Thinking about turning a boat trailer into a kayak trailer but am worried about the spring rate and bouncing the heck out of my kayaks. I’m thinking about using Yakina J hooks. its a smallish trailer built for boats around 1000 lb’s.
anybody tackle bouncy trailers before?
Hmmmm
Tackling a bouncy trailer, hmmm, sounds painful. I use a utility trailer that’s been adapted for carrying kayaks. http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/75339788oTcAIx
It will bounce over RR tracks so I go over them carefully. Speed bumps also. Haven’t hurt a kayak in several years and at least several thousand miles of hauling.
boat trailer into kayak trailer
The stiff leaf springs on a boat trailer can be replaced with motorcycle coil springs and shocks. I had a trailer done for me for a very light boat and it now rides soft with the 150 lb.
boat.
Dave
Just did it.
– Last Updated: Aug-29-07 4:47 PM EST –
As a matter of fact.
I have a boat trailer for a 16 ft boat(thank you Freecycle), that I 'converted' to carry my kayaks. I was also concerned about too stiff springs. My solution was to remove two of the three leaves from the spring. This greatly reduces the capacity of the trailer, and allows it to ride much softer with the comparatively light weight of the kayaks. It tow's fine, although it is slightly weighted more on the tongue than I would like. I would like to add a box to put stuff in, that would add more weight to the tongue. I'll have to put some thought into it over the winter.
BTW for reference, the boats are a OT Loon 138 and a Loon 160T. With PFD's, paddles, and other stuff about 175 - 190 lbs.
Run your tires on the low side.
That absorbs some of the shock and provides a less bouncy ride for the yaks. Just don’t let them run too low, especially at higher speeds or you’ll be changing a flat !
Hey Redmond,
A friend of mine who is a welder is making me a kayak rack that will go on my small Harbor Freight 14 ft jon boat trailer. Basically he is making a rectangle that will sit on top of the trailer and putting two trees up to put the kayaks on. He is putting “branches” so it should hold 6 boats.
Here is the actual question: Will pool noodles over the steel (square pipe) be enough to cushion in your opinion? Or should I be looking at minicell foam?
the weight of the trailer with the rack and the boats will actually be greater than the jon boat so I am not too concerned about it being too light…but maybe I am wrong about that too?
paul