Utility Trailer = Canoe Trailer

[AlanP]

I have a fairly new 6x10 utility trailer with wooden slats for sides that I would like to set up temporary to carry a solo canoe. I've thought of building a box for the canoe to sit on but this would be more permanent than I'd like. Also using an old Yakima rack system that was installed on factory installed bars from an old car. The clamps would fit over the wooden slats and a 87 inch Yakima bar would span across the trailer. What do you think? Any better ideas.
alan

 

[sweeper]

Tongue length may be a problem with a U trailers other then that sounds like it would work

 

[ThreeScoutDad]

I am in the process of something similiar. Converting an old boat trailer into a utility/canoe/camping trailer. I am using this design as my basic structure. Although you have wooden sides, is there any chance you can mount a steel stake pocket to the frame to secure a removable vertical raiser and cross bar?

 

[scoutergriz]

I've converted a few utility trailers and in every case I needed to lengthen the tongue to keep the balance point in front of the wheels. you need to keep 30-40lbs on the ball or the trailer will fishtail.
Easiest way is to use a trailer with a bolt-on hitch ball receiver, unbolt the hitch, get a piece of rectangular tube that fits snugly over the tongue and at least 8" past the bolt holes (to prevent flex),mark and drill matching holes in the tube (start small to make sure you're in the original holes), bolt together with Grade 6 bolts and lock washers, and add a new larger ball receiver over the tube at the end.
Don't use the original receiver- It'll need to go inside where over time the movement will allow it to bend in,or wear out the flanges allowing it to move around and eventually wear out the bolts.
I find that a 4' piece of heavy-wall is perfect for a 3' extension, and by doing it this way you can unbolt the extension, and reattach the original ball receiver, for utility trailer use. you can even make a 4' pigtail for the lights

 

[Guest]

Tongue length may be a problem with a U trailers other then that sounds like it would work

Some years back I built a two canoe hauler on a utility trailer frame. I kept the same short tongue and had the two canoes stacked vertically over the tongue centerline where they didn’t interfere with the vehicles turning radius.
Beside the center-racked canoes I had 8’ long open-top “pockets” on either side which were handy for paddles and other long linear gear. Those pockets would also hold a couple of bikes on each side, wheels in the pockets and I could use the gear in those side storage bins to get the tongue weight right.

I could still haul a couple of boats atop the truck or van since the clearance between rooftop and trailer top boats was ----- ___ sufficient for going up or down steep gradients.

It was a simple build and worked well in a variety of hauling guises. I added a hinged lid and panels fore and aft on the bottom center slot so it could be used as a closed gear area if needed in that mode.

Worked well, served our purpose….and I hated driving a trailer. Finding parking, merging or changing lanes in traffic, keeping a mirror eye on things 20 feet behind the van, going attentively light on the brakes, worrying about those winky trailer tires and, especially, backing up with that short tongue.

When we got a full-sized van for family travel and I could rack 4 canoes on 4 crossbars along that long roofline we never used the trailer as boat hauler again.

That is very much my personal preference to be trailer free, reinforced by an episode in the Manti La Salles when we drove up a somewhat less than one lane dirt road, found it blocked by a wash out and had to back up for a half mile of twists and turns to the nearest wide spot. That was enough for me to foreswear ever hauling a trailer to an unfamiliar place.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I've seen several paddlers use various kinds of utility and DIY trailers.

But not me. I have had trailer experiences similar to Mike McCrea's (though not for canoeing) and have a similar negative attitude toward trailering.

Why bother for one solo canoe, which can easily go on any vehicle using overpriced black bars (which you may already have) or using inexpensive foam blocks, especially since you seem to be using the trailer primarily for other things?

 

[wysedav]

I'm a big fan of trailers. I have a light weight one that was a single 16' trailer at one point. I added set of trees and I'm ready to go. I leave the boats on the trailer and I can literally hook up and be gone in two minutes. It's light enough that I pull it with the tdi Jetta. If I get on a pinch or no good parking I just in hook and turn it around by hand with the boats on it.

 

[Mnoutdoorfunguy]

Another trailer fan here. We have had the Sportsrig Micro Trailer for a number years and thousands of miles. It provides great security from wind gusts and better mileage. It really is nice behind our go-kart/ Ford Fiesta. It also works well to store the boats in the garage. It isn't for everybody I am sure but is ideal for our situations.

 

[wgiles]

6' X 10' is a fairly good size utility trailer. A 14' solo canoe would only overhang two feet on each end. Without a photo, it's hard to say. I doubt that a single solo canoe would significantly affect the trailer's balance. If the canoe doesn't need to be too high off the trailer bed, it shouldn't be too hard to fabricate a support frame out of 2 X 4's. I've got a 5' X 8' flatbed utility trailer with 12" sideboards that I could haul a canoe on in a pinch. My problem would be that I need to raise the canoe enough that I could see it in the rear view mirror. The trailer itself is too low to see except with the side mirrors. I could always throw some gear in the front of the trailer to keep the tongue weight up.

