I'm shopping for a trailer.

[Swamp Girl]

As many of you know, I fish from a solo Kevlar canoe. It's 15' 6" and only weighs 32 pounds. Still, it feels heavier every year, so I'm shopping for a lightweight trailer so I don't have to lift the canoe onto the car and take it off the car. I likely won't back it into the water, but simply pull the canoe off the trailer and drag it to the water.

 

I like this one. I would have to buy it with a longer tongue given the length of my canoe and I'd upgrade the tires to the biggest size:

 

[A-Jay]

I purchased this trailer for my Old Town in 2008.

The bare hull weighs 120 lbs and is just under 16 ft long.

It's been very good.

Replaced the tires, trailer lighting & fenders a few years ago.

Unfortunately the price has just about doubled since then but it's still a decent unit

 

http://www.castlecraft.com/canoe_trailer.htm

 

A-Jay

[airshot]

Find a decent used trailer and modify it to fit your own needs, then it will be just what you want/ need...

[Swamp Girl]

Thanks, @A-Jay. I like yours more than the one I was considering. 

[MN Fisher]

What I did for my old canoe was get an Ironton PWC trailer from Northern Tool for about $600 - then replaced the 5' fore-end with a 10' piece I got from the local metal shop. One roller mounted near the front and I was all set.

[flyfisher]

I went with a rack on wheels kind of deal from sportsrig, similar ones from yakima and other companies also exist.  They are designed for lower weight of kayaks and won't bounce all around the road and allow for highway speeds without having to upgrade this or that or whatever.  Mine has been used heavily for 6+ years and only thing I have had to do was rewire it and redo the lights last year.  More pricey, but totally worth it to me, especially since I take my kayak 4-5 times a year on longer road trips of 300+ miles on the highway.

[Boomstick]

I would think a trailer like what’s pictured should be good just make sure it doesn’t weigh too much. Some

of them run heavy which makes it hard to function as a hand cart.

 

I have a Yakima Rack and Roll trailer and that’s a 150lbs and works well but a lighter one would be easier

[Swamp Girl]

11 minutes ago, Boomstick said:

I would think a trailer like what’s pictured should be good just make sure it doesn’t weigh too much. Some

of them run heavy which makes it hard to function as a hand cart.

 

I have a Yakima Rack and Roll trailer and that’s a 150lbs and works well but a lighter one would be easier

 

I didn't think about using it as a hand cart. Thanks for the reminder.

[ElGuapo928]

There’s a guy I see at the ramp quite a bit has a really slick aluminum trailer for his canoe. All engine turned finish and even has a set of handlebars that stick up from the tongue between the coupler and bow stop. Next time I see it I’ll try and get the name off of it.

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, ElGuapo928 said:

There’s a guy I see at the ramp quite a bit has a really slick aluminum trailer for his canoe. All engine turned finish and even has a set of handlebars that stick up from the tongue between the coupler and bow stop. Next time I see it I’ll try and get the name off of it.

 

I'd appreciate that.

[Boomstick]

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I didn't think about using it as a hand cart. Thanks for the reminder.

Yeah I didn’t bother with landing gear, I wheel my trailer to the water and take my kayak off and I’m good. It’s a nice secondary feature.

 

I wanted to go with a Harbor Freight trailer and modify it to my needs but the cheapest utility trailer I could get during the pandemic was going to run me almost $1500 so I got the purpose trailer but in retrospect that did me a huge favor.

[ElGuapo928]

On 11/12/2023 at 11:07 AM, ol'crickety said:

 

I'd appreciate that.

Has “Trailex” stickers on the tongue…..don’t know if that’s the manufacturer or dealer, but hopefully helpful.

[MN Fisher]

4 minutes ago, ElGuapo928 said:

Has “Trailex” stickers on the tongue…..don’t know if that’s the manufacturer or dealer, but hopefully helpful.

Trailex is a manufacturer of a wide range of trailers.

https://www.trailex.com/products/pc/home.asp

[Way2slow]

I have a 17' Stratos I was going to restore but decided to scrap it.  However, the trailer under it might be a little bit over kill for what you are wanting.  I was considering just taking the axle out and put under my single axle utility trailer (I made from another boat a scraped) and making it a tandem axle.

 

[Bankc]

18 hours ago, Way2slow said:

I have a 17' Stratos I was going to restore but decided to scrap it.  However, the trailer under it might be a little bit over kill for what you are wanting.  I was considering just taking the axle out and put under my single axle utility trailer (I made from another boat a scraped) and making it a tandem axle.

 

A lot of people do this.  Find an old boat or jet ski for free or next to nothing and toss the boat and refurbish the trailer to suit their needs.  It can be a lot cheaper, if a bit more work.  But make sure you have a good plan to get rid of the old boat, as sometimes they can be very expensive to dump.  Though, if you can strip any salvageable parts, you might be able to make up for some of the fee to dump the boat.

 

Though I'm thinking that up in Maine, that might not be so easy to do.  

[Way2slow]

The first one was about 10 years ago, I cut up into small enough pieces with a chain saw to throw them in a dumpster because I couldn't find a source for disposing of it.   This one was about to meet the same fate until I got curious and called the counties land fill. and supposedly they are taking them for $35.  Guess where this one is going.  

As for saving parts, that ain't gonna happen.  I'm about to start tossing thousands of dollars' worth of stuff I have accumulated by saving parts.  It's all going.  A half dozen motors will get sold for scrap metal, everything what's not scrap metal, cowlings and at that stuff will go to the dump.  I don't even want to mess with trying to sell it.  I'm going to call a friend that still works on them and see if he wants any of it first, then toss all of what he doesn't want.  There's a couple thousand dollars worth of just carburetors. 

After 55 years of being married to the same women, she hits me  saying she has found a new younger guy and wants the big D.  Can't convince her it one of those Catfishing scams/cons.