6x4 box for the wifes car

Millzee
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6x4 box for the wifes car

Post by Millzee »

I've had my outback for over a year now and have my ute set up to transport the yak but we've been taking two cars away on most of our trips as my wife refuses to go in my ute, lol. Unfortunately for me this often means that the yak stays home and I miss out on fishing in some great spots. I've been thinking for a long time about a trailer and a few weeks ago my brother inlaw gave us his 6x4 trailer and his MIG wielder to pay us debt he owed so I got stuck into it.
I have had to do quite a bit of work to get it to the stage it's at now, I've replaced the axle and springs, new bearings, new tires (hub caps) and added a 120ah AGM battery and charger, lighting and marine carpet. The trailer had a dodgy frame on it that I cut off and modified to suit and reinforced it to be strong enough to support a couple of yaks up top, I also lowered the height so it'll be easier to load the yak. The frame is covered with 2mm sheet metal and the seams have been wielded followed by a few tubes of silicon to ensure the box is water proof. The rear door has a good locking system on it to protect our gear from would be thieves as with the battery box up front. I painted the inside and out with killrust so it should be good around the salt water and had a fella I know make up the sticker to finish it off. The inside of the trailer has 2x 12v heavy duty sockets to run our fridge/freezer and whatever other things might come along. An interior LED light has it's own switch so we can find what we're looking for in the dark and the battery box also has a switched LED light made from a 1m sticky back LED strip. I got a little carried away with the led strips but I'm happy with the results, it's hard to get a good pic but you'll get the idea.
To make loading and unloading easier, I added a drop down support leg so I can take the trailer off the car, wind the jockey wheel all the way up and lower the rear leg to stop the trailer from tipping backwards, this allows me to slide the yak fully loaded onto the pvc tubes with ease. Of coarse, there's a 150mm rod tube with locks on each end on the roof to keep the rods safe. Happy fishing fellas, I hope my ideas may come in handy at some point, my wife is now talking about buying a tent, camp stove and kitchen so we can go camping and fishing :thumbsup:
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shane
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Re: 6x4 box for the wifes car

Post by shane »

Nice job Danny.

You may want to check what the rear overhang is with the yak as some cops will book you if its too long. There's a recent thread on here that goes into a lot of detail about what's required. If the overhang is too much you can add a longer draw-bar or make a telescopic one.
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Jay
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Re: 6x4 box for the wifes car

Post by Jay »

Top job mate :up:

Regarding overhang, I see tradesman all the time with timbers or long pieces of metal hanging out a meter or so passed their tailgate and they have a little fluoro vest tied to the end of it... Never seen anyone get booked before
norska
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Re: 6x4 box for the wifes car

Post by norska »

Nice work! Very impressive!
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Hvalross
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Re: 6x4 box for the wifes car

Post by Hvalross »

Very neat and well thought out :thumbsup:
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Millzee
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Re: 6x4 box for the wifes car

Post by Millzee »

I'm having a 3m 75x75 4mm length of steel tube wielded to the trailer this week to extend the drawbar so the yak can slide forward to make this travel trailer 100% legal. I loaded up the yak and took it to the RTA yesterday and the fella said he'd be happy to take it off my hands but unfortunately with the overhang at 800mm, it's not legal. I'll post up some new pic's when it's all finished, then it'll be going on the market with the yak as a package due to our family deciding to buy a boat. It's been a tough decision but with three young boy's, I really want to get them involved in fishing and they are showing a lot of interest so a boat it is.
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GoneFishn
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Re: 6x4 box for the wifes car

Post by GoneFishn »

Just a heads up any kayaks on a box trailer with rear or front overhang is technically illegal. The load must be with in the box/tray of the trailer.
I spoke with one of the supervisors at vicroads about this as I was about to get a trailer modified. Even having a support bar on the draw bar would not help. It all comes down ton insurance. Have an accident and kayak has caused damage of any kind no cover and big fine. Get the wrong cop on the wrong day you get a fine. Register box trailer as boat trailer use for anything else other than boat haulage fined. So I got roofracks :up:
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Millzee
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Re: 6x4 box for the wifes car

Post by Millzee »

Not sure why different people would say different things? I've just RTA and they say this is perfectly legal. It's registered
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GoneFishn
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Re: 6x4 box for the wifes car

Post by GoneFishn »

Millzee wrote:Not sure why different people would say different things? I've just RTA and they say this is perfectly legal. It's registered
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The trailer in itself is legal how you use it may be the sticking point. Either way you have to be unlucky to get the one cop who is a stickler for the rules :thumbsup:
The guy I spoke to at Vicroads new his S#!^ and understood the problems faced with transporting kayaks as he too is a kayaker.
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GoneFishn
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Re: 6x4 box for the wifes car

Post by GoneFishn »

P.S. nice loozing trailer :up:
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