Looking to find a trailer for an O'day 25

Joe11688 · Jul 23, 2012

AaronL said:
Just bought my first boat! Not really sure where to look for a trailer for it. I'll have the boat on a mooring during the season but will need to trailer into storage. Any thoughts where I might pick one up? I'm in Rhode Island, but if there's a deal out there I don't mind driving!

Thanks!

I would go to Walmsley Marine and talk to them about buying a trailer for your O'Day 25. I bought my Long Mfg Aluminum tandem trailer there. Long had gone out of business and they came back just recently.

You could buy a powerboat trailer like I did and convert it over to a sailboat trailer pretty easy. Walmsley had 24" bunk extension brackets in stock when I bought my trailer and these are the best and strongest brackets I've seen on the market. I don't know if they still carry them though but they have a lot of trailer parts.

All I did was add two pressure treated planks for the keel to rest on. I sandwiched them together and used power company galvanized lightning arrestor brackets to hold them to the trailer's cross members. I countersunk the carriage bolt heads into the top plank so that the keel won't hit them. No holes were drilled in the cross members to attach these planks. The brackets can be loosened and the planks can be slid to one side or the other. This is important if you need to get at the under side of the keel.

If you buy a trailer try to get one that will not only take the weight of the boat fully found, but also a longer boat. Get a trailer that will take a 26' boat and this way you'll be able to back down the ramp into water deep enough to float her off without swamping your towing vehicle.

My boat is 22' long and the trailer is built for a 23' boat. I'm able to get my boat on and off my trailer at the club with very little effort.

Even if you don't wind up buying a trailer off this dealer, he has all the specs on your boat and can provide you with the info needed to find something suitable somewhere else with the same trailer specs that should fit your boat. Good luck with the O'Day 25. Maybe I'll see you out on the bay some day. My boat is easy to spot. I tow a small green kayak and I sail with my dog.
Joe

Tom Hoffman · Jul 23, 2012

Search Tempest

Go to searchtempest.com and plug in your zip code and the mileage that you are willing to go out and it will search all the craig's listings and show you what is available.

Another person posted this same question last year and I found him a trailer that fit his boat perfectly only 200 miles from him for a fraction of the cost of a new one.

Tom Hoffman · Jul 23, 2012

Here is one that you could get and off load the boat at the dump and you have a nice double axel trailer.

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/boa/3153516466.html

Here is another and it is new...

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/bod/3138568896.html

Happy hunting

Tom Hoffman · Jul 23, 2012

You could easily modify this one.

http://nh.craigslist.org/boa/3158904831.html

Tom Hoffman · Aug 3, 2012

I know in my case when I am towing any distance, it is white knuckles all the way, I can't imagine putting it on a cradle and then on a trailer. It is hard enough to find a ramp for mine and it only has a 28" draft. It has to be in over 4' of water to float off.

When I wanted to work on my boat on the trailer the toe rail is 7'5" off the ground and the top of the cabin including the mast laid down was over 9' above the ground. Hope you have a very tall entry door into your garage and a high ceiling. A rolling cradle would lower that some. I have a friend with a 26' Hunter and his is every bit as high on the trailer as mine is.

Loading the cradle and boat onto the trailer would be a good chore too. Just my .02 cents worth.

Tom...

anchorclanker · Aug 3, 2012

That boat looks to weigh 4500 pounds? Trailers are rated at gross weight, load plus trailer, not what they will carry. You need a trailer rated to carry boat weight, plus the trailers weight, plus at least 10% additional. I would try to find a tandem axle with 4500 pound axles and electric brakes on both axles. At a bare minimum you should have a 7500 trailer. Your not just hauling around the block and down to the landing, your going cross country. Having a trailer underrated for the load is only going to make an already difficult trip into a white knuckle adventure.

You also need a heavy tow vehicle, Suburban/Excursion class.

Maybe think of selling it and buying another one at the other end?

MeGeek · Aug 13, 2012

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/?cmd...9&item=110932021149&sspagename=STRK:MESELX:IT

We just put my trailer on EBay in FL. We plan to keep it in the water all year.
- I have a swing keel so all the weight sits on the bottom of the trailer not the supports.

If you have the fixed keel I dont think many places will be deep enough to launch .... but keep in mind many of us dont launch traditionally anyway, I paid the $100 to have it go up on the lift.

FYI - I drive an Excursion - The trailer brakes were removed and I only had 1 or 2 white knuckle moments in over 2,000 miles. (Safety guys - I know bad advise - I'm telling what I did - not proud)

Johnkent · Sep 26, 2012

Joe I'm looking at your conversion idea to haul an oday 25, looks pretty straight forward except the square brackets, (not the u brackets), did you have those fabricated?

thanks
kent

Joe11688 · Sep 27, 2012

Johnkent said:
Joe I'm looking at your conversion idea to haul an oday 25, looks pretty straight forward except the square brackets, (not the u brackets), did you have those fabricated?

thanks
kent

Hi Kent,
No. I bought those brackets from Walmsley Marine, a Long Trailer dealer in Warren RI where I bought the trailer new. My trailer originally came with 8" brackets and I needed 24" brackets and he had them in stock.
Unfortunately, Long mfg went out of business years ago and their brackets are nowhere to be found.

It's a crying shame that nobody is manufacturing these brackets. They have to be the best on the market.
All one would need is these long extension brackets, the bunks, and the keel boards and you have a sailboat trailer that can be made from any powerboat trailer.
If you have a 25' sailboat, you would need a trailer that will take a 26' boat and I believe that the boat could be floated on or off at the boat ramp without swamping the tow vehicle. It really depends on the depth of the keel though.

Crazy Dave Condon · Sep 28, 2012

If going the new route for a trailer, Ron Frisosky has designed the trailers that fit most sailboats for as long as I remember. He is also an avid sailor and racer and former sailboat dealer but now representing Catalina. His cell phone if interested is 941-914-7830. The trailers are known by Sailors trailers/road king trailers. Even the mfg. knows the sailboat trailer all too well.

crazy dave condon

Looking to find a trailer for an O'day 25

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