Boat Trailer vs Roof Rack

Several trailers with leafspring
suspension that are soft and suitable for kayaks/canoes are made by Trailex. I own one of them, the SUT-350-M2 trailer. It is rated to a payload of 350 lbs max. The leafspring suspension is, indeed, quite soft. Softer than the flavor of Tor-flex suspension that was on our old modified snowmobile trailer. Both trailers carried glass sea kayaks many, many times without any harm to the boats.



With the very long effective wheelbase created by putting the trailer’s axle far in back, the ride is smooth and towing easy.



Bucking/bouncing is as much a function of wheelbase as it is of suspension softness.

Sportsrig was on the market for years…
before Yakima came out with their trailer. Either of these trailers is a better solution than any others I have seen.

Trailer loading height varies
The height to load onto our old snowmobile trailer was low. The height to load to our Trailex kayak trailer is a little higher but still manageable even for 5’3" me.



Some have more adjustments possible in the crossbars and risers than others. Some allow carrying other gear besides boats. Payload varies a lot. Make sure that the size of coupler and ball that comes with the trailer suits you and your tow rig’s set-up. You can make some alterations after the fact, but it’s best to know beforehand what’s involved.



Do lots of research before deciding what to buy, or even if to buy.



We LOVE carrying the boats with a trailer instead of rooftopping. There are a few disadvantages, but to us they are greatly outweighed by the benefits. YMMV.

Sportsrig wheels
The wheels on a Sportsrig trailer are motorcycle type, I would have to look to be sure, but they are 18" or 19" diameter. The bearings are sealed and don’t require frequent greasing.

Trailer parking
Finding a place to park a trailer does require creative thinking. Since my Sportsrig is lightweight, I often detach it from the car and then push the trailer and boat(s) into a separate parking spot, or even put it off pavement in the grass or whatnot. I also use the trailer like a cart to deliver the boat by hand to water’s edge.

Who stole whose design?
What I heard (no verification other than the sequence of going to market) is that a designer from SportsRig left to start Rack-n-Roll. Whether that designer stole the design is beyond my knowledge.

Watch me haul one kayak on Sportsrig
If you ever get to West Palm Beach give me a holler and we’ll go paddling. That way in your 60 plus years of paddling you will have seen two trailers hauling only one kayak. Or maybe two if you need me to bring an extra boat for you to use.

Sportsrig has shocks and springs
The load limit is 250 lbs. so your boats are not subjected to undue shock. The use of motorcycle type wheels and a swing arm suspended with motorcycle springs and shocks make this possible.

“Frequent” greasing is twice per year
A minute or two each time. Hardly a factor in the decision.



If I trailered 50K miles per year, then I’d need to grease them more often. Still not much effort, time, or cost involved. It’s all DIY if you have the Bearing Buddies or similar system.



If you need a folding trailer, that’s a different factor entirely that has nothing to do with the couple minutes of maintenance time difference.

experience
"However, I don’t think I exaggerate my personal and objective experience by saying that, in more than 60 years of boating with thousands of paddlers, I can only recall one person who used a trailer to tote a lone kayak. "



We can say the same about personal computer vs mainframe computers! When the first PC came out, “experience” would have told you that in 20 years of computing history, most people used mainframe computers!



Trails were initially build for hauling multiple boats so existing ones don’t do well hauling light load of 1 single kayak. But there’re now trailers specifically designed to haul 1 or 2 kayaks on the market. I haven’t heard much negative from their owners.



More over, most people don’t have the “experience” of pulling a trailer behind their car. So they go for the “familiar” of car topping! How many threads do you see on Pnet on “how to load a heavy boat solo”? If that’s not a drawback of car topping, I don’t know what is. Whether trailering trade the loading problem only to have other disadvantages, is what the OP was seeking information on, from first hand experience of those owning trailers.



The OP got enough useful replies from trailer owners. That’s what really matters.

yeah, that’s why I mentioned it…

– Last Updated: Dec-31-12 4:41 PM EST –

... earlier parts of the discussion as being the type of trailer that would work well, as far as ride quality goes. It's also why the post you made the reply to only dealt with cheap kit trailers and "standard" trailers.

