Building trailers

bhartley · Post by **bhartley** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 1:50 pm

Have any of you modified a power boat trailer for a full keel boat? We are considering yet another boat, but the trailer is causing us issues. Even if we could afford the $6,500 Triad wants for their trailer, it's a 3-4 month wait and a 14 hour drive to and from to pick-up.

We are located far from the land of hydraulic trailers and it is $500 to get the boat moved 48 miles without the crane charges. The boat weighs 5,400lbs at 25'. We have a welder (a person not the equipment), but she needs a plan as she doesn't want to be responsible for the boat landing in the middle of the highway for all of the obvious reasons.

Thanks!

The Good Goose · Post by **The Good Goose** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:34 pm

You could see if triad would sell you a plan. They have plans for alot of boats. there are alot of places that sell axles with wheels also fenders. Look around for trailers and try to find one about the right size and copy it. If a power boat trailer is rated to handle a boat of your boats weight I dont see why it could not be modified to fit it. YOu can get some brownell jackstand tops and weld 1and 1/4 inch pipe to the trailer to fit them. Add plenty of bracing and I think you would be ok.

Another way to go is to have a cradle made and put it on an equipment trailer. It seems easier to find an equipment trailer then a sail boat trailer. If you don't think you'd need the equipment trailer when the boat wasn't on it you could weld the jack stands right to it and save the expense of building a seperate cradle.

Hope this helps
Brock

Duncan · Post by **Duncan** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 10:22 am

As a simple solution, I'd second the suggestion on a flatbed trailer.

Here's the one I modified for a similar-sized boat (25', 4500 lbs.).

It's a dual axle, heavy-duty flatbed (used to have a dump body on it). I was pressed for time, and not sure of the placement, so I u-bolted foundation posts in place. They need to be welded and braced now, but it all seemed to come out surprisingly well.

I've seen similar trailers for a thousand or two on eBay.

Post by **Tim** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:23 pm

The basic flatbed with welded supports is a pretty common solution. The biggest issue with a flatbed is that often the boat ends up higher than you might like, but this is generally workable.

Here is another example. This is a trailer that I recently obtained. It's a 35' car hauler that was modified to accept adjustable metal stands for a sailboat. This is larger than what you're talking about, but again it shows the versatility of many different kinds of trailers--as long as you either have welding skills or know someone who will work with you.

Peter · Post by **Peter** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:22 pm

There is a very good article about modifying a power boat trailer to fit a Mercator Offshore 30 in Good Old Boat Magazine, Sept-Oct 2000 page 23.
It's a good alternative to a flat bed, although a flat bed is really handy to have around.