Hi guys,

I am looking at building/getting built a trailer for the sailboard gear. I have some ideas in my head using a new 8 x 5 box trailer as a base.

I am after any suggestions or advice as to build shape, internal layout for gear etc.

I know there was a previous thread showing several different ones but I cant find it as yet.

Either way, I am looking for info from guys that have them as to your preferred set up, things that you'd like to change or improve etc.

I want to try to get it right. I want to be able to carry around 4 -5 board between a few of us but generally it would only be 3 or 4.

I would obviously have to extend over the front of an 8 foot trailer to get the length for boards and mast sections.

Trying to work out whether starting with a box is a good idea or go for a custom job.

Any ideas and picks appreciated.

CHEERS,
Ello

Hi Ello. I am part way through building a custom trailer where I have made it to suit my requirements. I originally started out wanting to modify a 6x4 trailer I already had, but figured out it would take as much work to modify as building one from scratch so the 6x4 has stayed as is.

As I get closer to finishing it I sort of wished that I had started with a box trailer anyway. With my layout the sails slide into a section that's 1.2m x 24cm x 2.8m, which is the bit that runs lengthways between the wheels.

The boards are then meant to sit on top of this section, giving me a space that's 1.7m x 35cm x 2.8m, which means I can fit two layers of boards stacked on top of each other, and two or three boards side by side (i.e. 4 to 6 boards in total). In theory I can fit a formula board or two and two other boards as well.

The next stage was to have a lid that goes on it and it has racks built in so that I can tie down some more boards if needed.

I think if I understood how much work was in what I have now, I would have ignored the rounded front and all the other details, and just put a platform on top of an existing box trailer. The sails would go underneath and then have a larger box that goes over the top of the wheel arches to carry the boards.

Do a search on the windsurfing/general forum for trailers over the last year. I am sure they are there somewhere.

I built a steel frame box clad with sheeting with 4 shelves inside and mounted this on top of a boat trailer.This traveled many thousands of km with me untill recently when I purchased a van.The new owner is very happy with this set up.The total cost of this was about $600.If you are interested in any details of this give me a shout as I do have some photos and are able to get details of it still.

I've modified a 6 by 4 box trailer. There's a picture on my seabreeze page. The draw bar was extended and the canopy made of plywood. Its cross section is shaped to fit behind a station wagon. The theory was it would aid fuel economy, but it still uses a lot of with it in tow, so don't worry too much about that. Tried all the options for maximising the number of boards. Side doors and sideloading interleaved racks etc - all to fiddly. Ended up with 4 shelves and a rear door. To maximise board capacity make the shelves with 250mm separation - sliding is much easier than racking - Stuff the sails etc in the spare room beside the boards.

Box trailers are way over-engineered for the job but they are cheap. I took a out a leaf spring and run the tyres soft.

Maybe making something based on a lightweight dinghy trailer would do a better job.

I've put some notes of the trailer I made at

www.scribd.com/document/14248659/windsurfer-trailer

I can't find the mega thread on trailers either, must have been over a year ago

What I reckon (short version, sans step by step instructions)

If you can weld, go to a sign maker and get loads of used 1" hollow square section steel, preferably galv, for the frame. The big saving if going to a signmaker is getting used sheets for the cladding: called sign white sheets (0.8mm colourbond). Peel the stickers off the old stuff and it may not even need painting.

If you are a useless handyman (no insult intended) and wanna do it the slightly more expensive yet really easy way:
Go to an aluminium extrusion place, they'll have aluminum hollow square and you can get plastic T-pieces to join it- they go inside the tube. You cut the alloy with a hacksaw, doesn't even need to be cut square, and you click it all together with the the plastic joiners! Then just glue on your sheeting (signwhite) with Sikaflex (even liquid nails will do it fine) and you have made it with no screws no bolts no welding, only a $5 hacksaw and $5 caulking gun. Well until you wanna put a door in it.... you may need to tek screw 2 hinges on.
Drop the unit on top of a trailer, done.