“Drawback” versus inexperience
All the questions about how to load a heavy boat onto the roof do NOT indicate a drawback of cartopping. They only indicate that most people simply can’t figure out how to do things the easy way, or how to build or modify their racks. I loaded an aluminum jonboat on top of a full size van so many times when I was a teenager, and back then I weighed 130 pounds and was NOT at all strong. That boat was far heavier and more awkward to handle than any kayak that was ever made, but it was easy because the method used was sensible. Loading it onto a full-size van was a bit harder than loading onto something like a station wagon (again, both vehicles had proper rack modifications), but even loading onto something like a station wagon is actually EASIER with that kind of boat (or a canoe) than loading onto something down around waist-high.

Wheel Bearings and Failures
From what I can tell, wheel-bearing failures usually involve neglected trailers, especially the neglected ones that also have their axles submerged in water at times, as is the case for normal boat trailers. I’ve met a lot of people who tow various kinds of trailers, but still haven’t met someone who’s had a wheel-bearing failure. Anyone who’s mileage is not extreme, or who comes even close to following Pikabike’s advice if their mileage is high, shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

And how much of the “drawback” of traile
… is also due to inexperience?


What drawbacks?

– Last Updated: Dec-31-12 5:26 PM EST –

That would depend who you talk to so one might know what "drawbacks" you are even talking about. Since your reply is directly to me, maybe I need to clarify for you that I never said anything against trailers in general. None of the specific negative issues I've mentioned have anything to do with trailers as a whole, and all can be avoided by making different choices (except for the example of trying to turn around on a narrow dirt path, and except for the fact that a good trailer costs many times more than a good roof rack), so I think you might be looking to argue against a point that I never made.

Maybe you were talking about the loading-height issue? Well, it's true. If you have a canoe on your shoulders, it's a lot harder to squat way down to set one end on a low rack than it is to simply step out from beneath it after setting one end on a roof rack, especially if it's a heavy boat. Also, it's also a lot harder to roll it off your shoulders and into your hands to set on a low rack than to simply set one end on a roof rack. It's not that low-loading is THAT bad, but it is harder, so I only mentioned that in response to all the folks who think that low-loading is universally easier. That "universal truth" isn't the case for all kinds of boats.

Its been a good discussion
but did we lost the OP…did I miss what sort of hatchback is involved?



trailering COULD make more sense in the case of odd rooflines or the hatch banging against the boat and not being able to be fully opened.



We all have our systems and have shared what works for us. But I daresay none of us have experiences with all cars.



I know when I swap cars there is always a period of having to think it out.


you’re unique
in your difficulty of loading onto low decks.



When I suggest you count the number of threads about loading boats, they’re ALL about loading to high roofs, not low ones.



Seems it’s universally accepted that loading onto low deck is a no-brainer. But you seem to find the opposite. So perhaps you ought to look into “figure out HOW…” to do it?

He is not unique
it IS hard to load onto a low deck when there is a higher load bar in the way.



Is this all a battle of egos?

sort of depends
If two people are handling the boat, it is relatively easy to load onto a low pair of crossbars even if there is a boat above.



Working alone, it is a bit trickier, but with most racks one stem can be swung in and supported on a crossbar while the other end is lifted and pivoted in to the other.

Probably a casd of not being clear

– Last Updated: Jan-01-13 5:37 PM EST –

IF you are carrying a canoe on your shoulders by yourself, and IF you've got a rack that you can lean the boat against (THAT issue is the only reason people keep asking questions about what should be an easy process), THEN there's nothing easier than simply stepping out from under the boat, followed by lifting less than half its weight using your hands (the initial overlap of boat onto rack means more than half of the weight will be taken by the rack when you pick up the other end, in case that needs to be explained to you, and the amount you lift becomes progressively less as you slide the boat onto the rack, too). Why would squatting down low, or dropping the whole canoe into your hands, be easier than simply walking out from underneath it?

Once again, I'm not saying it's a huge deal, but if you can't picture in your mind (since it appears yoiu haven't carried and loaded a canoe by yourself using this method) how simple it is to simply walk out from underneath your boat and then lift only a fraction of its weight, I don't know what else I can say.

Working in pairs, as Pete points out, loading onto a low rack is definitely easier, and in that case it's true even if there are no higher cross bars in the way, but this wasn't a discussion about two people cooperating to load a boat.

************

Okay, it's hardly worth saying more, but this idea that I'm so "unique" in finding the "step our from underneath" method so effortless can be refuted easily. You know those brackets that used to dot the north country canoe trails by the hundreds? The ones that people used as a means of easily resting while on the portage trail, or just to make it easier to get into and out from under the canoe? Well, how high were those racks? About three feet, or about seven feet? Well, there ya go. They made 'em that way to make it easier, not harder.