Has anyone used a trailer dolly?

Saltydog87

Active Member
I’ve been able to get my boat in and out of the water from my trailer without too much trouble at a local lake, but the ramp to the beach launch is a bit steep - not too bad to carefully guide the trailer down, but a bear to get it back up, with only the trailer neck to hold on to.
Have been eyeing up a separate dolly for the boat itself, but they seem a bit pricey at ~$500. Trailer dollies can be found for much less ~$65-75.

Has anyone used one of these before? I’m tempted to hope this may be a viable solution for me by effectively adding a handle to maneuver my trailer, though I understand a boat dolly may be overall lighter. Trying to avoid some potential buyer’s remorse.

 
I would get a dolly. Was at a regatta and a person had a standard trailer with the normal rear boat supports lowered and a roller at the back of the trailer. The dolly axle would set on the supports. They pulled in to the regatta with the boat on the dolly which was on the trailer. They unloaded in the lot and were launched easily. Semi right on trailer
 
I would get a dolly. Was at a regatta and a person had a standard trailer with the normal rear boat supports lowered and a roller at the back of the trailer. The dolly axle would set on the supports. They pulled in to the regatta with the boat on the dolly which was on the trailer. They unloaded in the lot and were launched easily. Semi right on trailer

Charles, could you specify which kind of dolly you meant? We’re you writing about a full boat dolly?
 
For context, this is my trailer. Not super heavy, and has the nice winch to help get the boat up on it when doing so single-handed. They being said, it is probably a bit heavier than a steel boat dolly and probably a fair amount heavier than a PVC boat dolly.

The other consideration I had for the trailer dolly though is it’s small footprint - I could probably easily put it in the back of my Subaru Outback.
 

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Yes, as long as there is not much slope. I filmed the video while pulling the trailer one handed.

Your other option is to get a Dynamic Dolly for Sunfish, and with a few modifications to your road trailer your Sunfish could ride on the Dynamic Dolly, on top of the road trailer.

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Thanks for all the insight!

For the price, it seems like it will be worthwhile for me to try the trailer dolly, but consider the full boat dolly as a future upgrade. Thankfully I’m still young and strong! :)
 
The trailer dolly works well on the flat. The HF and the others are powder coated and not very well. The metal underneath is not prepped well. Just means every year you will need to clear off the paint that is pealing and put some rustolum on to slow the progression of rust.

I think you will find the heavier trailer and a steep ramp plus the boat to be harder to pull up or worse if you loose control it will go in fully. At my club we have a ramp with a fairly steep angle. We use Seitech dolly's where are real light and it can be a chore getting the boats out. There are special strips for your feet to catch. If the ramp is slippery you are not going to have much luck. The HF dolly does make moving the trailer MUCH easier in all cases and you want one no matter what.

A Seitech dolly does make life easier but they are pricey so keep watch locally for a used one.

That being said, check the ball size that comes with it. I think it is 2" but I also have one with under 2" and it pops off my 2" hitches if I am not careful.
 
Yay, you are young and strong! Our Pro Tip is that if you like to trick other people into going sailing, then get a dolly as soon as possible, as many never return after helping carry a boat around for any distance :) Kind of like getting volunteers to help sand.

If you find money for a Dynamic Dolly, drop us a message. We can get one to you with free shipping. They run $545 with the standard wheels, we like them so much that we own 6. They hold up well, there is great customer service and one thing we like vs Seitech was the there are tubes in the tires. Seitech is a great dolly as well, we owned several used but sold them off when we started our Dynamic fleet.

Here's a little rig we tried out, it worked well.

dolly on trailer.jpg
 
I use a trailer dolly, for maneuverability getting in and out of a storage unit.
Works great.
Unless you figure out how to motorize it…probably not much help pulling up an incline.
 
I use a trailer dolly, for maneuverability getting in and out of a storage unit.
Works great.
Unless you figure out how to motorize it…probably not much help pulling up an incline.

Yeah…I’m hoping at the least it would give me a padded handle to grip. So far I’ve been able to get it up the incline but with help - one person pushing and the other person guiding the trailer tongue. Getting it down the incline by controlling the tongue has been no problem…just not super comfortable bent over. There’s just not much to grab on the tongue to pull.
Thankfully it is a dry blacktop slope with a landing halfway down to a beach, so plenty of friction to grip my feet.
 
I have owned a HF trailer dolly for over 10 years and use it all the time. The only thing I did was to replace the always flat tubeless tires to hard foam tires. I leave it outside most of the time. Has a little rust but the paint has held up great. If there is an incline, you will need to muscle up the boat, trailer and dolly. A full boat dolly like Dynamic would be lighter.
 
Is a trailer dolly that much more helpful than just using a trailer jack with a wheel? I added a trailer jack to my trailer after building a box similar to Tags A-frame setup.

