# Post a Pic of your...trailer?



## azekologi

Ok, I've been wondering why we don't have a "Post a Pic of your trailer!" thread similar to the "Post a Pic of your boat! thread. 

I mean, come on, we put a lot of time and effort into fixing/restoring our trailers, maybe even do some custom modifications as well. A thread dedicated to solely trailer pics (perhaps before/after, maybe just a shot of what you got...whatever) might be kinda cool. :roll: 

Fig'd I'd throw up a poll to see what the general consensus is...

Ok gent's, here's a pic of the my 'new-to-me' 1970 EZ-Loader that I picked up last weekend. Since I got it I've moved the winch bracket to fit my boat, installed a new winch, rewired the plug that the last idiot cut off, added a spare tire holder, and picked up a spare wheel/tire.

As soon as my buddy get's back from his trip with the boat/trailer, I'll pull the boat off and post a 'trailer only pic' (that's what I think this thread should focus on, IMHO).







Meanwhile, here's a pic of the trailer before I bought it:


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## Waterwings

Trailer pics sounds like a good idea.


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## LFTDJEEP426

I/4 carpet - 3/4 starboard..... Works like a charm!


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## BassBlaster

So...is this the thread were posting them in?

Heres mine. The link to my build is in my sig...


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## dave shady

My 1976 

Before -





After -


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## azekologi

Dave - 

Nice job on the trailer. I have to say though, I did like the catwalk on the tongue in the "before" picture...I'd bet that was a dream to walk down when you were launching/retrieving!

What did you use for guides? Those red things look like...CB antennas?


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## devilmutt

Before






After


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## azekologi

devilmutt-

Nice work on the trailer....if you were a Navy man, I'd ask if it was battleship grey. 

All you guys who've restored/repainted/etc. your trailers are getting me itchin' to start workin' on mine.


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## chavist93

I went the easy route and bought a new trailer. Here it is the day I bought it.






Now with the boat loaded and everything adjusted correctly.


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## devilmutt

Thanks azekologi. It's hammered silver.


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## azekologi

chavist93 said:


> I went the easy route and bought a new trailer.



Now here's something I've been wondering about... :?: 

I've tossed around the new trailer idea myself, but the problem I always ran into was price :shock:. Mind you I'm in metro Phoenix, AZ, but you can't touch a NEW, decent trailer (read: NOT Harbor Freight) for a 12'-14' boat for less than $950. We've got a lot of trailer places in the industrial areas of town, but they specialize in utility, not boat trailers. You're kinda limited to BPS ($$), Cabela's ($$), Harbor Freight ($, but junk quality), or the marine-specialty shops ($$$$ :shock.

The nice thing is our dry, hot, desert climate preserves everything metal (little rain, no snow, mostly dry = no rust 8)). The downside is that the resulting secondary market usually keeps things prices pretty high even on older stuff :|. Most USED trailers for our tinnys would be in the $400-$700 range, give-or-take depending on numerous factors. I've seen, or missed out on #-o, some good-looking CraigsList deals in the $250-$350 price range. 

Chavis, I noticed that your trailer has decals from "Tom Hughes Marine"...if you don't mind me asking, what's something like that go for in your neck of the woods? Is Tom Hughes a marine specialty store? Just curious. :mrgreen:


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## basstender10.6

I have a 2004 load rite traiker just like the last one posted it galvinized and costs around $1400 :shock:


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## chavist93

azekologi, I had a little sticker shock as well when I started pricing them. I bought my boat used and was not happy with the trailer it came with, mostly because it was too short. I toyed with the idea of extending the tounge and fixing the trailer up. At the time I was working during the day and taking welding classes at night so I just didnt have time to work on it. 

This trailer was around $900, but I don't regret it at all just for peace of mind on long trips. The trailer brand is Wesco which are built about 30 minutes from my house. Unfortunately you still have to purchase through a dealer, however I was able to go to there shop and pick out the exact frame and options that I wanted. There were cheaper trailer brands, but they were bolt together frames. This one is all welded.

Tom Hughes is a local outboard repair/parts shop. They do not actually stock boats and trailers, but they are a dealer so they can order what you want and were cheaper than anyone else. I got quotes from other dealers for as much as $1200 for the same trailer.


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## chavist93

basstender10.6 said:


> I have a 2004 load rite traiker just like the last one posted it galvinized and costs around $1400 :shock:



A load rite of the same size is around $800 here, but I did not like the bolt together frame.


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## flatboat

still lookin for one without the boat


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## flatboat

i saw this in ws., wonder what kind of launch would need that sort of mod to a trailer.


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## Waterwings

Sure is different looking. Maybe the trailer belongs to another boat, a sailboat possibly that has one of those long center board thingy's (keelboard?). The boat sitting on the trailer might just borrowing the trailer for the moment.


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## devilmutt

It looks like a trailer for a pontoon boat.


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## dave shady

The lights on the back are Guide on LED poles meant for boat trailers. I picked them up
on clearance thru work for 10$ a pair  The cat walk had to go the boat is mainly a duck boat
and waders will be on for loading and unloading lol and it WEIGHED like 100#


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## azekologi

dave shady said:


> The lights on the back are Guide on LED poles meant for boat trailers. I picked them up
> on clearance thru work for 10$ a pair  The cat walk had to go the boat is mainly a duck boat
> and waders will be on for loading and unloading lol and it WEIGHED like 100#



Man, what an awesome deal...$10 for good-looking guide-ons! =D> Do they just have LEDs @ the very top, or is the whole pole lighted with multiple LEDs, either way, very cool.

Kinda reminds me of the Firestick CB Antenna's:

https://www.firestik.com/CatalogFrame.htm

Actually, kinda reminds me of something else I saw once, and now that I think about it...whatever it was would make a great guide on...maybe. :?: 

One night I saw this crazy-big, lifted F350 driving down the street (whole package: big tires, huge lift, blah, blah, blah). The odd thing was it had these two GIANT lighted cylindrical tubes coming up about 6-7 feet from each (rear) corner the bed. The best way to describe them is that they looked like two huge Star Wars light sabers standing vertically in the bed. :shock: I'm assuming they were lighted CB antennas, but never got a good look to be be sure.

Truthfully, those lighted things were awesome...although quite distracting as a) they were 7 feet tall already fixed to a huge truck b) lighted and BRIGHT, BRIGHT, BRIGHT!, c) something you don't really ever see on a vehicle in the city.

I didn't think of it at the time, but they would make great boat guide-ons, especially at night, you just want to have a way to turn those bright lights off so no one rear-ends you while mesmerized by your luminescence. :shock:

***Oh, and if that catwalk weighted 100lbs, I'd be looking to pull it off my trailer too!


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## azekologi

My favorite trailer mod to date:


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## BaitCaster

Here's mine, before and after. Paid $300 for the "before" which, in hindsight, was way too much. 




Invested another $400 into it on the rebuild.




Here's a link to the full rebuild thread - https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=13166


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## optaylor823

Here is a pic of my trailer. It is built so you can launch in shallow water.


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## Ringo Steele

Good thread Azekologi. Looks like your boat and mine are just about identically made except mine is a 16 footer. It's a 1971 Ouachita 16DSV model. I'll get some pictures of my trailer posted soon. My trailer _was_ "Battleship Gray" many years ago, but the elements have taken their toll. I will be repainting soon, and may go with a match to the new color for the boat, which is Ford blue. Here's all I have now:

By the way...what size tires and wheels do you have? They look wide for their height.


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## azekologi

Selfless bump in hopes to get a few more pics of your awesome boat haulers. :wink:


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## V8_TITAN

flatboat said:


> i saw this in ws., wonder what kind of launch would need that sort of mod to a trailer.




I bet that is used for some really steep drop off, maybe like to get over some rocks, the wheels can take the abuse and keep the rest above the danger zone and nothing will get caught up. I wish I had something like that, then I could launch anywhere ! lol. For a second it looked like it had air lift shocks to lower and raise the thing.


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## baseball_guy_99

1st picture is when I got the boat and trailer.

2nd picture is when the trailer was almost completed.


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## bguy




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## bguy

bguy said:


> View attachment 5
> View attachment 4
> View attachment 3
> View attachment 2
> View attachment 1


Report this postEdit postReply with quote 

thanks to 
King Trailer Sales & Services 
610 East Waters Avenue, 
Tampa, FL 33604-3128
(813) 932-6091 conveniently off i275 north of the 1275/i4 junction


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## Wallijig

I wanted to make my trailer more user friendly for unloading in shallow water. I added rollers, Side guides that stick up so can see trailer behind my pickup & help guide boat on, built a walking ramp out of old set of running boards. I also to reduce rock chips diamond plated around outsides of frame. On top of guides I installed small LED lights. If notice also trailer splits where tongue attaches in middle to drop back down for shallow water loading. You can see locking pin and key hanging on small chain in second picture.
Other thing you see in third picture is a eye bolt on back left side of trailer. I use this for unloading where there is no dock. Where there maybe deeper water. 
I have heavy rope cut length about 1' longer then boat with quick snaps at end end. Just before I back into water, I hook to eye bolt & other end on eye bolt at front of boat. I back up til boat floats, hit bakes boat floats back, drive ahead slowly pull boat up to shore, & unhook from trailer. Pretty quick & easy when one is alone.













I also installed diamond plate on fenders & built enclosure to install LED lighting





Got tired of lic plate breaking off unloading in shallow water, so got truck mud flap, cut it to fit plate, and mounted it on to plate bracket.





Used extra to make small mud flats for each side.


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## azekologi

Hey ya'll,

Glad to see that the "Post a Pic of your Trailer" thread is taking off. I've always had a weird fetish for trailers since I was a young lad (I attribute it to many cool HotWheels and MatchBox toys).

I also think it's a good place for all of us to see what cool mods that like-minded buddies have done to their boat haulers.

Kudos!


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## azekologi

Ringo Steele said:


> By the way...what size tires and wheels do you have? They look wide for their height.



Ringo, sorry for the late reply, I just noticed your post/question.

The tires are 8" x 18.5". Basically they're just like golf cart tires with a _much greater_ load capacity; 940lbs. I think they're a heck of a lot better than the skinny 8" Harbor Freight ones, but I would prefer a full-size car tire; 13"-16".

I think my trailer has enough room under the fenders for larger tires, but these are solid and I have other "boat projects". Maybe they'll get changed out when I restore/rebuild the trailer in a few years.


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## ekbiglou954

hahaa, heres mine, just brought it home! a continental jb-127 =D


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## basstender10.6

This is the best one I have right now..
2004 load rite bandit galvanized.
Running 12 x 4.8 tires with bearing buddies
Less than 30 miles on this trailer!


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## 00 mod

Stock picture of my trailer from when I bought it...lol

Jeff


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## JMichael

I picked up this trailer late fall/early winter. The 13" tires had dry rot so I put new tires on it. The bunks need new covering and the winch mount (welded to the tongue) was too far back for my new boat project so I ground it off and welded it on farther forward. So I've got some work to do on it before the new paint, but I thought it was a pretty good deal for $60.


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## azekologi

JMichael - Not a bad deal for $60, I definitely seen a lot of people do a lot worse for a lot more. It's good do get a solid trailer to start with and customize from there.


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## azekologi

Any new pics of trailers out there?


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## azekologi

Is there any way we can make this a "sticky" since the majority seems to want to see your trailer pics?

(And I don't have to keep shamelessly bumping it to keep in up top.) :mrgreen:


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## boejali

Found the forum after I tore down the trailer. New guides out of 3/4 rigid conduit, will throw some PVC on it and mount my lights on top. Paint, New bunks and new Tongue. Tongue that was on it was bent and a bit short. This forum has saved me a couple of humbling phone calls to my Dad. Thanks


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## Hanr3

Trailer build in my signature. I completely rebuilt it 3 years ago.


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## soggybottom

This is the trailer that came with my 12' northwood boat. Not sure of the year or make, but it gets the job done. 
Had to add lights, new bunks, and a new winch. I will probably also be doing the bearings soon.

















