Update, so I built a trailer.

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Sea Eagle Mark

Seaman Apprentice
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Feb 4, 2019
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This forum has been so helpful for me and I thought I'd post a "update" on my Harbor Freight trailer. After shopping for a new (couldn't find anything used under $600. and most were trashed) boat trailer for our Sea Eagle 12.6sr and finding prices new of $895-1,200 (and up) I thought about a HF kit. So here's the deal.....

Pro's
1, Great price! On sale for $249.95 complete!
2, Super easy to assemble. I just turned 65 and did it in two no sweat 4 hour days. You WILL need a helper or two for 5 minutes to "flip" it over. (I got some neighborhood teens to help)
3, Get a local welder to make a 6' extension (75.00). Made it way easier to trailer and I never got the car tires wet.
4, Easy to make "carpeted bunk boards" by looking at YouTube videos.

Cons
1, RUST! Ok, to be fair... We managed 18 adventures in salt water our first season at different locations and had a blast, but that means 36 full salt water dunking @ 5-10 minutes each! Yikes. Yes I would rinse off the trailer, boat, and motor every time we got home without fail, (along with flushing the Tohatsu) but, the trailer lives outside in the back yard 24, 7, 365 so it never gets a break. And it never was meant to be a boat trailer anyway. It wasn't superbad rust but I'm fussy and thought I'd nip it in the bud before things got out of hand. The good news I spent a couple hours today doing some light scraping, sanding, spot priming and gave it a good coat of Rust-Oleum spray paint and....it looks like NEW again. ($15.00)
2, Trailer lights and wiring. Ok, see above. I made a bonehead mistake and didn't waterproof ANY of the connections, so the wiring harness was shot, oh, well, I got to redo the whole wiring harness for under $25.00 and did it right this time. Lessons learned.

Final thoughts,
So, what do I think? Was it worth it? I'd do it again in a heartbeat! If you like tinkering and working with your hands it's a fun project and you'll have a much better understanding of your trailer by getting your hands dirty. You really can't beat the price! Did I mention you can get them on sale for $249.00? 😀 The way I see it in five years I'll be 70 years old and will have had the boat motor and trailer for 5 years. If I decide I've had enough of the Sea Eagle set up, I can sell everything and still make out good.
 

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Sea Eagle Mark

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Feb 4, 2019
Messages
49
Don't know.... I tried to post this a few days ago and it said redirect. Then just disappeared... I hope this one stays. Happy Thanksgiving.
 

Sea Eagle Mark

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Feb 4, 2019
Messages
49
Just found it.ok, I'm kinda new here. Sorry if I caused any problems..... Mark if the mod wants to take this one down that's ok 😂 whatever is best.
 

mrdrh99

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Feb 1, 2013
Messages
756
I did something very very similar for a sea eagle foldcat a couple years back, it worked great! Ended up selling the boat and trailer but I have no doubt it's still going strong.... Yours looks great!
 
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