So I built a trailer! "Update"

[Sea Eagle Mark]

This forum has been so helpful for me and I thought I'd post a "update" on my new 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 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? YES! 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.

 

[alldodge]

I think its a great idea and looks great

 

[readsea]

..another lesson that DIY is not just about money but also the fulfillment fo doing it )

 

[The Force power]

Looks great! If it work for your size boat, then its a home run

but I would of gotten the tow-bar welded on the cross-members up to the axles for a stronger integrity

 

[fishrdan]

Looks Great! Just need a spare tire, HF has them cheap, and a simple U-bolt spare tire holder.

I made something very similar out of a small HF trailer kit, but I added a 15' stick of 2.5" square steel tube to run the length of the trailer. Original tongue was used for an additional cross member. Painted it with white Rustoelum and it's held up great, but I'm in freshwater. Over the past 10 year I ran into a couple of issues.

- The lights are crap, replaced them with epoxy encapsulated LED lights.
- Side lights were damaged by road rocks, holes in the housings, replaced with more sturdy incandescent running lights.
- Trailer fenders are weak, re-welded the broken off bolt hole tab a couple of times, but just a horrible design. Lost one on of the fenders an 4x4 off road (goat trail) adventure to the river, 9 miles took 2 hours... I replaced them with rounded galvanized fenders, 2 bolts front and back, then a heavy L-bracket in the center. I think the newer HF trailers have the L-bracket, which should help a bit.
- Axle seals are not "marine" rated, they are just normal wheel seals to keep grease in, but not water out. After a couple of years and several re-greases the bearings were shot due to water intrusion. I was able to find some double-lip seals and correct bearings on fleabay, ordered from China. Think I ordered 6 seals and 8 bearing sets for about $20. Took a bunch of measuring to find the right parts.
- Hub dust caps are hard to find (it's somewhere on that 4x4 trail). Not sure if they are available through HF, but it's an oddball metric size. I took the next smaller inch size and "made it fit" with trailer ball, hammered the ball into the cap to expand it. Sealed the cap tho the hub with RTV, to make sure it stays in place.

 

[Sea Eagle Mark]

Hey guys, thanks for the input and comments!
MTFBWY, the trailer is rated for 1,000+ lbs. My total weight of boat, motor and accessories is less than 375lbs so I'm not worrying.
Fisherdan, yes, I understand all your thoughts and I found you can order complete hubs for $19.95 each! I'm going to order a set asap.

 

[The Force power]

Nah, your good! as I said; she's looking good. about the lights/ wiring...I applied dielectric-grease on the bulbs & sockets to prevent corrosion that stuff is so good of insulating the contacts, I don't even have to unplug the cord(to prevent shorting) when going into the water

 

[MRS]

Sweet job love DIY folks.:thumb: