Off Road Boat Trailer Started

[block]

It is almost 12 months ago I started a post about buildingan Off Road Boat Trailer.

I started work on the new trailer this week. In the past yearthere has been lots of talking to anyone who has had to tow a boat over somerough tracks. I would like to thank all the people who have provided me withall the information, many of them from this Forum.

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?182230-Off-road-boat-trailer
I will keep an update as the work progresses and give anydetails of materials used. All the work is been done here in Poona in my matesshed. He is doing most of the work and I am his T/A.
We had a plan on paper so the first job was todraw the plan of the chassis and cross members onto the floor of the shad.

[block]

The steel was then cut and laid down and tacked together.
88507
Afew more measurements to ensure all was square and it was time to weld. Steelused for the chasse is RHS 50x100x3mm and the cross members are 50x50x3mm. The drew bar will be RHS 50X100X 5MM.
88508

[wayno60]

Mate what suspension are you going to run?? any idea as to what height it will finish up?

[Floating Rib]

looking forward to the posts, have seen many assorted pieces of trailer on the side of the road around some of the rough tracks in the territory, often wondered what type of trailer would suit those conditions.

[cqfreshie]

Good start Block, but, please do yourself a favour ... Wear the right clothing .... Long sleeves and trousers with spats on the boots. Those UV rays can do heaps of damage and the spats keep the hot stuff out of the boots. As an old welder from a while ago and now a health care professional, I am qualified to offer you sound advice...... Not to mention WH&S. Yep they can nail you at home.

[block]

8851588514
Once the trailer is finished it will have 16” Hi Lux rims fitted.This will make the boat sit higher than a standard trailer. To make lunchingand recovering easier we are making the trailer tilt. The end of the draw barthat will be the pivot point was strengthened with a piece of 12mm plate. Holeswere drilled in the draw bar and mounting lugs and the pin put in place. A checkwith the string line and the lugs were welded on. The photo is showing thetrailer frame upside down.

[Rip it up]

Just a query. Any reason you did not attempt to put a vee in the cross members? Just to lower boat height when launching?

I want to have a crack at an independent suspension setup on my next boat trailer build. I don't think it's too hard to do. Coils springs and shock absorbers.

[block]

Rip it up
I was keen to put a vee in the cross member. A mate up the road has much the same set up with a tilt and no vee, so we took it down the boat ramp and I was so impressed with how it worked I now have added tilt to my trailer. The suspension will be springs, more on that next week. I have to go back to work to pay for it.

[CT]

Nice welds! Mig?

[Dan1985]

Hey block Im currently making the same style tilt trailer out of 100x50 C section what kind of springs are you putting under your??

Im not to sure if I should go with standard hilux springs the same as the ute towing or another style??

[Corry]

I want to have a crack at an independent suspension setup on my next boat trailer build. I don't think it's too hard to do. Coils springs and shock absorbers.

We're looking at building an offroad trailer for our 5m Top Ender, it will run independent suspension under it, probably from Vehicle Components (http://www.vehiclecomponents.com.au/products/cruisemaster) pretty set on air bags, that way we can lower it when launching, but it might end up being coils, mainly for ease. I'm also gunna set the keel on multiple rollers, as many as we can fit along it, and the sides will be supported by the small tinny wheels, the single bearing type, or go kart wheels.

Corry

[The Mad Cat]

My two bobs worth learnt from experience is don't make the springs too heavy as they need to work and not be too rigid as the boat cops all the jarring on bad roads.
Looks a great job.

TMC

[block]

It has been a sometime since I have posted an update so here is how things are going. The axel is a 45 mm square with ESS bearings (parallel bearings) rated to 1900kg. The springs are 7 leaf off road with a rebound spring 65mm wide rated to 1000kg. At first I was concerned that the spring would be to hard but after putting the boat on the trailer with some fishing/camping gear in it the spring have a nice amount of “spring” in them.
The winch tree is mounted with u-bolts to allow for adjustment. On a big trip up north the trailer will be carrying a lot more weight then the day to day use at home for the rest of the year, so I may want to move things around a bit to get the draw bar weight right. That is way the springs are mounted to uneven angle, they also can be move back and forward to get the weight right.
The pivot point- tilt has a quick hitch pin and for the long trip north I have add a high tensile bolt to help lock all in place. The bolt will only be used on the trip up and back.
Regards
Dwane