23ft sharkcat trailer - Aluminium or Gal steel.

[sharkcat 23]

I've recently brought a 23ft Harris sharkcat as a project boat (more posts on that later) the trailer that came with it is shot, the only parts worth keeping in the double axle assembly and the drawbar, the rest is fairly rusted out. Has anyone out there got an aluminium sharkcat or similar trailer that I could copy off or am I better off building a gal steel similar to what I had, I can weld either steel or aluminium so that parts not a problem, any advice or help on the matter would be greatly appreciated.
Doug.

[Spiderpig]

A bloke I work with just got a quote on an american made aluminium trailer in Australia to suit his shark cat. I think it was about 12k You could prolly import one as cheap as you could build one i reckon. Or go and have a look at the Ally one in Aus, take some pics and copy it.

[Dean1]

A cat trailer is a really simple thing really. Just a big ladder basically. If you can source the ally for the right price you can cut it all to the right lengths yourself and just get a bloke to weld it all up for you! Do the sums. A good welder would glue it up pretty quickly. Active fab sell all the other gear (teflon skids etc) stuff you can do yourself. Cheers.

[Dean1]

A cat trailer is a really simple thing really. Just a big ladder basically. If you can source the ally for the right price you can cut it all to the right lengths yourself and just get a bloke to weld it all up for you! Do the sums. A good welder would glue it up pretty quickly. Active fab sell all the other gear (teflon skids etc) stuff you can do yourself. Cheers. Sorry just saw you can weld yourself so you have nothing to lose! Import is definatly an option worth looking at as well...

[Mister]

American made trailers to suit a what? Come on the yanks haven't yet made a decent cat and their trailers are lets say, well way behind the times.

Honestly there are not all that many trailer manufacturers (bar a selected few) that have the background or the knowledge to fabricate a "properly designed" alloy trailer so just make sure what you copy off is properly designed.

[OPTI]

obviously you havnt herd of a freeman cat ??kerry

[rodneyk]

I've recently brought a 23ft Harris sharkcat as a project boat (more posts on that later) the trailer that came with it is shot, the only parts worth keeping in the double axle assembly and the drawbar, the rest is fairly rusted out. Has anyone out there got an aluminium sharkcat or similar trailer that I could copy off or am I better off building a gal steel similar to what I had, I can weld either steel or aluminium so that parts not a problem, any advice or help on the matter would be greatly appreciated.
Doug.

Build it from alloy beef it up in main section structual channel 125 x 65 main frame + draw bars 75 x 50 x 3 ally box the thing to remember it will be over 2t so brakes will cost $$$$ your old axles may not be usable .The cheapest part will be the alloy frame the components cost a bomb today you also need to run 195 x 14 tyres min to get load capacity . If you have time avail it can be work i n progress and very achievable and you will be glad you built in alloy

[sharkcat 23]

Thanks for all you imput fella's greatly appreciated. I think I will go alluminium, I"m presently looking for alloy sheet to build a cabin out of, so I may as well add that to the list.

[screaming reels]

G'day Sharkcat 23, mate just to let you now there is an 8m triaxle trailer going up for auction this weekend (second hand) check out there website- Marine Auctions at Runaway bay. Cheers Brent

[PB]

Hi Mate,

With regards to the Alloy sections on the trailers, I would be looking for something with a 6mm wall thickness for the draw-bar, or if you end up using channel for the chassis rails use 2 pieces of the same section back to back to make an I beam.
These pics might help you out.
72753727547275572756http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Hemo1984_album/cattrailer004.jpg
http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Hemo1984_album/cattrailer001.jpg
http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Hemo1984_album/cattrailer007.jpg
http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Hemo1984_album/cattrailer006.jpg

[litenup]

Those old cats are heavy and the original trailers were triaxle, so I'd be looking at weights to make sure it's legal. Definitely need more than overide brakes, go nearly 4tonnes on trailer. Cheers Pete

[PB]

Those old cats are heavy and the original trailers were triaxle, so I'd be looking at weights to make sure it's legal. Definitely need more than overide brakes, go nearly 4tonnes on trailer. Cheers Pete

Are you talking about a 23 Bruce Harris or the 22KC in the pics?