 

[Mihun09]

We are in the process of building a canoe specific trailer from an old torsion suspension boat trailer. The torsion suspension is ideal for our w/c canoe selection as it is a much softer ride and won't pound the crap out of the boats like a leaf sprung trailer designed for 2000 pounds of load would on our mostly gravel roads out here. Just another project amongst the too many we already have.

 

[scoutergriz]

wgiles; the problem is you can't overhang in the front unless the canoe is well above the car( you need clearance for the trailer to dip on bumps and hollows), so now you have a 4ft. overhang in the back which is a problem in two ways- that's a crapload of leverage and it won't take much to start lifting the tongue to the point where the trailer will start to fishtail. The other issue is that in most places it's illegal to have stuff sticking out more than 2' past the rear of the trailer

 

[Guest]

I'm a big fan of trailers. I leave the boats on the trailer and I can literally hook up and be gone in two minutes. It's light enough that I pull it with the tdi Jetta.

There is that. I have friends who routinely tow a long-tongued canoe trailer with waterproof gear boxes on either side of the trailer bed. Their boats stay on and much of their paddling gear stay packed.

I have also heard that at least some vehicles suffer far less MPG loss towing a trailer vs cartopping, so there is that too. I never bothered to check that while towing our trailer.

In any case the packing aspect wouldn’t work for me; I am too often switching boats between different trips, which means different paddles and other gear. I’d still be packing and unpacking the trailer each time.

I see trailers being most useful if commonly hauling multiple boats, especially if some of the gear goes in/on the trailer, freeing up seat space for carload of passengers.

It is easier to back up a trailer with a long tongue, or at least harder to jackknife one. But between the long tongue and bed/crossbars a canoe trailer is 17’ long. Hmmm, our van and pick up are both 17’ long…..four, carry the one…

Christ I’m driving something 34’ long. Well, 37’ long if you count some canoe overhang past the rear crossbar.

Hope I miss rush hour.

 

[wysedav]

No Title

This is the trailer I use, I have about $100 into it. $50 for the trailer, $35 for the LED lights and some paint. Nice and simple and works great, although I do hate the wheels, I need to replace the axle at some point for piece of mind. I've have it loaded like crazy before, 8 kayaks on it and whatever gear we could fit in them. Five hours on the highway both directions no problems and it towed great.

 

[Guest]

Might as well be driving a schoolbus.



Oh, wait, you mean I’m supposed to pull it, not push it?

 

[ppine]

I really like canoe trailers. I have one with a tongue extension and it is easy to haul 18 1/2 boats at waist level. It would not be hard to modify a utility trailer with the exception of the tongue issue. A temporary cradle could be made with lumber and wood screws. A more permanent solution would be to weld one up or build it out of steel and bolt it together. I use old fire hose to pad the rests for my boats. It should be possible to raise the canoes over the trunk of a car or bed of a pick-up, then you have room for storage underneath.

 

[wgiles]

wgiles; the problem is you can't overhang in the front unless the canoe is well above the car( you need clearance for the trailer to dip on bumps and hollows), so now you have a 4ft. overhang in the back which is a problem in two ways- that's a crapload of leverage and it won't take much to start lifting the tongue to the point where the trailer will start to fishtail. The other issue is that in most places it's illegal to have stuff sticking out more than 2' past the rear of the trailer

