# Super cheap trailer



## mora2818

Ok, before someone rips into me about my super cheap trailer, you have to know that my current house doesn't have a place to put a nicer normal trailer on the side of the yard. So that led to me getting a Fred Meyer fold up trailer which is very similar to the Harbor Freight kind. The fold up was the key so I could store it someplace. I bought this trailer before I had a raft but then outfitted it for rafting purposes. I just added the rollers courtesy of Sears and Oslo: http://www.mountainbuzz.com/forums/f15/raft-trailer-rollers-sears-sale-35187.html . I was able to load and unload the boat by myself with no gear rigged. I used this a couple times last year and it worked great for my purposes. I am not sure how durable this will be but hell, I can replace all the wood every year for $25. Anyway, I probably have about $400 total into this trailer and that is after a couple pieces of wood going to scrap and ton of bolts and nylon nuts. I hope this helps some other buzzards.

-Kevin


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## SummitSurfer

Looks good man... I did something similar but used a slightly stronger trailer and outfitted it with pressure treated wood etc etc...

****


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## Avatard

Hey Kevin. When you gonna replace that super cheap pool toy? That thing looks like it's made out of plastic


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## slamkal

I'm sure that boat sitting up so high has been confused with a UFO more than once ...


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## thaGoat

Great idea!!! Just bought a boat and was trying to figure out what to do... Guess I'm heading to Harbor Freight this week.


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## Avatard

The HF trailers have 12" tires, I think. Make sure you don't design the box to carry more than 1k in weight


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## mora2818

I'd have to look at the sheet but I don't even think 1k is recommended. I believe it was north of 900 and south of 1k. In any case, this is a lightweight trailer not made for carrying multiple rafts rigged. I'll let you know how she holds up at the end of this season.


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## mora2818

Also, to latch the corners together, i used these: 

383CB - Corner Stake Rack Connector Set - RedTrailers.com

Its a tight fit with the 2x4's and I had to sand them down to make them work, but it does the job.


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## Osprey

There are several different configurations so load capacity is variable. Check the different ones before you buy and also check Northern Tool in addition to HF and watch for sales.

I used to have the "super heavy duty" or whatever it was and it went up to 1700 lbs. Springs, wheel size, and number of lugs make a difference. The nice thing with the heavier duty ones is they already have a 2" coupler instead of 1 7/8" so it's more standard if that's an issue with your other toys.

I only used mine for carrying on big trips broken down but it was solid. Plywood and ringed the outside with eye bolts and it was a good trailer before I went whole hog.


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## thaGoat

Mora,
Just wanted to thank you for the inspiration. I got the trailer done and have already made trips starting in Denver to Taos, Westwater Canyon, Upper C and several trips to the Ark. Not a single loose bolt!

I took a HF trailer with a weight rating of 1195 Lb, built a box tall enough to fit my big cooler. Put a 5x11 lid on it with two 130lb struts to hold it up. The turf really makes it easy to slide the boat on and off to.


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## John_in_Loveland

I also bought a Harbor Freight trailer. It seems fairly strong, rated at 1900 lbs gross. And a kind gentleman at the store slipped me a 20% off coupon (pssst buddy, want a coupon). So after some planning and a bit of jury rigging, came up with this. It has a open box in the front half and a closed, lockable section in the rear. All total, I have about 475 into it. I'm not too worried about the shelflife of the wood. I figure annual coats of spar varnish will do the trick. Hope this helps people with ideas. I couldn't have done it without some of the ideas I have read here. So thanks to all that have contributed.

There are 20% off coupons in the Sunday paper inserts on a regualr basis. And before anyone asks, this has a 4x8 3/4" PT base, a 1x12 box, divided in the center with a 1x12. The bars are galvanized fence posts sitting/bolted onto 2x4's that reinforce all 6 support points. I have a sheet of 3/8 CDX over the back box to enclose it and a 1x 12 tailgate. The raft rails are 2x8's spar-varnished and mounted to the cross bars with carriage bolts bolted to chain link fence brackets.


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## Chip

I've got a very similar folding trailer, with a single bar tongue. For hauling my cats, I added a simple rack made of chainlink toprail tubing and Kee-Klamp fittings (like the SpeedRails used on DRE frames, but steel: heavy and cheap). 

The righthand trailer and cats are mine. The left one is a snowmobile trailer for a research cat used for river channel mapping and bathymetry. 










This is its fourth season. No worries. I also put on a flatbed and stake sides to haul gravel, junk, etc.


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## thaGoat

Chip said:


> The left one is a snowmobile trailer for a research cat used for river channel mapping and bathymetry.