I added the guides shortly after buying it, and can't believe I have never had guides on a trailer before.


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## JGibson

1956-1959 Tee Nee:

Needs a paint job but serves its purpose as is


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## Jonboat Jerry

Here are the before pics. It's an aluminum slide on that I snagged on CL for $600




When I removed the wood bunks, I discovered some severe pitting underneath.




nother shot




After dissassembly and sandblasting, this is where I am.




I mixed up some epoxy and started filling those pits. The left corner is gone here.




After everything sets up, Ill go over it with a belt sander.




More pitting


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## Charger25

Hows this for a trailer :shock:

Picked the boat up from a retired Gentlemen. It was grungy and highly oxidized and was sitting on the ground chained to a tree in his front yard with a "For Sale " sign on it.. I was going to get it if the price was right,so I had pulled the jon boat trailer up there. After agreeing to a price, He said, "well come on down here, the trailer for it is in the woods". 
It was so over grown with weeds and honey suckle that I literally had to pull it out with the jeep. I really didn't want it but I thought I could get some money for the scrap metal. Turned out that other than surface rust,it wasn't in that bad of shape. The bearings, spindles, leaf springs and axle were great shape. So its been a work in progress since
.

Fitting the side rails....



Welded up and a drain hole in the bottom. Need to find some caps for the tops.


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## novaman

Here's the trailer I ended up using with my Tracker Grizzly. It's an old Caulkins galvanized unit, that needed stretched to fit and the axle moved back. I added 19" to the length to support the hull clear to the transom. My son and I painted it to match color wise, but used a semi gloss to clean up easier than the flat finish on the boat. Rebuilt everything on it from end to end, including all new fasteners either plated or SS, so now I basically have a new 1983 trailer. I flipped the springs and axle to lower it and moved the axle back 12" to get the weight distribution where I wanted it.


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## jvanhees

Trailer as of right now


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## mpknls

still plan on moving the lights to the top of the guide's.


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## Scott1298

Tired of the balancing act necessary when loading last year, I added a urethaned piece of plywood to stand on.


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## warefishin

Couple pics of the trailer. I redid what I could when I bought the boat.


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## PSG-1

I built mine, or should I say, I modified it, using some I-beam from another trailer:


Before




After


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## Boat2fast

Shoreland'r worked with me replacing all the VIN ID and capacity stickers on my trailer. I don't understand why ID tags are supposed to be permanent, but they are gone in a few years. In the 'old days' trailers had a stamped tag riveted to the frame.
Shoreland'r requires full documentation and a small fee. But they will re-issue ID stickers.


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## Boat2fast

I am surprised to see so much effort everyone is putting into their trailers. This is some nice stuff. This is great. I see many ratty, barely road-worthy trailers at the local launch. I was beginning to think it wasn't important to anyone.

This is a '600lb' trailer made by COX. These are good for small boats. This one is set-up for a 12ft Mirrocraft. It costs almost as much as a new trailer to rebuild an old one. Not worth it on paper, well worth it going down the road.


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## ccm

For all of you who thought your trailer was junk before you fixed it here's mine. Trust rusty. Still a work in progress. I've used it for two years. What I've done to it so far. New bearings, races, seals, bearing buddies, lights, bunks ( need to be lowered + need to add support for front of boat ) Tires, & valve stems. The boat launch is only one mile from my house and the farthest I pull is 10 miles to another lake down back roads where I can take it slow & easy.





_Paid $25 minus the upgrades listed_




_Old winch still works great_




_The frame needs to be cut so I can weld in the center beam_ ( yes I see the rust holes too Already have the material to fix it )




_the guy who built it before me went overkill on every weld & joint but hey it's plenty strong_




_one last look_


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## AZwadder

Looking for some Coleman Crawdad trailer ideas, if you guys have any Please share! Thanks :mrgreen:


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## GeoFish

I needed a trailer that would disassemble.
The main assembly with the bunks goes into the bed of my pickup.
The rest goes into the toy hauler.
Boat on top of the truck, ATV in toy hauler.