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I used pressure treated 2x6's rather than regular 2x6's and the difference in weight is pretty amazing. I'm hoping the pressure treated lumber will dry out eventually so the weight goes down.
 
Is a trailer dolly that much more helpful than just using a trailer jack with a wheel? I added a trailer jack to my trailer after building a box similar to Tags A-frame

I’ll likely be trying a trailer dolly this season, so I’ll let you know! I have a jack wheel on my current trailer and found that although it rolled well, I had nothing to grab on to, except the winch (which has pointy spikes!) or the tongue (also hard to grab, and bent over uncomfortably). I’m anticipating the biggest difference will be having a padded handle to hold on to, better ergonomics, better movement on sand with two larger wheels…? I dunno yet, but I’ll try to update later with my experience.

I think I will still like the jack for transferring to my vehicle hitch.
 
Well…unfortunately, I won’t be able to post feedback on using a trailer dolly up an incline. The good news is that I wound up finding a good deal on a dynamic dolly! With a good deal on one of those, it seemed like a no-brainer, because it will be at least 100 lbs less weight I’d be pulling around.
Appreciate all the tips and feedback - helped make this a more sure decision!
 
Danpal it depends on the surface. Concrete no problem for the trailer jack. Any other surface the jack wheel can dig in.

The wheels on our trailer jacks all seem uncomfortably close to our toes, not an issue with the trailer dolly.
 
Finally picked up my Dynamic Dolly and took it for a spin! Game changer! So light and easy to maneuver around. No troubles with the incline or decline to the water.
They may be pricey, but worth every penny.
 
If you have a trailer that you will manually move around get the dolly.

While these small trailers can be picked up by the tongue and moved, it is SO much easier with the dolly.

I have the HF one, well two of them. Bought one new and the other for $10.

I sprayed the steel rims with some grease stuff to keep them from rusting. The powder coat they use is not very good. Monitor it, peel up any that comes loose and spray it with rustoleum. On my third year doing that to mine. Oh and bolts can get loose so watch that.
 
I bought a Dynamic dolly with the new Sunfish and it definitely makes it incredibly easy to move the boat around and launch. It took two of us to pull it up our hill though. I learned one lesson take it dow the hill stern first. The first time I did it I almost got run over.

I can back my car down the slope. I’m thinking about finding an easy way to attach the dolly to my hitch and slowly pull up the hill to flat ground.
 
I’ve been able to get my boat in and out of the water from my trailer without too much trouble at a local lake, but the ramp to the beach launch is a bit steep - not too bad to carefully guide the trailer down, but a bear to get it back up, with only the trailer neck to hold on to.
Have been eyeing up a separate dolly for the boat itself, but they seem a bit pricey at ~$500. Trailer dollies can be found for much less ~$65-75.

Has anyone used one of these before? I’m tempted to hope this may be a viable solution for me by effectively adding a handle to maneuver my trailer, though I understand a boat dolly may be overall lighter. Trying to avoid some potential buyer’s remorse.

Not a dolly, but there's a 12v motorized front "jockey wheel" for a trailer available from EGO Trailer for $179. (Shipping is double that!) :eek:

Specifications for the "Striker" model show it moves a trailer at 11 meters per minute--including up a gradient of 5°-- forward and reverse.--automatic braking.

Presently at Aliexpress, but maybe it'll show up at Amazon at the original selling price?
 
I bought a Dynamic dolly with the new Sunfish and it definitely makes it incredibly easy to move the boat around and launch. It took two of us to pull it up our hill though. I learned one lesson take it dow the hill stern first. The first time I did it I almost got run over.

I can back my car down the slope. I’m thinking about finding an easy way to attach the dolly to my hitch and slowly pull up the hill to flat ground.
Funny. I lower mine down the bank stern 1st. Working alone I tied a concrete block to bow and a control line for me which helped control speed. Hill is steep
 
I did figure an easy way to pull up the hill with my car. I slowly walk it down (stern first). I keep it covered and chained to end of dock. When I need to get it back up the hill I have a rope loop tied to front of dolly. It slips over hitch and I slowly drive up hill. Once at top on level ground, I disconnect and pull it into garage.
 
Dynamic sells a hitch adapter that attaches to the front of the dolly.

We have also used a loop of line around the Dynamic handle an looped that over the hitch on the lawnmower.

And we had a dedicated line with a clip to tow dollies around

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I looked and couldn’t find a trailer hitch adapter for the dolly at Dynamic Dollies. Do you have any info? Thanks.
 
This has been discussed before. My solution was to get two wheelbarrow wheels, 1/2” galvanized x36” long shaft and build from wood bits. Transport with the dolly inverted in the DB trunk. Slide the boat onto grass or the beach and roll it on edge. Insert the dolly into the trunk and use the bow handle to move and maneuver. I transport in an S10 pick up truck. I push the transom in first, lift the bow and the dolly falls out. Invert the dolly into the trunk top. Slide the mast and spars into the truck bed and tie to the bow handle.
 

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