We had two rafts on top of a snowmobile trailer as your's. Have you had any problems with it swerving around behind your vehicle when heading down a hill? I was thinking it had to do with the trailer not having enough weight or something.

Thoughts?


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## Chip

Just got the snowmobile trailer set up, and I've not hauled it far: 20 miles or so, on the flats. But I did notice how much wider than my tow vehicle it is. So here's a guess.

The wide trailer with two rafts stacked has considerable wind resistance. If it swerves slightly, say from a bump, one side catches more air than the other, which shoves it to the other side. Where the same thing occurs, a bit harder: each shove the wind gives it leads to a bit more deflection, until you have a serious problem. 

The reason its worse going downhill is that the pulling force of the vehicle (which keeps the trailer tracking straight) is changed to a braking force, with the momentum of the trailer adding a bit to each swerve. 

If you're trailering on a high-speed interstate, the turbulence caused by semis could also initiate the swerving. Trailering a stack of rafts at high speed is begging for an accident. 

When I haul long-distance on high-speed roads, I roll the tubes and trailer the bare frame. Much safer and it saves heaps of fuel. 

For sure, you should have the trailer balanced to put weight on the hitch, but I don't think that affects swerving.


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## mttodd

I have found that a lack of tongue weight will contribute to erratic trailer behavior. You might see if loading more weight forward helps.


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## rafterman

Loose load and/or rear weight are bad news on trailers. Weight forward strapped in tight helps a lot.


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## T1112

John_in_Loveland said:


> I also bought a Harbor Freight trailer. It seems fairly strong, rated at 1900 lbs gross. And a kind gentleman at the store slipped me a 20% off coupon (pssst buddy, want a coupon). So after some planning and a bit of jury rigging, came up with this. It has a open box in the front half and a closed, lockable section in the rear. All total, I have about 475 into it. I'm not too worried about the shelflife of the wood. I figure annual coats of spar varnish will do the trick. Hope this helps people with ideas. I couldn't have done it without some of the ideas I have read here. So thanks to all that have contributed.
> 
> There are 20% off coupons in the Sunday paper inserts on a regualr basis. And before anyone asks, this has a 4x8 3/4" PT base, a 1x12 box, divided in the center with a 1x12. The bars are galvanized fence posts sitting/bolted onto 2x4's that reinforce all 6 support points. I have a sheet of 3/8 CDX over the back box to enclose it and a 1x 12 tailgate. The raft rails are 2x8's spar-varnished and mounted to the cross bars with carriage bolts bolted to chain link fence brackets.


How big is that tributary raft?


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## liquidchaos

I remember my first trailer!


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## John_in_Loveland

My Trib. is a 12 footer, but I wouldn't hesitate to put a 14 on this trailer - even without changing the length of the 2x8 raft rails


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## MT4Runner

The first trailer looks a bit narrow for that raft, is the trailer width dictated by your storage space? I like the looks of the chainlink frames on top of the wood on Chip's trailer--that must really stabilize your cats! 

I wouldn't trust an eye screw into the end grain of the top deck--tie the rafts down to the metal trailer frame "just in case"!!

Also, when hauling stacked rafts or rafts on top of a box, they really catch the wind above the towing vehicle. A bowline down to the trailer tongue helps a bunch.


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## k2andcannoli

I've always wanted to cut up on old pop-up camper. Half trailer, half camper...one day.


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## T1112

John_in_Loveland said:


> I also bought a Harbor Freight trailer. It seems fairly strong, rated at 1900 lbs gross. And a kind gentleman at the store slipped me a 20% off coupon (pssst buddy, want a coupon). So after some planning and a bit of jury rigging, came up with this. It has a open box in the front half and a closed, lockable section in the rear. All total, I have about 475 into it. I'm not too worried about the shelflife of the wood. I figure annual coats of spar varnish will do the trick. Hope this helps people with ideas. I couldn't have done it without some of the ideas I have read here. So thanks to all that have contributed.
> 
> There are 20% off coupons in the Sunday paper inserts on a regualr basis. And before anyone asks, this has a 4x8 3/4" PT base, a 1x12 box, divided in the center with a 1x12. The bars are galvanized fence posts sitting/bolted onto 2x4's that reinforce all 6 support points. I have a sheet of 3/8 CDX over the back box to enclose it and a 1x 12 tailgate. The raft rails are 2x8's spar-varnished and mounted to the cross bars with carriage bolts bolted to chain link fence brackets.