You can overhang the front of the bed as long as you you don't crowd the hitch. A 5' wide utility trailer should have at least a 3' long tongue. Mine is at least 5 feet long. I certainly wouldn't try to do it without having a good look at the whole setup with canoe, trailer and tow vehicle in place. The center of the canoe will have to be raised above the bed or sideboards for the bow and stern to clear the trailer. How much depends on the canoe. I don't see a problem having a 1' overhang on the front and a 3' overhang on the rear. Again, I wouldn't do it without looking at the setup. In Illinois, and I would suspect in most states, it is perfectly legal to haul a load with a 4' overhang past the rear bumper as long as it has a red flag at the tail of the load. All loads extending more than 6" on the driver's side, 12" on the passenger side and 48" on the rear have to be flagged. The limits on the sides could apply when two canoes are hauled side by side on a roof rack. As far as weight distribution goes, my 50 Lb canoe is not going to affect the tongue weight of my 864 Lb utility trailer. It's already tongue heavy because of the toolbox on the tongue. It all depends on the location of the axle(s). I try to locate my axles so that 60% of the weight is forward and 40% is behind the axle. I Had a 500 Lb pipe fusion welder on wheels come loos on my trailer once. I knew something was wrong because trailer started to fishtail at 70 Mph. When I pulled over, I found that sharp corners on the welder had cut through the front strap, allowing the welder to shift to the rear of the trailer and lighten the tongue. Having a load shift and becoming tongue light is no joke and can be pretty scary, worse when you can't see the load in the rear view mirror. I've had no trouble hauling my 32' extension ladder on my tool trailer with 4-1/2 to 5' overhang on either end. That ladder weighs more than my canoe. If I'm not sure of the tongue weight, I can stand on the rear bumper of the trailer and see if the tongue lifts off the ball. A lot of what you might do depends on your experience pulling a trailer. I don't care for trailers with short tongues. They are difficult to back up. If you lengthen the tongue, you may need to move the axle to increase the tongue weight. Look at the axle position on boat trailers. Trailers for light boats have the axle to the rear of the trailer. Trailers for big, heavy boats have the axles closer to the center. These are purpose built trailers. The designers know what the weight distribution will be. Utility trailers are made to haul an unspecified load and some assumptions have to be made. One such assumption is that the user will take some care in positioning the load on the trailer. I take much more care when I haul a long extension ladder behind the pickup with the topper. I don't want to break the back window of the topper.

 

[scoutergriz]

The issue is that he doesn't state what kind of utility trailer it is- most sold around here are 10' long with a 6x6 box and 4' tongue,and are very light (350-450lbs). At 864lbs, that sounds like a commercial unit. Around here utility trailers usually only have a GVWR of 1000-1200lbs, with a tare of only 500lbs or so and 4x10 tires.
Trust me I know what I'm talking about, I've built 5 different canoe trailers, and regularly towed everything from a small generator to a 5 1/2 ton Kubota excavator (kx057) on a triaxle tilt.
So assuming he's using a normal, mass produced, galvanized channel type trailer. with a 6" forward COB, that trailer will fishtail with that much overhang at highway speeds.
I just checked and in Michigan you need a 12" square flag, or a Red light at night "Overhang beyond rear of vehicles ................ Any amount is permissible if the legal length is not exceeded. However, if this overhang is
4 feet or more, there shall be displayed on the extreme rear of such a load a 12 - inch red square flag in the daytime and a red light or
lantern at night."
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Loads_dim_87014_7.pdf .

I think it'd be easier to stay well within that 4'mark any way because of the swingout. I'd hate to see someone turn a corner and end up side swiping the car beside them.

 

[wgiles]

I can only speak for what I have or what I have seen and I haven't seen the OPs trailer or canoe. The OP did say that it was a 6' X 10' utility trailer. Around here, when folks talk about the size of a utility trailer, they talk about the size of the bed. I assumed that was the case here. That might be a mistaken assumption. It could be overall width and length, a whole different story.

 

[AlanP]

No Title

Sorry it took so long to post this picture and my plan.
The trailer is rated for 3500 lbs, 6'x10' bed, and 15 inch tires. The sides of the trailer are 26 inches high. I'm planning to install 2x6 boards vertically to support the 2x6 boards (covered with carpeting) across the trailer that the canoe will sit on. I believe I could use less lumber but this size makes it easier to mount. Everything will be bolted together instead of wood screws. The plan is that the cross braces holding the canoe will sit on 2x6 boards running vertically from the trailer bed. The cross braces will be attached to the trailer sides by hinges. The top of the cross braces will be a little higher the the existing trailer sides. The pins of the hinges can be pulled to remove the cross braces when not using the trailer to haul a canoe. The canoe manufacturer (David Curtis) stated the ideal mounting separation of the supports is seven feet which I will use. The canoe will easily clear the trailer jack so I'm planning on placing the canoe as close to the vehicle as possible thereby limiting the rear overhang. I will run lines from the bow and stern lining holes of the canoe back to the trailer. Lastly, I'll place stops just outboard of the canoe on the cross braces to control any side movement. One of the things I'm concerned about is the stiffness of the trailer as the canoe weight is only 29 lbs. The initial road trip is 8 hours from New York to Michigan so wish me luck.

 

[wgiles]

I think that vertical 2 X 6s would be good. I use a split Pool Noodle to cushion the canoe on my ladder rack. You can run straps under the 2 X 6s and over the canoe to secure it. I would make certain to tie the bow and the stern to the trailer so that they can't move side to side or front to back. The straps keep it from moving up or down. Check your straps a mile down the road and a few miles down the highway to make sure that they haven't shifted. If you can see the canoe in your rear view mirror, watch it as you get up to speed to see if it vibrates or does anything funny. If you can't see the canoe when you back up, have someone stand where you can see them and have them watch the trailer and canoe so you don't back into something.