not sure if this helps, but you can use google for searching seabreeze. eg:
www.google.com.au/search?&q=site:seabreeze.com.au+inurl:forums+trailer+windsurfing

this maybe the one your looking for www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=40411 or heres another link http://quebecwind.com/index.php?showtopic=1006 , theres about 6 pages thats if you have time to waite for them to open

I too used a 6x4 box trailer as the starting point. As I wanted maximum flexibility, I built an entire welded tubular frame that drops in / drops out of the trailer. (The trailer has flip-down front as well as rear tailgate making this possible. I have two welded tubular frames that straddle the trailer/box, and with a basic block and tackle, I lift the box out of the trailer and leave it suspended in mid-air while I use the trailer to cart junk, pickup landscaping stuff etc.

To further the usefulness, the 8 internal crossbeams upon which the boards sit simply slot in/slot out. By removing the windsurfing gear and the 8 cross beams, I have an enclosed 1200 x 1200 tunnel, 3m long and great for moving house with.

The box has a taper at the front to improve aerodynamics. It adds 2l/100km to the fuel consumption on a long highway trip. It has a single rear door for access. Sails across the floor, three racks taken up with boards and the 4th rack taken up with booms and masts.

If you interested, give me an yell and I'll upload some photographs. Eckas.

Please show us the photos Eckas, I need to similar to mine!

Hi Ellobuddha and Evets.

Pics here....Eckas

great stuff eckas, tell me how much bogg did you use to render it , personally i liked the original with the ventilation, if you have heaps of moisture with salt your trailer will rust out in no time ,

Keef,

Bog to render it? Not sure I understand the question or the jibe. The Mk I version was made of 12mm ply and was frameless. From a corrosion perspective, great. However, not enough torsional resistance at the back end of the box and it rattled, twisted and wobbled itself to death (it did, though, make a 1000km return journey to the gold coast before it met it's maker). Yes, it did have the two white vents but I suspect that Mk II has better ventilation along its entire length courtesy of the not sealing the sheet ends and allowing the gaps created by the corrugations to remain open.

Mk II - frame is painted in zinc rich paint and is welded to a perfect seal so it can only corrode from the outside-in. Typically I only carry 1 wet sail, boom and board home from a session, which are removed and allowed to dry properly outside the trailer. Time will tell how long it lasts. Like immortal superheroes - life is no fun if it lasts forever!! It's also better than corroding out the car.

When I do eventually replace the trailer, I would get a slighyly longer drawbar - perhaps a foot or so. While it trails OK now, if it gets up a wobble, it takes a fair while for it to subside.

Eckas

Hi,

Not sure if a trailer is the answer. I think I may have the ultimate solution:



more photos of the box and van in the classifieds:
[www.seabreeze.com.au/Classifieds/Miscellaneous//~rhfbp/2000-Mercedes-Vito-Van.aspx?search=9Z70W96mm8Tj6Adu%2fIocIQ%3d%3d]

Its for sale but you could probably build the same kind of thing onto a trailer.

Just an idea

For anyone still interested in the final chapter on my windsurfing trailer, here is the promised photos of the lift in/lift out windsurfing box removed from the trailer, suspended in mid air by lifting frames and pulleys, about to be reunited with the trailer in anticipation of a bit of breeze tomorrow.

Not too water proof using corrugated sheeting but as I said 0.55mm signwhite can be obtained cheap or free.....

Here are a few pics of the trailer I designed and helped my boat-builder brother-in-law build. It started out as an aluminium box in an old 8x5 trailer until we upgraded to a galvanised steel chassis and landcruiser wheels. Make sure you have a door up the front as well as at the back.
















More info on my web page (which is currently updating): http://web.mac.com/mart_hill/old_home/Trailer.html

hey Martin,nice trailer but i like the collection of tiga's more.3 in my trailer at the moment.

Select to expand quote

pirrad said...

hey Martin,nice trailer but i like the collection of tiga's more.3 in my trailer at the moment.

My wife and I have been Tiga people from waaaay back! Mind you, I have to admit that my latest board is a reasonably recent JP Wave board.

-Mart