I have designed a trailer to carry our 2 outbacks. These boats will be carried side x side and will fit between the 2 mudguards which will make the trailer 2.3 towing width. The purpose of the side x side is to get the boats as low as possible as age and shoulder problems make it to difficult to lift them up onto anything to high. The manufacturer is putting it on 13" wheels and has suggested brackets that I will be able to fit skids to as supports. The question is am I better to have full length skid supports or just have a front and rear support the width of the trailer. I was thinking if making the supports out of hardwood and then using padding or the teflon strips.
Thanks

I think full length would be better as it reduces the weight per cm therefore reducing the chance of wear and pressure dents in the hull. I have used 90 x 45 pine rails with a rounded edge positioned to sit in the inverted V's in the hull. The PA slides easily enough along it because the poly is slippery anyway. I could do pics but I can't upload to the forum cos I can't make them small enough.

Thanks for the reply Spider,
I talked to the trailer guy yesterday and we are going for the full length rails, he is going to make them of steel tube curved down a bit at the stern and covered with Teflon strips on top. They will be adjustable, so it should work out OK.

jaybird01 wrote:Thanks for the reply Spider,
I talked to the trailer guy yesterday and we are going for the full length rails, he is going to make them of steel tube curved down a bit at the stern and covered with Teflon strips on top. They will be adjustable, so it should work out OK.

Is the bottom of an outback hull flat? On my revo I support at 3 points and the central point is lower than front and back due to hull curvature, even if only slight

spider25160 wrote:I think full length would be better as it reduces the weight per cm therefore reducing the chance of wear and pressure dents in the hull. I have used 90 x 45 pine rails with a rounded edge positioned to sit in the inverted V's in the hull. The PA slides easily enough along it because the poly is slippery anyway. I could do pics but I can't upload to the forum cos I can't make them small enough.

To resize, right click on photo, select edit, this will open in paint, go to tab at top and click to resize, you then get choice of % or pixel. Usually 1200 pixel horizontal is fine for forums. Close and choose to save. I make a copy first rather than resizing original

laneends wrote:

jaybird01 wrote:Thanks for the reply Spider,
I talked to the trailer guy yesterday and we are going for the full length rails, he is going to make them of steel tube curved down a bit at the stern and covered with Teflon strips on top. They will be adjustable, so it should work out OK.

Is the bottom of an outback hull flat? On my revo I support at 3 points and the central point is lower than front and back due to hull curvature, even if only slight

I went for heavy duty PVC on my trailer rails for this reason. The PVC bends to match the hull line and give support along the full length.

x2 on the pvc. I have it fixed to cross members at front an rear with the central lower resting on a central cross member but not fixed so it flex to follow the chimes, on mine chimes are also wider in the middle. Outbacks are probably different though

The Outback is not flat but has a slight curve, The rail in the build will not be made until I take the boats up and show them just before trailer completion. At the moment I have them on a box trailer just supported front and back so may go down the same track with 2 short rails in the middle of the boat for side to side support. Its all an experiment with the main aim to get them as easy to load as possible.

Rails are the way to go for ease of loading/unloading. I used to just support the AI on each end of the box plus a forward mount but the yak tends to slide about getting on and off. The rails keep it in line and make for a smoother process.

laneends wrote:

spider25160 wrote:I think full length would be better as it reduces the weight per cm therefore reducing the chance of wear and pressure dents in the hull. I have used 90 x 45 pine rails with a rounded edge positioned to sit in the inverted V's in the hull. The PA slides easily enough along it because the poly is slippery anyway. I could do pics but I can't upload to the forum cos I can't make them small enough.

To resize, right click on photo, select edit, this will open in paint, go to tab at top and click to resize, you then get choice of % or pixel. Usually 1200 pixel horizontal is fine for forums. Close and choose to save. I make a copy first rather than resizing original

I have tried this before and all it does is turn the pic into thumbnail. I have been advised some apps and tried 2 or 3 of them but none of them will work for me for some reason. On an older pc I had a program that was quick and easy to resize the data without affecting anything else but that was an older pc.