How wide are your cross rails? I just ordered a 4x8 trailer with 1ft sides. Plan is to ad cross bars and platform under the raft side tubes as you did. I run a 13ft tributary but I am nervous it is to small of a trailer, should I get a 5x10? The trailer is burly with 15"wheels outside the 4x8. I wanted the smaller trailer so when using just as a utility it would be a good size. The 13ft trib is 6'8" wide compared to your 6'1" wide. Think the 4x8 will get it done?


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## John_in_Loveland

T1112 said:


> How wide are your cross rails? I just ordered a 4x8 trailer with 1ft sides. Plan is to ad cross bars and platform under the raft side tubes as you did. I run a 13ft tributary but I am nervous it is to small of a trailer, should I get a 5x10? The trailer is burly with 15"wheels outside the 4x8. I wanted the smaller trailer so when using just as a utility it would be a good size. The 13ft trib is 6'8" wide compared to your 6'1" wide. Think the 4x8 will get it done?


My cross bars are 68.5 inches and the the width of the raft rails is 70.5 (bit of overhang). I don't see any problem with your trailer size with a 13foot raft. you just might want to adjust the width of the raft rails so they are proportional to the width of your raft. I find the boards protect the bottom of the raft since I have very little to none of it hanging off the sides.

Length might be a bit of a problem to keep it well balanced. You just have to play around with the length of the 2x8's. One thing I would do differently is to use a beefier fence post. mine are about 1.5 inches but they make bigger ones - maybe 2 inches. These will support more weight of a bigger loaded raft.


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## MT4Runner

T1112 said:


> How wide are your cross rails? I just ordered a 4x8 trailer with 1ft sides. Plan is to ad cross bars and platform under the raft side tubes as you did. I run a 13ft tributary but I am nervous it is to small of a trailer, should I get a 5x10? The trailer is burly with 15"wheels outside the 4x8. I wanted the smaller trailer so when using just as a utility it would be a good size. The 13ft trib is 6'8" wide compared to your 6'1" wide. Think the 4x8 will get it done?


I agree with what John told you.

The centerlines of your tubes will be about (80" - 19") = 61", so you would want the centers of your 2x8's or 2x10's also at 61".

8' long 2x8's would just cover the flat part of the bottom of your boat. 10' long 2x8's would leave some wood showing and more than support your boat.

I would not be concerned about the 4x8 frame size. If the wheels stick out beyond that, the weight of the tubes will be centered almost directly over the wheels.

Modifying the trailer tongue to make it longer will also make the trailer less balance-sensitive--and also makes a short trailer easier to back up.


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## clinks

If you can swing it, and would rather not do a lot of fab work, I would go with a 5ft wide trailer. I just finished my 5x8 for my 13ft Trib, and not having to compensate for that lack of an extra foot made it really easy.


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## skipowpow

*My "Cheap Trailer" Saga*

*My "Cheap Trailer" Saga.*

Sorry for the sweet blog. Last fall I sold the trailer that I had because I didn't like paying to store it and I wasn't confident in its condition. I bought it used with my boat and I just didn't know the history nor did I want to put any more money into it. My thought was to get a cheap Harbor Freight one that I could store in my garage. Shouldn't cost much - right?
So doing my research, I decided that what I really wanted was a folding trailer from Red Trailers instead of the HF one. I could get a 5 x 9' and a "Heavy Duty" axle for just a little more . By the time I added the extras (spare tire, extended tongue) and got the shipping cost (beware their website will fool you), it cost over a grand (+$).

I received the trailer in November and was looking forward to putting it together. It was fairly straight forward. I think it is slightly better built than the HF ones. There were only 2 pieces missing - the fender brackets for the 13" wheels. After repeated calls to the company, I still don't have the brackets 5 months later. I have been told the following:
(1) They should arrive shortly and are shipped separately.
(2) Two weeks
(3) China is a long way away and it takes time to get supplies from them
(4) You should get them in March
(5) Shipping dates from China are inexact
So I still don’t have the brackets and I have pretty much given up on them. I was able to fashion something to get my VIN inspection done. Oh yeah, you will need one of those in CO because the China Certificate will not do (this is a recent rule change in CO) (+$). Basically, Red Trailers is frustrating to deal with.

It was good that I had all of this time to plan my build mentally. I should say that the design was all done in my head. Nothing was ever put to paper. This forum and other googling was the muse. I saw some really nice designs here.

