficient. However, it is getting difficult to find a coupler to fit 2 X 3 tubing. Standard seems to be 3 inches wide. Consider 3 X 3 unless you already have a coupler to fit the 2 X 3 tubing.

 

[Chad Flaugher]

There is a local mechanic in the next town over that specializes in older boats. When the repair expense is higher than somebody wants to pay, he ends up stuck with the boat and the trailer. Long story short, about this time of year he ends up with tons of trailers sittn' around. He sells them for $100 each, and most of them are in pretty good shape! This may be true in your neck of the woods! Might be worth calln' around... Good luck!

 

[MTboatguy]

I have 2 Harbor Freight trailers and a Chinese made trailer I bought at home depot and all of them are just fine, in fact the various HF trailers are being used a lot for the homemade tear drop camping trailers these days and I have not heard of any of them failing. One of my HF trailers is used for moving my 800 pound Quad Side by side, so I have your boat beat in weight by about 500 pounds.

 

[jrttoday]

js, you might be surprised about the actual weight after adding this and that; e.g., I started out with a 15' Terry style hull that could have weighed between 435 and 522. Not sure what kind of boat it was to begin with, but it now weighs 1,900 pounds empty. Took it to the local scrap yard for a free weigh in. Those guys are pretty friendly....

 

[gm280]

Of course a 2" X 3" X 0.125" tubular square tubing will work every day. And even if you have a standard 3" trailer coupler, you can add some solid material on each side to make it fit. We did that to a trailer with a standard 3" coupler and added some solid steel to the sides to make the 3" coupler fit perfectly. And between all the welds, it has been in service for decades now. JMHO!