Fish'n'Dives Outback & Trailer Setup

[Seasherpa]

Looking good mate.
Your outback has become a real weapon.

That's what happens when it rains mate, can't fish will tinker!

[Seasherpa]

Hoping to hit the Murray up Yarrawonga way for a bit next week with a mate that lives up that way so I decided to prep the trailer for the road trip. I wanted to stick on a set of rails to hold another yak so that it wouldn't scratch up the outback by stacking them. I figure it will come in handy for snapper season too and if Merv and I hit the crater lakes for a run in the fresh we can just take the one car. I gave cheater a shout with a sketch of what I was after and he gave it a look at Lang Lang ramp before launching that weekend. I couldn't use standard 'n' shaped rails as my yak overhangs the frame on one side so extenders had to be made too, but Cheater reckoned it was a pretty straightforward task. He even saved me the job of painting it and did a ripper job, I'd highly recommend him
Here's the end result which I'm wrapped with:

Rails on and ready to go.

Bolts on flush on one side.

Extender to get out past the yak

Stole an idea from Munroe's trailer and got Cheater to weld the top rail above the side legs rather than flush, This allows a length of 35mm RHS to slide in there snugly to use as a rack and roll if I have to put a heavy yak up there at some stage. In the meantime the holes are covered with a set of square furniture plugs I picked up at Clark rubber.

Square plugs

Next job was to add another storage box to keep camping gear separate from the fishing gear, my amas and spare life jacket fit in there too.

Side view with 2 lock boxes

The last little tweak was to relocate the rego plate. The trailers come with one of those brackets that clips on under the tail light but I found it a pain because the vibrations caused even nylock nuts to loosen and the spacings were too wide for rivets so I dumped it and attached the pate to the back of the new lockbox. While I was bolting on the new box I decided to remove the bottom leaf spring and drop the tyre pressure down by 4psi to see if it helps the ride a bit. First road test is hopefully a short one to Millers tomorrow.

Reg plate relocated

First road trip to the fresh:

Setup for the roadtrip

Halfway pitstop

[MrTall]

Might be a good idea to check if a light is required above your rego plate.

[Seasherpa]

Its hard to see it Dave because the lighting is bad in the garage but I've already installed one just above the plate. Nothing fancy just a little LED one from Supercheap auto so I should be covered.

[MrTall]

Yep , my mistake. Its even harder to see when using phone.
Dave

[yakhangger]

Looks the goods mate Nice job Cheater...look forward to giving it a trial.

[Seasherpa]

Looks the goods mate Nice job Cheater...look forward to giving it a trial.

Yep he did a tidy job on it and putting in the brace between the rails adds some more rigidity to the frame of the trailer too.

[yakhangger]

Looks the goods mate Nice job Cheater...look forward to giving it a trial.

Yep he did a tidy job on it and putting in the brace between the rails adds some more rigidity to the frame of the trailer too.

I will have to do the same when I put my rails on to help with flex as well. Good idea

[bjspinner]

Looks good Eoin, what dimensions are the Ali boxes you have put on.

Looking into doing a trailer at the moment.

[Seasherpa]

Looks good Eoin, what dimensions are the Ali boxes you have put on.

Looking into doing a trailer at the moment.

Thanks Bruce,
The small box at the rear is L 700mm x W 400mm x H 350mm. The bars for the hobie sidekick amas fit in diagonally across the base. Plenty long enough for the tent, sleeping bags, snorkeling gear and inflatable mattresses I put in it.
The gullwing box is L 1700mm x W 400mm x H 400mm. Its high enough to fit in a hobie trax cart (wheels off), and long enough to fit a Hobie sail and split paddle.