Thanks to Shaun for starting his project, I'm now the proud owner of this lovely brown trailer. Picked it up for $120 in Arlington today. 17'4" and 6' 2" between the wells. Big plans in store for this guy, so stayed tuned.

Perfect Josh It looks like it's in great shape too.
I cant wait to see what you have in store. Are you going for a 4 seat, or a six?

Can't wait to see it completed so I can stick a brite pink unicorn sticker on it keep us posted on the project.

The only thing that needs to be replaced is the bearing on the passenger side, but I'm going to replace both just because. Just a little bit of surface rust which I'll have to address.

Aiming for it ultimately holding 10-12 yaks with a giant locking box. The trailer is ultimately for HOW use, so I want a high capacity for the big outings.

Darn I can't deface a HOW trailer with a pink unicorn can't wait to see it done none the less, plus its for a great cause too.

Looks like a great platform Josh. You adding a gear box?

Yup,and a large one at that; 8' x 6' x 2' ish. It will have a rod locker and plenty of room for crates, paddles, etc under dual doors. Lots of wood work in the project, but first I've got to get the trailer prepped.

I'd like to see how you do the gear box myself. I would love to do that also.

Nice!

Cool prodject. I recommend you do both bearings. I had a little wheel bearing issue once. Wheel missed my wifes car by inches and totaled my nieghbors truck. A few dollars and a little work saves a lot of dollars.

I will be doing both bearings. Tonight I'm going to strip her down and probably separate the springs/axle from the rest of the trailer to help with the prep work. She won't be a brown for too long.

Nuemie, I've got a pick-up bed tool box that I'm not using. Zombo gave it to me for my trailer but it ended up being too big for my little trailer. If you can use it for you're HOW trailer it is yours. I'm sure Nate will approve of it being passed on to such a worthy purpose...

Thanks for the offer, but right now the plan is to have 96 cubic feet of locking storage on the trailer. I also have a tool box that's just collecting dust, but I don't think I'll need it either.

That's cool. My wife always needs a place to stack more chit in my garage...

Questions

I'm basically doing a nut and bolt restoration of the trailer. I'm going to have to remove some stickers and surface rust any ways so I was just going to repaint it black. I plan on using primer/paint from RustOleum. Any other options or opinions you may have?

Also, can I go to the DMV with my Bill of Sale now to to get tags and title, or do I have to wait and finish the trailer so I can prove it's home built?

Home built is not that big of a deal. Might have some prints just in case. No need in registering it until Ur done anyways.

Ha ha my good buddy paints all of his trailers with Rustoleum red primer. He keeps cans both at his shop and home. Any time he sees a little rust, pshhh! As good as new. Whatever works right?

Did the trailer ever have VIN?

Bill of sale is all you need, take the old plates with you. Instead of paint when I get to redoing my boat trailer I am going to use the roll on bed liner to prevent rust and it won't chip and expose metal.

Now that's a pretty good idea. I never thought about that. I wonder how much it would cost? Will it go over wood?

I'm going to need some sort of trailer pretty quick. Just picked up a used OK Frenzy for one of my kids and I need at least one more yak. Don't know if I can even get 2 safely tied to the top of the minivan, but I think it should be doable.

Now that's a good idea. I'll have to see how much that stuff costs.

Josh, I guess we shouldn't act so surprised when Bert comes up with a good idea.

Hi Bert!

***Update***

Got it stripped all the way down to frame, springs, axles and wheels. I got to do a good once over and it looks mostly like surface rust.

I got a bit of a surprise when I discovered one tire is larger than the other! There is a silver lining however. The smaller tire/rim is in worse shape than the larger tire/rim, so I have no problems buying a larger tire and new rim.

Thursday and Friday I'll be doing prep work with sand paper and wire brush to break loose the surface rust. Will also replace/repack the bearings on both sides.





I will need to rent preferable an angle grinder with cutting disk to remove some metal I don't want. Any ideas where I could do this? Reciprocating saw could also work, but not as efficiently (or fun). Most of my larger power tools are back home at the ranch. I want to remove the center roller bracket and light frames seen in this photo.

To bad you don't live closer. I'm going to get a grinder at home depot here in the next couple days. I have some grinding to do on mine too.

Ooops, some more bad news. The larger tire on my trailer is a 195/70 R14, which apparently doesn't exist anymore. Which sucks, because it's in really good shape. Looks like 2 new sets of tires/rims.

I have seen the bed liner stuff range from 60-120$ a gallon, to me the extra cost of not having to worry about rust is worth it. You can also find it in a smooth texture but that is usually more costly. It will adhere to wood, I am using it inside all the compartments of the boat as I put it back together to do away with the carpet.

