Laser trailer - new ideas

Pretty sweet! You seem to have support at the right areas. If I ever need a trailer, I might use yours for inspiration. Got a bottom cover though?
Kristian
94741
 
Kristian said:
Pretty sweet! You seem to have support at the right areas. If I ever need a trailer, I might use yours for inspiration. Got a bottom cover though?
Kristian
94741

Hi Kristian,

No, I don't have a bottom cover. Unlike a laser trailer from the Marine Cradle Shop which is just an open T-shape this trailer has a 4 1/2' x 8' flat base to protect the hull. That, in addition to mud flaps on both the trailer and my car are what I use to protect the bottom. My boat is a '78 with its share of scratches and scrapes that I use just for pleasure sailing. I suppose if I had a new boat that I used competitively a bottom cover would protect it even more.

Thanks for the kind comments, though. FYI this brand of trailer (www.snowbear.com) is made in Guelph, Ontario and since I bought mine at Costco a couple of years ago, I've seen similar versions at Home Depot and Walmart. The advantage of this particular trailer is that it comes with pockets on the side which can be used to bolt on home-made attachments to support whatever you want and those pockets happen to be the perfect width to go under the gunwhales of our lasers.

Take care,

Phil
 
Hi Phil,

Nice work, I think you said the supports are bolted on, but did you weld the top pieces to the supports ? What's the material and thickness ?

Also, it looks like the side supports are slightly aft of max beam, do you have to lift the hull over the supports to place it on the trailer - I've got the same 4x8 utility trailer, I currently have a box on top of the base and carry the boat upside down, but I want to convert it so that I can wheel the dolly up to the trailer and then either slide the dolly and boat up on the box, or just the boat on the box and have it sit in a similar support system, but I haven't worked around the fact that if the aft supports are behind max beam, you can't fit the hull between them
 
Looks great Phil!

I was just wondering though, what is the advantage of going with this trailer set-up as opposed to trailers made for Lasers. I was thinking maybe the cost, because Laser trailers can go from $450 almost to $700 for a nice galvanized one. It looks like you can also get a lot more storage room and could probobly strap your spars and blade bag on there too. Are these assumptions correct and how much does one of those 4'x8' trailers cost?
 
I bought my 4x8 folding trailer from Harbor Freight Tools for $270 w/ 12" wheels. As Phil pointed out, it's the ability to use the trailer for things other than hauling your laser around that makes that a good price.
 
49208 said:
Hi Phil,

Nice work, I think you said the supports are bolted on, but did you weld the top pieces to the supports ? What's the material and thickness ?

Also, it looks like the side supports are slightly aft of max beam, do you have to lift the hull over the supports to place it on the trailer - I've got the same 4x8 utility trailer, I currently have a box on top of the base and carry the boat upside down, but I want to convert it so that I can wheel the dolly up to the trailer and then either slide the dolly and boat up on the box, or just the boat on the box and have it sit in a similar support system, but I haven't worked around the fact that if the aft supports are behind max beam, you can't fit the hull between them

Hi 49208,

I made a padded roller which slots into the rear of the trailer the same way as the rear panel slots in - this allows me to back down a launch ramp, lift off the two side supports just like a marine cradle shop trailer and rest the boat on this roller, then stand on the trailer platform and push the boat into the water. In this way it doesnt matter if the supports are a bit aft of the maximum beam as you only slot the t-shaped pieces into their bases after the boat is rolled onto the trailer and the bow is placed on the front support. I used to have a "real" laser trailer and used the same materials (3/4" steel rod with a 3/4" inside diameter plastic pipe covering) to create the supports for this one and just created appropriate sized bases to be able to bolt it to this trailer.

Hope this helps
 
macwas16 said:
Looks great Phil!

I was just wondering though, what is the advantage of going with this trailer set-up as opposed to trailers made for Lasers. I was thinking maybe the cost, because Laser trailers can go from $450 almost to $700 for a nice galvanized one. It looks like you can also get a lot more storage room and could probobly strap your spars and blade bag on there too. Are these assumptions correct and how much does one of those 4'x8' trailers cost?

Hi Mackenzie,

I used to have a dedicated laser trailer and was looking for a way to convert it so that I could make it into a small utility trailer out of it so that I could move the odd thing from time to time. I had actually drawn up a set of plans and had gotten an estimate to weld a few bits to the trailer when I spotted this versatile trailer (the sides are removable and it tilts) at Costco. I then realized I could easily convert this utility trailer to carry the laser and my kayak much easier than converting my laser trailer into a utility trailer. I believe I paid around $750 brand new in 2001. I've since seen a slightly fancier version at Home Depot (I think around $900) and a version without the sides at Walmart and Canadian Tire for around $600.

The bottom line is that for the around the same price as a Laser trailer you get a laser trailer AND a utility trailer for the same price.

Hope this helps,

Phil
 
thanx phil

you have some great ideas they will be useful-im sure i was thinking of doing something like that myself

:D i have a '78 laser too bought it in 2003 (silver anniversary, 25 years old)
 
This may bring up a whole new discussion, but you may want to be careful with not leaving your boat on a bunk trailer permanantly as it may weaken the hull.
 
I bought my utility trailer from Harbor Freight
4x8 bed w/ 12" wheels


You can get a pretty good idea how to mount a "box" on top of the utility trailer here:
JDE's trailer

If you like the Harbor Freight boat trailer, it looks like it could be used to carry the boat upside down, by moving the supports and adding another one forward. I wouldn't recommend transporting or storing with the deck up on that trailer with the existing supports.
 
49208 said:
I bought my utility trailer from Harbor Freight
4x8 bed w/ 12" wheels


You can get a pretty good idea how to mount a "box" on top of the utility trailer here:
JDE's trailer

If you like the Harbor Freight boat trailer, it looks like it could be used to carry the boat upside down, by moving the supports and adding another one forward. I wouldn't recommend transporting or storing with the deck up on that trailer with the existing supports.

Greg,
Could you explain that a little more? I am a real newbie to lasers and I don't get why you couldn't transport deck up on the Harbor Freight trailer.
Ralph
 
Thanks for the info everyone - is there any risk transporting the Laser deck down? If I wanted to transport deck up, where would the under gunnel supports need to be?

ralfeez said:
Greg,
Could you explain that a little more? I am a real newbie to lasers and I don't get why you couldn't transport deck up on the Harbor Freight trailer.
Ralph
 
I found a new site to host my pictures - hopefully this new link to my laser trailer pictures will work

trailer_with_laser_1.jpg

trailer_with_laser_2.jpg

trailer_with_laser_4_.jpg

trailer_with_laser_mods_1.jpg

trailer_with_laser_mods_2.jpg

trailer_with_laser_mods_3.jpg

trailer_1.jpg

trailer_2.jpg

trailer_with_kayak.jpg
 
ralfeez said:
Greg,
Could you explain that a little more? I am a real newbie to lasers and I don't get why you couldn't transport deck up on the Harbor Freight trailer.
Ralph


Ralph,

The bottom of the Laser does not have enough "stiffness" in it to ride in a trailer without resorting to custom bunks that mimic the hull shape. A normal 2x4 on edge bunk (the type shown in the harbor frieght boat trailer) ends up putting too much load in too small an area on the bottom, and then factor in the additional load that occurs when the trailer bounces around due to rough roads, and you can end up creating stress cracks in the fiberglass laminate and gel coat, which lead to a very soft bottom (one that easily flexes in waves)

There's a little more info in trailering here
drLaser faq on trailers
 

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