Boat trailer ----> car hauler conversion

[bull]

Have any of you ever converted a boat trailer into a car hauler? There's a business near my home (that I call the boat junk yard) where they sell used boats and trailers. I'm thinking I could probably pick up a tandem axle boat trailer for a pretty good price and possibly convert it into a car hauler. Is it doable?

[skip68]

Mr.Skip68 was gonna do that too, we even got a trailer,...but we left it in Ca. when we moved. He never finished it completly but I bet he will have some info for you that might come in handy. I'll let him know when he gets home.
Mrs.Skip68

[Brock Samson]

this is interesting i'm thinking of making a trailor to tow behind my charger,.. perhaps chopping the rear off a c-body and using the trunk, know what I mean?
just bought a hitch yesterday, two inch drop.

[Charger_Fan]

I've got the flip side for ya...how about converting a van into a boat hauler?

[Back N Black]

Hey Brock i was thinking the same, only i am planning on using the rear of a 69 charger (my parts car) what you think?
I saw a corvette last summer with the ass end off a old corvette as trailer.

[Old Moparz]

I suppose it depends on the total cost as well as whether the axles & brakes are all in good working order. I bought this heavy duty 16' car hauler in 2004 brand new for $1725.00 ready to go. Beaver tail, ramps, brakes on both axles, stake pockets on the sides, & all framing under the deck is 16" on center, & it has a 7000 gross rating.

http://www.loadtrail.com/ch3512.htm

You could convert one I'm sure, but the cost might be prohibitive.

[bull]

I suppose it depends on the total cost as well as whether the axles & brakes are all in good working order. I bought this heavy duty 16' car hauler in 2004 brand new for $1725.00 ready to go. Beaver tail, ramps, brakes on both axles, stake pockets on the sides, & all framing under the deck is 16" on center, & it has a 7000 gross rating.

http://www.loadtrail.com/ch3512.htm

You could convert one I'm sure, but the cost might be prohibitive.

Yea, might be. And the price on yours seems very reasonable.

If I did it I'd want to keep it real simple otherwise it wouldn't be worth it. Rather than do a full platform I would probably lay down two long chunks of channel iron for the wheels. But another thing I wonder about is where the deck height would end up on a boat trailer. The frames look to be a lot taller than on a flatbed hauler.

[PocketThunder]

Where are you gonna store it?  Arent you short on space at home like the rest of us?

[bull]

Where are you gonna store it?  Arent you short on space at home like the rest of us?

Yes, but I have an empty RV pad. I'm not going to store my Charger out there in the rain so until I get it finished and buy one of those car bubble thingies it's staying inside the garage. But don't ask me where the trailer would go after the car is done.

[NHCharger]

I agree with OM. By the time you finish dicking around converting the boat trailer, you could just buy a trailer. I bought one new just like Bob's, except it was 18' for $ 2,100. about 4 years ago. I have piece of mind knowing my trailer was engineered to handle the weight of my car. With the amount of money we have in our cars, why risk jury rigging a trailer?

[GTX]

One thing to consider is that you'll need axles with a rating of at least 3500# each. That's probably not really an issue if you get a boat trailer from a large boat but many regular smaller boats (i.e, the type you usually see on most lakes) don't weigh enough to warrant a 7000# spec trailer and come with lighter axles.
I have a 20' Tahiti jet boat that uses a dual axle trailer but those axles are lighter than 3500#, heck the boat is only around a ton! My old 18' flat bottom was on a single axle and our 30' day cruisers are bigger but those trailers would be large and expensive even used I'll bet.
All this isn't even mentioning the capacity of the coupler and jack which of course need to be up to the weight of a car and max tongue weight.
There is also axle location relative to the trailer since a boat trailer would be made for towing a boat of the weight and balance that it was designed for and not really a car. I doubt many boats balance out the same as a car front to rear ratio wise.
I sure wouldn't want to tow a classic car on a trailer that not balanced right or over loaded on one or both axles.
Oh, and then there are the brakes.......

I've also seen a ton of boat trailers with ruined axles after all the use they see over years in and out of water etc and even over rocks. That was also why I chose to build my own new and not buy used for a classic car. How would you like to be cruising down the road and have a 30 year old axle go bad with your Charger on top of it?

Even after you buy the boat trailer you are going to have to do some fab work and welding since the trailer will be designed and spec'd for a 'v' hull and not a flat bed.


Sounds like too many maybe and sort of 's that could be real dangerous if not right. 


Last Summer I built an 18' trailer with a drop deck at the last 3', 16" spacing and steel deck. It's rated at 7000# but I could have built it for more by using heavier steel and axles. I think I'm into it a little under 2k and a heck of a lot of work. This includes a built in tool box and a small winch. It looks very much like the one above but with a steel plate deck.
I bought the plans off ebay and they were pretty straight forward except for a few very minor engineering corrections we made.

(I went with 18' since I didn't want the back end of my car getting rear ended while hanging over the back by people looking at the car and not the brake lights. I saw that on a car once!) 


My 2 cents worth.

[onemintcaddy]

Get a 70's eldo and a cabover body and make one