Car Hauler for transporting large Raft?

[Yukon77]

Folks,

For mulit-use purposes, I am considering getting an 18 foot 7K rated car hauler to transport my 18 raft - and then to have available for all-purpose use.

Its a steel trailer - weighs about 2,000 pounds, with an 18 foot long 2X4" deck with about 6 foot 9 inches between the wheel fenders. The raft is 8 foot wide (and of course contoured) and I envision building up the deck height a little to miss the fenders.

My buddy has a mid sized Kabota that measures 17 foot long and six feet wide with the bucket and blade down (4K weight total). I'm thinking the car hauling is something that might come in real handy for our retirement years projects.

 

[jsmackin]

Sounds like a fine plan, but... I have a 14' aluminum SM/4W double axle trailer - it works well also. In the lower 48 I see lots of folks using a system similar to what you're planning - only smaller. They design the trailer so that they can use the built up section as storage for rafting gear. I only see two issues with your plan - I had the same plan a while back. Once you deck your trailer so you can carry your raft it's unlikely it will support heavy equipment - so the deck addition will likely need to be removable. The trailer is maybe a bit large and heavy to use on many of the "boat launch/recovery ramps" on many of our rivers. Kenai and other rivers do have improved ramps that would handle your set up - many do not. There are a number of places where it's useful to unhitch the trailer and man it around in tight spots - hard to do with a trailer you describe. For many years I trailered an 18 foot raft with a 14 footer on top of it on my old 8X10 tilt trailer (extended tongue) and it worked just fine. If I was you I'd get another smaller SM/FW trailer for my raft. Two trailers come with the consequence of taking up room in the yard/driveway. No free lunch - good luck.

 

[Michael Strahan]

Don't know if you're the do-it-yourself type, but you might save some money by building it yourself. Our store on the site here has a number of trailer plans put together by Mike Raywalt, who used to own a shop in Delta Junction. Mike's retired now, but his plans live on and you can order them here. HERE IS THE LINK to his different car hauler trailer plans, you might give them a look.

Regards,

-Mike