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## Clint KY

I bought a 1648 jon, motor and trailer some time ago and have been working on it for a while. The trailer is an odd one.

This the trailer tongue in the Normal mode:






Pull this pin:




and you can do this: Great for launching in ponds where there is not a launch ramp. The rear tires of the truck stay up on solid ground. 






The original owner mounted a cross member to the bunk brackets and then mounted the bunks to the top of it. Made the bunks very high above the trailer frame: You can see the rear cross member is split.






I removed all of that:






Here is one of the bunk brackets installed on the trailer frame. I used the hole directly under the L bracket for the top of the U-bolt to get the bracket (and the bunk) as low as possible.






It sits like that for now, waiting for the wood preservative I applied to the two 10' bunks to dry. I will install them, and top them with slicks made from vinyl fence posts from Lowe's.

Here are the new bunks:






and here they are covered:






They work very well. I power loaded the boat using the trolling motor. Can't get much better than that. 
I have to make new guide bunks as the old ones now hit the gunnels rather than the side of the boat since I lowered the boat on the trailer. I have some fire hose I will split to cover those to keep from scratching the sides of the boat. Then install the new winch tower I got from another trailer. I will use it the rest of the summer and fall and come winter I will redo the axle with new hardware and begin the painting process. Stay tuned.


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## Johnsboat

Before pic

Have some work to do but did replace bearings and it rolls as it should


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## RMull53

here is my trailer before my DIY guide ons. let me know if you want details about my guide ons. very simple and inexpensive. ill had pics of the guide ons a little later


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## smackdaddy53




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## PSG-1

None of the 'before' pictures of ANY of these trailers looks half as bad as some of the stuff people bring for me to weld. :shock: 


But then, I am down here on the SC coast, with high humidity, and lots of trailers in salt water.


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## safetyfast

Here's my rusty trailer. Paint job planned for this fall.


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## coastrider

Just picked this up after dragging my boat around for 18 years


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## safetyfast

coastrider said:


> Just picked this up after dragging my boat around for 18 years


Beautiful boat.


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## coastrider

Thanks, just finished painting and polishing it in that pic


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## gunz

First time out with the new trailer. I installed bunks, narrowed the axle and moved the fenders in. I installed a bow roller as well. I like ti. My launch is very shallow so I wanted to get the boat down low so I didn't have to get way into the water with the truck. Now I step out on dry concrete to unload.


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## ccppcrimefighter

I personally like to over build my projects, and my trailers are just as important to me as the rig going on them, I drive at least an hour to the water so I want my drive to be safe and uneventful. This is a trailer that I got off of Craig's List for $200, SCORE!! But I still see great prices on them now and then. I used if for my fishing kayaks and it's perfect, I am searching for the right Tin Boat for a build so I can rig it for river trolling and plan to find another trailer deal on Craig's, cheaper and better than any Harbor Freight trailer.


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## haute

This was the used trailer I bought for my new boat back in 2016....




Picking up the boat from the dealer... Looks okay...




My first trip this year down an extremely remote forestry road, and this happened...




So now I have this 2200# Karavan...


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## cmhyland

I recently picked up a new boat and trailer... I'll attach a few pics. The trailer is a Venture VB-1300

Regards,
Chris


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## Dan B.

Here is my ‘63 Gator tilt trailer. New bunks, front roller, winch line, bearings packed, stripped and painted, new harness and lights, etc...


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## BAY BEAGLE

In the process of taking my ole Kayak trailer, and converting it over to my flat bottom. Flat bottom is a 16 ft. long x 50" flat bottom - pics came out in reverse order ..... took the Yak trailer, notched the 4 x 4's to fit 2 x 6's w/ carpet. Added 1.5" aluminum angle on each side of 4 x 4 to add strength, and a way to mount the bunks from underneath, without disturbing the structure of the 4 x 4's, and to support the notches from each side. Took 3/4 decking and screwed w/ S.S. atop 2 x 6 to give the ridges in the boat a raised platform. Adding the 2 x 6 gave the whole frame, sturdiness and support for the TINBOAT. Carpet will be next.


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