Advice On Trailers

[whippetsfly]

Greetings to all,

My husband just ordered a new Sunfish for me today -- I hope to have it in the next 3 weeks or so!!! I am looking for some advice as to who makes a good trailer for a Sunfish. Also, I am concerned about road bounce with this light weight. Suggestions please!!!!! Thanks in advance to everyone.
Sabrina

 

[edboat]

There are a lot of small trailers available that fit the Sunfish. Trailex makes an aluminum one that some people like, but it is a little costly. Your best bet may be a Performance trailer that you can build a platform on and carry your Sunfish deck down. This will minimize hull damage.

 

[Porpoise2]

I just saw an aluminum trailer (plenty strong enough, btw) for kayaks. (In Canoe & Kayak magazine. Some call it Kayak & Kayak magazine ).

It has very tall, narrow, alloy wheels (12"+?), so the bearings will have it easier than the 8-inchers. I'd carry a spare if equipped with 8-inch wheels and traveling long distances.

At the other costliness-extreme, a friend bought a used-but-nice lawn-maintenance trailer from www.CraigsList.com. It had new bearings, a new axle, and the seller delivered it—for $200!

(www.CraigsList.com is organized to be highly regionalized/localized, so you won't have to drive/wait long to see any prospective purchase).

 

[Porpoise2]

It's made by "RackAndRoll".

'Found a picture—I'd forgotten that it folds up.

 

[supercub]

Sabrina,

Look at the thread "Transporting a Sunfish" near the bottom of the page. Also Yahoo's Sunfish Sailor has lots of good info, do a search and check the photo section also.

 

[Coconut]

I have had my SF for 3 weeks. From advice I read somewhere on-line I bought a Harbor Freight bolt together trailer and tried to build bunks for the SF to ride on. Spent a weekend bolting the trailer together and another day trying to make the perfect bunks that followed the curves the SF’s hull. I have finally gave up on the Harbor Freight trailer. Leaf springs are way too strong and I cannot get the bunks the way I want them to avoid damage to the hull. I will be purchasing the Trailex SUT 200 soon. In the meantime, I took the homemade bunks off and have tied down four 6 inch boat fenders to the deck of Harbor Freight trailer positioned so that the SF rides on them for a nice cushy ride – it gets me to the lake, but is not a long-term solution.

 

[supercub]

Coconut,

See Yahoo's SF Sailor, Photo section, Skylarks Trailer. It is a photo step by step on making bunks that will fit a SF.

 

[Porpoise2]

I have had my SF for 3 weeks. From advice I read somewhere on-line I bought a Harbor Freight bolt together trailer and tried to build bunks for the SF to ride on.

Sorry to hear of your experience. I've been pushing HF trailers as cheap way to trailer-transport stuff. Just among friends and neighbors, and for general use.

One Sunfish is probably too little weight. You need to buy two more!

Seriously, why is it necessary to "perfectly form" the beds? I would have used foam—like those spaghetti swim thingys—split one side, and formed it along the beds to roughly approximate the curve in the hull. (Or deck—which is flatter).

 

[supercub]

P2,

It is just a little more work to make bunks that closely match the hull bottom (or top) that are padded with foam, covered with carpet and provide better support (more contact, less weight per square inch on the hull/bunk) than bunks that are flat or just slightly curved. Flat or slightly curved bunks can develope hard points in localized areas that could damage the hull. The pool noodles work to a point. They need to be covered with carpet as they will act like sandpaper over time against the gell coat. I used them as padding for the tiedowns and noticed wear at the points the noodles were in contact after about 2 months. If not covered, they wear, become slippery and do not hold the boat in position on the trailer like carpet does. I have seen a boat shift and nearly come off while turning to back down the ramp and launch (the tiedowns were undone at the time).