Lower gas mileage with a trailer
The prez of our local paddling club has a trailer and says that his gas mileage drops from 25 mpg to 16 mpg with the trailer, no matter how many (or few) boats are on it.
Better gas mileage with trailer …
… than with the boat on top of my car. I’m sure this is specific to the type of trailer and the type of car, but I only lose about 2 mpg with the trailer. When I have the boat on top, I lose 4-5 mpg. For this reason I use the trailer on long trips even for one boat.
Pam
you are certainly welcome …
… and you earned it, not with your first post which was merely a mild been-there-done-that-you-moron slap across the face followed by tossing a hunk of red meat to your “trailer zealot” friends.
But rather, it was your reaction to abc’s request that you just stick to the facts instead of trying to stir everything up and turn his question into a bicker and banter session, a task in which you have greatly succeeded.
Having said that, imagine yourself in court trying to defend the following comments that truly earned you your bad boy appellation:
- BTW… a rant is my right
- Chill out.
- You must be new here. Learn to play with others.
- you need to RESPECT all of the answers
- Whoa!!! Did you miss a dose of your meds today?
- I feel bad for you.
- Not worth the brain cells.
- I would love to make your day. Too bad I can’t.
Just one unnecessary personal attack after another which degenerated into women-bashing and sex change operations.
Sorry Jay, you may be a great guy in person, but when you get behind a keyboard you’re like a drunk driver who allows his pent-up anger to take control.
Besides, if you truly were this great teddy bear of innocence you would’ve said “sorry about the rant” or some other dignified response and allowed the conversation to remain on topic.
Virtually the same mpg with trailer
My snowmobile trailer (which weighs more than a dedicated kayak trailer) has almost no effect on gas mileage–a fraction of a mile per gallon. I keep detailed records of gas consumption and know that the wind and terrain cause variations in mpg. Whatever effect the trailer has is less than the variation due to the other two items.
The trailer sits very low, and the kayaks are also low.
It is common for heavy trailer loads to hurt mpg, but kayaks on light trailers just don’t weigh enough to make much of a dent.
unbe-freakin’-lievable!
Jay – you know I love you, so I’m sorry I didn’t bother to try to post sooner, but you know I just see no point in getting involved with insanity like this. But for what it’s worth, I’ll add my ramblings, anyway.
A not-so-short recap of some of what has transpired here:
jboyd posted his sincere opinion about trailers which abc had asked for. He also made the mistake of throwing in some humor, which is always dangerous. jboyd even threw in a wild and crazy comment like saying he respected the opinion of those who disagree with him.
abc then accused jboyd of ranting. There was no rant, just jboyd’s opinion, but abc did ask for some clarification of points.
jboyd then clarified his points, and ended with “good luck.” Jboyd even clarified within his clarification things like “this may not apply to you.”
Okay – not so bad. abc clearly didn’t get jboyd’s humor, but hey, sometimes that doesn’t come across in this milieu. But jboyd still shared his thoughts, and then even clarified his opinion further when asked. Nice stuff, this info forum, huh – exchange of opinions, and that’s what they are, opinions, right?
But then lo and behold, that’s not the end of it. abc has to post again with the remark about “Beats some of the ranting without supporting evidence.” Given jboyd’s more than even-handed response to the FIRST time he was accused of ranting, this SECOND dig seemed really quite uncalled for!
Next response from jboyd seems a fair request: “This board is made up of a fantastic cross section of every type of paddler from every part of the country. You need to remember that when you ask a question, you need to RESPECT all of the answers. They are other opinions you have sought. You are beating up on the opinion you did not want to hear. Think about that please.”
Now how on earth is that a bully response? Jboyd’s been slammed twice for ranting (when he was just trying to share his opinion), and he just asks that all opinions are respected. Crazy, huh?
Abc’s next response is: “get the hell out of the kitchen”! Whoa! Now this feels more like the bullies I know!
It may seem overkill to do this blow by blow recap. After all, all these messages are right here on the page for anyone to read. But yet now here’s a new post by redneck which accuses jboyd of things he never said! Some of what redneck says jboyd said were things posted by JackL, and one was even something that abc posted! All that male/female, sex change stuff was a completely different exchange between JackL and abc, so for heaven’s sake, if anyone wants to take issue with that, take it up with JackL and abc!!!
My goodness, I have seen a better sense of humor and more civility in canoe vs. kayak or single vs. double bladed paddle discussions! Apparently trailer vs. roof rack is the one area where it’s not okay to have different opinions!!! Sheesh!
Again, Jay – sorry I didn’t jump in sooner, but I don’t see any point of trying to jump into a fray like this. It’s why I post very little myself, because you never know when someone’s going to jump on you for speaking up. It’s just not worth it. But then, I’m a misanthrope, so of course I find this whole people/communication thing WAY too complicated and frustrating. :o) I think TexasLady and Vic did a far better job of trying to add reasonable observations.
