Dual Use Trailer?
 

I have a galvanized boat trailer for my 22' pro-line Cuddy.
It's a great trailer with dual axles, brakes and electric winch.
Last summer I refurbished pretty much everything on it. This lead me to thinking about using it to haul my SC to DE events.

The trailer is plenty big and has plenty of weight capacity. It's size is almost a pertfect fit and it's fairly low because it has the torsion axles.

There are 4 sets of rollers that can be removed in about 10 min.
All I need to do is install some ramps and runners for the wheels.
The runners would not conflict a bit with the use of the boat and would actually make it easier to load / unload.

The simplest solution would be to get some scaffolding boards (typically oak) and bolt them on.
I have seen a few car trailers that are open in the middle and have steel runners on the sides. I'd like to do this with galvanized steel if I can find it. The ramps can be regular steel because they won't be going in the water.

I pretty much only use the trailer to store the boat during the winter + spring and fall hauling. Sometimes take it with us on vacation.
I haul it with a Tahoe so no problems with towing.

So I thought I'd run this up the flagpole here and see if anyone has some design tips or tricks!

Thanks!

Big Bump!
Anyone????

I converted a similar sized boat trailer to a car trailer once. It worked just fine. Like you, I left the rollers down the middle and installed planks - I used 2 2X8's either side for my planks and made up some ramps the same as my car trailer.

I have two friends that have done the converstion your are contemplating. Some lessons learned:

- Be sure and calculate the weight of matierials you are going to use to support the car and include that weight in the total carrying capacity.

- Make sure the materials are well balanced...one of the trailers fish-tailed empty because the weight distribution was off.

- Call the manufacturer of the trailer and make sure the frame of the trailer can handle the difference weight distribution posed by a car (versus a boat). This is critical in the upfront framing supporting the hitch.

- Trailer brakes? Key.

- Insurance. Make sure you let your insurance folks in on your conversion. You may not be cover if you have an accident. There is often a clause about, "for use other than intended by the manufacturer".

unclebilly, with the 2x8's was there any substantial bending of the boards between supports? I have a frame member aproximately every 4'. That's one of the reasons I was thinking of using rough oak rather than typical construction lumber. Can you give me any details on how you attached the ramps?

I was thinking of wood or aluminum runners to save weight. Aluminum would be $$$. The most important thing will be to be careful in overloading with tools and other junk.

One good think about weight distribution is that the 911 weight biased in the back. Not quite as much as my boat with the small block and outdrive. The axles are already close to the rear end of the trailer now.
Once the runners are on, I'll put the car on and load up like I'm going to the track. Then I'll put a scale under the tounge and balance things to get the right weight. Once the car is positioned, I'll make some moveable stops. I think I'll weigh the tounge with the boat on it and see what we have. I have it pretty heavy. Having the suspension compressed on the tow vehicle a bit helps reduce both wandering of the truch and fishtailing. The only real issue I have now is it's pretty bouncy when empty.

Trailer brakes were just redone with disks. I might convert to electric in the future because the technology on water proof brakes has gotten better and the cost is comming down.


Great comment on the insurance, That's something I didn't think about.
In Maryland, the trailer doesn't have it's own policy. I have a boat US policy with breakdown assistance (something like that). I wonder if they will cover when I'm towing the car?

Both the tow vehicle and 911 are covered by the same company.
Now if I get DE insurance then that will add some complexity.
This is more complicated then actually building the thing! But I guess most of the issues have to be understood regardless of the conversion.

I haven't searched yet, but does anyone have some good tips on tie down systems?
Thanks all!







I've learned not to rely on what the "folks" tell you. I read the policy!! Sometimes it's hard to get them to send you all the attachments.

Re: Dual Use Trailer?
 

I've considered doing something like this to a boat trailer I own, since it's a 9900 capacity trailer, I could haul my tractor on it.