My hubby is altering a 4’x6’ trailer I bought so I can carry kayaks. How far apart should the support arms be length? & height? Thanks,KK
Check your distance
between the bulkheads in the boats you plan on loading. Strongest part of the boat is the bulkhead so you have less chance of deforming the hull by placing the pads there. Good luck on the project.
For my 4x8 utility trailer
I made it as wide as the truck – 68 inches for the cross members. That seems to be wide enough to hold 4 boats (on their sides) with a set of stackers in the center.
For sturdiness you may want your cross members over the frame of the trailer, so that would limit you to 6 feet front to back. This leaves a good bit of overhang for longer boats – a 14 footer would hang off each end 4 feet which means you need a pretty extended tongue and flags or lights at the rear of the boats.
If he is modifying the metal frame, I’d enlarge it to have no more than about 2 feet of overhang for your boats.
I kept the height of the cross members as low as possible for easy loading – the top of the cross members is probably 28 to 30 inches off the ground.
jim