So to sum it all up in the best way I can, just as a good friend of mine is oft heard to say:
WHATEVER
runner up
>The most extreme was probably an 18’ glass sea kayak on top of a sub-compact sedan - the distance from front to rear strap seemed to barely make it around the cockpit. <
I once saw an Explorer (~17’?) on top of a VW Bug. I think thet ratio of boat length to cross-bar spread is no better.
Expl on a VW wins
All I can say is, they must have had a lot easier time getting their boat in hand than I did mine! That’d be downright scary.
??
Not getting it and very happy to remain that way.
Anybody have pictures of their
trailer. I just started working on a trailer to haule my yakin gear with and I would love to be able to see your pics as to give me some ideas.
To be more on topic I do not curently use a trailer (still building it) but I will be glad to share my reasons for building it. There were a number of factors that led me to my decision.
- I have grown tire of having to carry all my gear back and forth to my truck in order to go paddling. With my trailer I will bee able to walk outside hook up and hear out for the boat ramp.
- I was my boat after every trip so I haft to unload my boat just to wast it then i usually wind up putting it right back on my rack for my trip the next day. With a trailer all I will haft to do is unstrap, wash, and restrap on unloading.
- With the rack that I have now I am only able to carry one kayak at a time. The reason for that is that it is made to sit in the bead of my truck and is fitted to my boat. This is a real problem when trying to run a shuttle with a bunch of other people so with my trailer I will be able to carry up to 8 boats at one time which will be a big help with shuttles.
These are just a few of my reasons or switching to a trailer. I realize that everybody has a different view on this subject and no one answer is wright or wrong just an opinion.
Build Your Own Trailer
Am I correct in thinking you want a dedicated canoe/kayak traler? Check out the local canoe outfitters. Some buy, some build, and both have great designs which you can borrow and modify to fit your needs.
features to consider:
Adjustable Rack - The cross members move up and down. I have seen these used to ‘lock’ a boat in place.
Boxes with Lids and Locks - lock your gear in and leave it there.
Folding Tongues - take up less space.
The alternative is a multi-purpose trailer. This is what I did, as I want only one trailer in the yard. First, there is a wide box that can hold two canoes. Second, there are removable T-bars which can take a second layer of canoes. The T-bars were built with heavy gage stock, so another T-bar could be incorperated to add a third layer.
Link to my trailer…
– Last Updated: Dec-16-05 12:49 AM EST –
http://community.webshots.com/album/177014458GxCANk
You may have already come across this while searching trailers....
No storage......not much room for it on the small trailer..
Modified old sunfish sailboat trailer...racks bolted on
Have put as many as 5 kayaks and one canoe on it!
Notice the rope/clasp attachments....if I put the same boats in the same place each time...no knot tying! Quick in the dark!
Straps secure the boats to the center pole, not the bottom bar.
Allows myself to take son and friends, one who has spina bifida, paddling and handle all the equipment myself without damage to the van (which I have done loading on top by myself before) or myself! Son is big enough to help now.....but wasn't when we started! All boats can go to Boy scout campouts, etc.
Have a roof rack, but in my situation the trailer gets used most of the time. My old 4 cylinder vehicles pull it just fine. A friend of mine gets all the credit for the welding, galvanized dip, and installation!
I vote for both
I rigged up a rack on my Jeep Wrangler and have packed my boats all over the place. The bars are spaced 4’ but thats not a problem for a couple of 14’6" Guides.
I also have an old boat trailer that I converted to utility use. 45" wide bed thats 7’ long. Built some overhead racks for boats, ladders, lumber etc;
I use the jeep alone for day trips or overniters. The trailer is used for the extended trips where a weeks worth of firewood is needed.
*Stuff gets dirty in/on the trailer.
*MPG goes down but I have only 4 cylinders to pull it with.
*I have no problem manuevering the trailer but I use it a lot, even in the woods at home cutting firewood and hauling rocks.No road and maybe a path through the trees.
*I keep the bearings lubed and the lights working.
*Never worried about theft cause it is an ugly trailer and I can lock it to the ball!
- No change in my insurance but registration is about $12.50 per year
And Jay, I’ll still haul your boat for you if you need a shuttle. We’ll put your boat on the Jeep!LOL
All the messages aren’t here to read!
NO! All the messages “aren’t” here to read Lupe.
One of Rednecks posts with a lengthy “whine”; name calling, finger pointing, and projection of blame was deleted. My retort to that particular lengthy “whine” was deleted with it.
So Redneck’s posts have to some degree been sanitized in his favor, and as a result my comments were essentially censored.
Brent didn’t delete my post, I didn’t delete it; so you don’t get to read “all” the messages.
