Double Trailer Plans or ideas

There are also a couple of ideas in tips and tricks link off the Sunfish class website.

One major thing to keep in mind is what the original trailer is rated for. You are going to be more than doubling the load so the trailer really needs to rated for at an absolute minimum of 300 pounds and 400 pounds would be better.
 
I've attached a picture of our double trailer rig. The trailer is good to about 1200#, has 12" tires and the frame is 48" wide. I would not go much smaller for an A frame rig. We have used it for 3 years and have several thousand miles on it now Its not shown here, but the dollies ride on top with the center bars in the two notches up top. One rides wheels forward and one wheels aft.
 

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Depending on how handy you are there are several approaches. The minimum effort approach is to buy something. There are several sailboat shops that sell foam blocks that allow you to place one boat on top of another. I believe typically the bottom boat is rides on right side up and the top boat is upside down. The advantage of this simplified design is that you can still use the boat as a single boat trailer without the added bulk and weight.

We built upon that idea and made something out of wood that is placed between the boats. It also allows us to carry multiple sails. The design has served us VERY well for over 20 years and has been on multiple day drives from the northeast to the south for regattas without an issue.
 
derekcjackson said:
We built upon that idea and made something out of wood that is placed between the boats. It also allows us to carry multiple sails. The design has served us VERY well for over 20 years and has been on multiple day drives from the northeast to the south for regattas without an issue.


Could you post a picture or two of what you built?:)
 
I can echo Cindi's comments on getting boats onto rack trailers. In 1983 we had a rack trailer welded up that held 4 Lasers or Sunfish. You had really had to hold the boats on each side to walk them in once one or more boats were on the trailer. Then you had to do some juggling to get your hands around the uprights.

When it came time to build another two boat trailer, the A-frame was the obvious choice and I'm glad that we did it. Its easy to put the boats on, easy do do repairs to the bottom or just put on a coat of teflon polish.
 
I need to upgrade my trailer to a double or triple. Foxy's and Whithursts both look nice. I was thinking that Foxy's might be modified by eliminating the middle horizontal cross braces and the angle brace and widening the base so a 3rd sunfish could go in the normal position. Two additional angle braces would probably be needed on each side to prevent sifting forward and back.

Would this work? Anyone else have any good pics or trailer plans?
 
You could certainly modify our design, and probably would have to depending on what trailer you build it on. I had no plans to carry more than two boats, so kept the width narrow enough that the arms of the Sitec dollies will fit outside the pair of hulls.

You definitely need diagonal bracing so if not in the center like ours, it would have to be on each side. Jim Edwards made a trailer simalar to ours that fit 3 boats, but used a multihull trailer as the base so it would be wider and more stable. You may want to think about that in the trailer selection.
 
Good point about the width issue. I was thinking that a triple trailer set up might be good for the obvious, that I may have a 3rd Sunfish, but it seems that with an A frame design, you need at least two boats on it to trailer or it would be two heavy on one side. With a triple you could leave one in the middle. Is this the case?

If so, the other alternative would be to just unbolt the A frame portion only trailering one.

My trailer is way too heavy and overkill already. I bought it with one of the Sunfish, but I'm sure it is a motorboat trailer.
 

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Our trailer is fairly heavy. 1500 lb capacity 50" frame with 12" wheels. I have trailered with one boat several times and its not been a problem.

I also have a smaller lightweight trailer with 8" tires. I wouldn't even consider building a double rig on it.

I prefer heavy trailers myself as they don't bounce around so much and are easier on the boats.
 
It appears that you are using 2 X 6s.
4 for the A frame (about 5 feet?)
6 for the cross braces (2 X 5 feet? 2 X 4 feet? 2 X 3 feet?)
2 going longwise (about 6 feet?)
1 cross brace (?? feet)

Could it be done with 2 X 4s? If not, can you help with the dimensions?
 
Spamboat,
I was just over on the Sunfish Sailor forum and there is a posting for a used double trailer ready to go.

Here is a cut and paste of his name, posting text, and phone number.


Guys/Gals:

Anyone in Houston area? Off to Fla soon and only taking hull, spars and
mast of Sunfish. I have a double decker trailer I need to sell. $400 or
best offer.

Doug Snell
832-533-4506
dsnell4 at houston dot rr dot com
 
We ended up making a carriage to go on our trailer. This is very easy to put on and off, one person can do it. We fastened it to the trailer by 8 hose clamps. We haven't had too many problems with it. The whole thing is built out of 1" galvanized tubing, and threaded together. The boat is held up on 2 lines, one more toward the front and one more toward the stern. If for some reason one of them fails, we have supports in the middle of the hull, with carpet on them to protect it. To keep the boat from moving, we use a ratchet strap that goes between the splash rail, and the centerboard trunk. We strap the sails under the boats on the trailer bed with bungees. The good part about this way is, you have the trailer for the boats when you need it, but you can take that off and you have a perfectly good trailer. Also if you need to, we have put a third boat on the very top. This is the only picture of it I have. Normally they are upright on the trailer, but we had them like this for the winter, and when the ice storm hit several years ago. You can put both boats on with one person, but it is a lot easier with two.



We also built a dolly out of the tubing.
 

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We are working on building one for our two sunfish now. we bought an unasembled trailer kit from harbor frieght and are just making a frame for it.
we have about $500 into now and are almost done.
 

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