In summer 2014, I acquired the remains of one light-duty utility trailer from my father, with the intention to clean it up and restore it, and modify it as needed to be a small boat trailer. I want to be able to carry one kayak, canoe, or small sailboat, along with gear. I decided I would also document this project in HTML and JPEG, hence this website.

Phase 4: Finishing Touches

It is a trailer again. It looks nice. It is able to hook up to a vehicle and go. Just a few little tweaks left to make it ready to carry a boat. And maybe a few extra "nice to haves."

Week 30: May 2, 2015

Picking up where Phase 3 left on on Thursday, April 30, we now come to Phase 4 on Friday May 1.

Time to make it into a boat carrier. I debated all winter over how to do this, but after speaking with the dealer where I bought my newer boat, he suggested PVC rails with foam insulation matching to the tracking channels on the bottom on the boat's hull. So that's exactly what I did. I cut the PVC pipes and insultation to length, then cut six peices of 2x4 stud with a half-circle gap on the top sides. The 2x4s are glued to the bottom of the PVC rails with a small wood screw keeping them secured. The 2x4 in the center just rests on the trailer frame, but the ones on the ends have holes drilled through for a bolt and wing-nut. I used a belt sander to angle the upper ends of the rail to allow access to these bolts.

Saturday morning I continued to work on the boat rails. There was some finessing to do with the alignment of the 2x4s to trailer frame, and in turn to the PVC pipes. Since there were already holes in the frame intended to secure a plywood deck that were within 1/4 inch of where I wanted the rails, I just used the existing holes. This means they don't quite match the boat's tracking channels 100% perfect, but close enough.

Boat support rails

Saturday afternoon, everything was looking so good that I put it to use and went kayaking!

The future?

It isn't "done" so there will be more to say here on this page. For example, I want to put a tube to carry masts and sails, and am contemplating putting some sort of box to carry gear, using the stakes to hold the box over top of the boat. This is a big maybe. However, it is done enough that I probably won't be working on it as intently, and thus not posting here regularly any more.

Thanks for reading!