Somebody covered somebody’s ass…
BOB
Link doesn’t work
Link doesn’t work for me Annie. Just gets me to Webshots home page. I’d sure like to see it.
My posts deleted as well
Hey, Bob,
My two posts were also in the thread that was deleted from this discussion.
the real problem w/trailers
I am in agreement with all of the inconveniences already posted but no one has yet to finger the real problem:
Where to park the darn thing at your house.
Racked boats can be hung from the rafters with care, or in other out-of-the-way places indoors.
A trailer PARKS – usually outdoors, unless you happen to own a small warehouse.
And once it’s parked outside laziness sets in and the boats stay on the trailer and then we have the additional problems of outdoor boat storage.
I say rack 'em, Danno.
I dunno about most folks…
…but I’ve got a lot more outdoors than indoors and I don’t have any “out of the way” indoor spots for 2 17ft boats. I suppose if I had indoor storage space I would use it during the winter. Keeping the trailer and boats from getting snowbound is just that much more snow shoveling.
From my perspective there’s no way the laziness factor works against using a trailer. The only time I have to handle the boats is at the put-in/take-out. The rest of the time they are “racked”. On a rack that I can move by hand. I can be on the road inside of 15 minutes.
Even if my tow vehicle wasn’t a “roof rack challenged” Jeep Wrangler I’m pretty sure I’d be using a trailer 90 percent of the time.
…Mike
Lets cut to the chase…
– Last Updated: Dec-15-05 4:05 PM EST –
One of the main points of using a trailer is to protect your tow vehicle. The trailer is a small fraction of the cost of your vehicle. Picture paddling in salt water, and then putting that dripping boat on the top of your new $35K SUV. Trailer expensive? Price a new paint job for your Car/Truck/SUV lately? They want from $2,000 to $5,000 to do a quality paint job these days in my area. That is not including taking out any dents that happened when the person helping you load the boat lost their grip/balance…
Driving with a trailer behind your car, hard?…Please…Hundreds of thousands of boat, equipment, utility trailers on the road every day. It is not rocket science, especially one as small as for a kayak/canoe. Maybe when you back up the trailer you would have to put down that Big Mac, quite lighting that cigarette, stop talking on the cell phone, or quite putting on your makeup…but hey… everything has a price
Maintenance…a ten dollar grease gun from Wally World to inject a squirt of grease every so often into the Buddy bearings, trust me you can handle it…LOL.
To read some of the posts you would think towing a trailer is as hard as paddling a Swifty from California to Hawaii.
Get a trailer because
1) You will protect your vehicle. For most people this represents the largest purchase they have made second only to their home.
2) You won’t spend ½ hour trying to round up all your paddling gear, and strapping it on your vehicle every time you get the urge to paddle.
3) You won’t need separate racks/space to store your boats.
4) You will have a way to get your boats home unlike the guy that was parked next to you that had the top of his car all screwed up when the thieves ripped off his new super cool state of the art $500 + racks while he was out paddling.
5) Time…you will save time…one of my favorite expressions is “When preparation meets opportunity” In other words, when you get home from work and really want to go paddling bad, but there is not much daylight left…having everything on a trailer ready to go that instant could mean the difference between being able to take advantage of the opportunity or not. Without preparation (having the trailer loaded ready to go), there can be no taking advantage of the opportunity (going paddling on a whim). The alternative to that is carrying around all your gear every place you go…not a viable option for most.
6) And for the most important reason: You will be looked upon with envy and awe by all those paddlers that think pulling a trailer is a mystical gift. Forget running class V rapids, or riding Jaws on a wave ski…the surest way to instant hero status on P-Net is to pull a trailer (sorry I couldn’t resist)
All the best in making your decision, you sound like a man that will have no problem at all cutting thru to the heart of the matter.
Regards,
Waterrat
Sometimes that problem
can be solved too:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v718/mhackett/boat/Dcp_1313.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v718/mhackett/boat/Dcp_1993.jpg
Admittedly this is only the Trailex 90-lb single boat trailer.
Mike
Folding trailer advertised here on P-net
It’s not an insurmountable problem. Even if you don’t have outdoor space, you can use a folding trailer. I’ve seen ads right here on P-net for a lightweight dedicated kayak trailer that folds up.
Some people stuff everything but automobiles in their garages–those people could park a regular (non-folding) trailer in there and leave the kayaks on it.
We used to just park ours outdoors, covered by tarps. Then my husband built a shed for it. Covered, locking storage for trailer AND kayaks. Two kayaks sit on the floor beside the trailer and one stays on it. If we installed wall racks, there could be even more kayaks. There is no way we could store the kayaks, let alone kayaks and trailer, inside the house, and our garage is occupied by motor vehicles.