BYYB Forums

Hello,
Well it's about time to actually take my boat to the water. I made the mistake of buying an extremly solid trailer that is just much more then my boat needs. I've been cruising the used trailer listings with no success. I'm considering buying this trailer...
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/di...umber=5002

and upgrading to 12 inch tires. Of course I don't make a move without tapping the collective wisdom here first. Has anyone ever tried this trailer? Any advice on alternatives?
Best Regards
Mike

Oh yeah, I should have mentioned it's for a Weekender!

Mike, I don't have any experience with this trailer but, I did just put my Weekender on the trailer a few weeks ago. The Trailer I have was built for a 14 - 17' boat and is rated at 1500#. I am glad I went with this model. It seems to be about right. I did consider the size you are looking at. In my opinion it is a little small. You would be pushing the 600# limit with a Weekender loaded with gear.

Of course like I said , this is just an opinion. Maybe someone who owns this trailer will comment

joel

I bought the harbor freight large fold up utility trailer and built onto it for carrying my wing dhingy around. It's ok, but if I had a weekender, I'd go for a more non-kit-non-china-made trailer.
The harbor freight trailers come from china, and do not scream 'quality' by any means. However, mine gets the job done and I haven't had any problems with it yet.

I am also in the market for a boat trailer so your post caught my attention. I googled "Harbor Freight Boat Trailer" and got some interesting links. These two fall in the plus or minus category:

http://www.shortypen.com/essays/trailers/

http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3346

My problem is I have a lot of time and materials invested in my little boat and I would hate to watch it do the cha-cha through my rear view mirror. My point being I need to have confidence in the trailer. Lacking someone on the board giving the HF trailer the thumbs up I would not use one myself.

Those HF trailers are very flimsy and use mild steel fasteners, which rust quickly if fresh water and at the pure mentioning of salt water. I'm not sure what the springs are rated at, but you can usually increase payload with larger tires (to a point). A fully dressed Weekender with outboard, fuel tank, anchor(s), batteries, cooler full of beer and other assorted boat stuff can trip the scales over 750 pounds. So, you'd be pushing the limit with the HF trailer.

This said, you could upgrade axles, wheels, add a couple more braces and weld all the pieces, maybe "boxing" potions of the frame (instead of bolting). This would produce a stiffer trailer, that could handle more load. The finish could be painted, but if salt water is in the picture, all the fasteners should be replaced with stainless.

In most every major cities near water, you'll find a trailer rebuilder. They sell new and reconditioned trailers. New bearings, lights, wheels, etc., but the frames are cleaned up (and fixed when necessary) used ones. These can be had around 50% of new.

Actually, I have been pretty happy with both my Harbor Freight folding utility trailer and my Harbor Freight boat trailer. I have owned the utility trailer longer and did have had to change the bearings but that is about it.

I have my 12' Little Gem on the harbor freight boat trailer and it works great. Sits a bit higher off the ground but the trailer tounge is really long. In fact, the first time I launched with it I was not anticipating the boat floating off as soon as it did so ended up diving in the water and swimming after my boat!!! I think the trailer would be more than up to the task of a 16' weekender given the length of the tounge. I found the construction to be robust (no flex in the frame) and the bolts to be sturdy. The painted frame will require inspection over the years though.

Only modifications I have made was to add a trailer jack (used one from my big-boat trailer). One modification that is planned is to replace the bunks and horrible brackets that came with the trailer. I plan on making new brackets that will accomodate the 2X4 so their long edge was horizontal. This way the boards would take the curve of the bottom of my boat. Unless the trailer is custom made for the boat, tailering the bunks is something you would have to do on any trailer you purchase.

A couple of pictures:





The last picture is from the Useppa Island catboat gathering which was a 7 hour drive. Trailer handled it fine and the hubs were cool to the touch when I got there.

Hey Scott,
With the utility trailer, how often did you grease those bearings?
Or did they wear out even with a lot of grease?

I didn't grease them that often which I think contributed to the problem. The newer trailers they are selling have much better grease fittings you can reach with a gun to make the process easier.