I wanted to do the bed right and sourced some aluminum diamond plate locally that cut into two 4’ x 5’ sheets. (+$) Bolted on the trailer no problem - pure awesome. 8)

I was initially going to go with 4x4 or 4x6 to raise the bed above the wheels. Without the fender brackets, I was unsure exactly where that would be. I didn’t want it too tall either. I settled on using 2 x 12s for the sides. Originally I was just going to lay 2 x 12 across to support the boat, but decided (after looking at other designs) that I wanted the braces to go lengthwise. I have a 14” NRS, so I built them at 10’ and the span of the trailer ended up being 7’. I used pressure treated from Home Depot. (+$) Their stuff has a brown stain to it and looks nice.











I wanted to provide easy access to the bed of the trailer so I didn’t want to use 2x6 or 2x4 to span the bed. I decided to go with Superstruts. (+$). The one 2x6 is there because it spans at a hinge that allows the sides to fold in when the deck isn't in use. This makes little sense to me now. 











Now for the deck. Originally plywood, then lumber, but then then someone said, “Why don’t you use Trex and forget about it. (+$). I am happy with the results, but it was heavy and expensive. I also f’d up a cut and had to buy one extra:evil:

The last thing – added accessories: rollers from Northern Tool (+$ I bout 5 instead of 4 because I tried to do math after beers), winch and stand from Ve-Ve (+$) and HF, and trailer lift (+$). Oh and hardware. I tried to keep all of the nuts and bolts the same which, since the trailer was from China, was metric. This idea was tossed after my second purchase of button top bolts from Fastenal (+$). There are now at least 5 different sizes used :roll:, now my road toolkit needed some upgrades (+$). 

All in the thing cost me way more money than I need to know ($+$+$+$+$).  Seriously, I am not going to figure it out. Probably more than the rubber. The ONLY reason somebody should head down this path is if they NEED a folding trailer. I am happy with it. Last night I was able to put the project away and park two cars in the garage. However, in the back of my head is the thought that the 2.5” x 2.5” channeled tongue needs to be upgraded to a 3x3” fully boxed one. :idea: To all of you sub $500 trailer cobblers out there, I applaud you.


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## T1112

clinks said:


> If you can swing it, and would rather not do a lot of fab work, I would go with a 5ft wide trailer. I just finished my 5x8 for my 13ft Trib, and not having to compensate for that lack of an extra foot made it really easy.


Clinks, nice looking rig. I plad to have basically the same set up only towing with a CRV. I see your in Portland. I am in SE. I recognized the NW the minute I looked at your photo!


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## T1112

Well, here is my set up. 4x8x1 utility trailer with 15" wheels. I mounted a 8ft x 80" frame with some 3/4 plywood. Sanded it smooth. I wish I had an aluminum trailer, probably would make towing it with the CRV a breeze, however, towing the steel frame was hard to even notice.

The size of the trailer at 4x8 is just fine for my 13ft raft. The wooden frame sticks out only a couple inches past the wheels. I think I will be happy with the 15" wheels in the long run but it does make the entire rig sit really high. 12" wheels would have been a little better for loading/unloading. 

The raft slides right off with ease. Getting it back on was a bit of a pain in the a$$. The only real reason it was a pain was because of all the water inside the floor. To be honest however, it was not really a big deal and I managed it myself with little trouble.


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## Brapppp1234

Has anyone upgraded their axle, springs, wheels, tires to a heavier weight capacity? 

Those little wheels/tires are starting to scare me. Thanks!


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## cupido76

Brapppp1234 said:


> Has anyone upgraded their axle, springs, wheels, tires to a heavier weight capacity?
> 
> Those little wheels/tires are starting to scare me. Thanks!


You could just upgrade the wheels then. I just recently changed out my 545lb capacity wheels for similar sized wheels with a higher load rating... 910lb.

Now with my 2000lb axle and 1750lb leaf springs, I feel more comfortable.


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## Brapppp1234

So just upgrading the wheels/tires will help? 

I'm only asking because it sounds pretty inexpensive for new springs.


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## sc00ter

Anyone used a 6 x 12 trailer? Advantages or disadvantages over 5 x 8 trailer? I have a 14' raft. Is the tongue length on a 5 x 8 an issue?


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## Brapppp1234

And with larger tires it seems like it could get awful close to those wheel wells under load.


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## cupido76

Brapppp1234 said:


> And with larger tires it seems like it could get awful close to those wheel wells under load.


I bought something like this...
Fat Boy Trailer Tire Assemblies | Canadian Tire

They're still smallish diameter but they're wider and tire must be reinforced better. I still have plenty of clearance to the deck.


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## riverpimp

I have the same set up. Got the trailer off harbor freight ebay. Works good for my 14 1/2ft raft.


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