Building a Trailer

[Rick]

I'm thinking about building a trailer for my 1974 Hunter 25(fin keel). Like many others, I have been looking for an appropriate used trailer but they are very difficult to find and quite expensive. Ideally, this trailer would be adjustable so that it could accomodate somewhat larger size/displacement boats. I had a great time restoring Red and will probably take on another project boat in a couple of years. I've found that there are lots of good project boats out there but transportation costs raise the price too much. I would appreciate hearing from anybody that has experience with this type of project, or anybody that is thinking about doing the same thing. Thanks in advance.

 

[Ed Schenck]

Sudden interest in trailers.

Must be the time of year. There are at least three other threads in other forums regarding trailers. And Sam Lust has pictures of his in the photo forum. This has real appeal to me since I saw a friend's 35 foot steel ChrisCraft on a trailer in a "free" storage lot.Imagine, no winter marina costs!The question I would ask is what is the largest boat that you want to consider for the trailer? This would have a lot to do with the design. As a welder in a previous life I would not hesitate to build one, probably like that in Sam's pictures. Obtain some axle/spring assemblies, lots of 4" channel iron, and weld away. You could make the supports bolt-on so that they could be adjusted fore/aft for the next size boat. They must line up with a bulkhead, usually the companionway aft and the forward salon bulkhead. Make the supports with lots of travel so that you can back them off(using temporary supports) and get under them for sanding/painting. The crucial part of the trailer is the keel support. Make it like my cradle. Two 4" channels the length of the cradle, each 6" off center. Then 4" channel cross-pieces every 24 inches. Resting on these is an eight foot 2"x12". So it doesn't matter how forward or aft the keel is on the boat, this support will match it. Good luck.