One suggestion Shaun, if you are using any wood on the trailer treat it with fiberglass resin and truly waterproof it to make it last longer.

I have a heavy duty Dewalt angle grinder in the garage Josh if you want to borrow it.

Josh I forgot to mention to spend a little more and go with radial trailer tires as much as you will be going on the road with them. The bias ply are cheaper but if you ever use them on a long trip they can get out of round and will wear faster. Keep the old 195 as a spare rather than buying a new one would be my suggestion as well.

I should mention there is more of a process to this than just slapping the resin on a board, if you decide to do it let me know and I will post up the how to waterproof any wood with fiberglass resin and acetone.

I gutted and sprayed the interior of my jeep with a product called Raptor Liner. It is $100 and it comes with a gun that you can hook up to your air compressor and spray it on. It works much better than the roll on stuff especially in hard to reach spots.


http://www.tptools.com/p/2600,233_U-Pol-Raptor-Truck-Bed-Liner-Kit.html

Today was grinding day. I've spent the last 6-7 hours with an angle grinder and wire cup brush on the entire trailer. What I couldn't get with that I used a wire wheel or just an good ol' wire brush. After that I hit the trailer with a paint/rust sanding pad to give the RustOleum primer some key. I then temporarily hooked the lights up and pulled the trailer to the local car wash to give it a good blasting.



After I got her back and air dried, put it back in the garage, put it on stands and pulled the axle. I wanted to pull the springs too, but that wasn't happening. I pulled the bearings and hubs. After grinding all day today, I said, "F it, I'm just going to buy new hubs and all." I degreased the spindles and where there was still WD40 frame, and finished up grinding the axle and springs.

I know it doesn't look like I've done much, but it's been a long day prepping for paint. Of course, Mother Nature is throwing another Thunderstorm my way tonight, so I may not get to lay down primer like I have hoped.

Northern Tools and I are becoming fast friends with this project.

Looking good. I gotta get a trailer for my fleet. I don't think I'd have time for a rehab project, but if the price is right I might give it a shot.

Well, it really wasn't supposed to be a rehab project. But, once I started unbolting things and accessing what really needed to be done, I decided to do it right and basically do a nuts and bolts restoration. The trailer frame, springs and axle are in great shape, just some surface rust that needed attention. New hubs/bearings and wheels/tires are all that is necessary to bring it back to a rolling chassis. The trailer will be spending a lot of time on the road because of HOW and my frequent trips to the coast, so I'm getting radial tires (more $$$). I'll also up grade to galvanized rims.

Of course that lead me to wanting to prime the entire trailer instead of just the spots I knocked off the rust. So I roughed up the rest of the trailer for primer. This will let me have a nice surface for the topcoat.

Now I'm not sure what I want to use for the topcoat. I really, really want to use Herculiner, but I get a headache thinking about the cost. I have to factor in new rims/tires, plywoood (have y'all priced this stuff recently??? ), and all the other little tidbits. RustOleum would be the cheaper route, and I think it'll do a great job, but that Herculiner is some nice stuff.

Yo Newmi, howdy from AKF! Been watching your progress and you are doing well. I highly suggest using a quart of Rustoleum top coat and a brush/small roller. If you seal it with bedliner, somewhere, rust will get underneath and will go undetected until the metal fails. Can't see the bubble like you can with paint. Good skills my friend, can't wait till fall red run!

Man I'm sorry to here about the hick ups your having on your trailer. Your doing it right though.
When your finished and all is said and done, you'll be really be glad you did it right.
Nothing would be worst then being half way down to the cost and have a hub seize up. Looking good keep at it.

I spent the day rigging up Deb's kayak. I didn't even have time to work on my trailer.

The only hiccups so far are the rims/tires. I'll chaulk that up to not being astute when I went to look at the trailer. I was probably going to replace the hubs/bearings regardless of the trailer I ended up with. Of course, there's also my penchant for "over engineering" anything and everything I build.

I'm just getting started on the Bugatti Veyron of kayak trailers.

Likes like a hell of a project, Josh. I'm tired just from reading about all the work you've done so far. Keep us posted.

Finally, something that looks like progress!!



Got the primer laid down this morning. I went from owning a metallic brown to a brownish-red trailer. Oh well, it finally feels like something is getting done.

I went to Lowes first thing this morning to price wood out and other little tidbits. Oh, their stainless steel selection blows, I'm going to have to run to Home Depot or Ace Hardware. On the way back I checked my mail and saw that Uncle Sam decided I paid too much in taxes this year and wanted to give some back to me. That'll make the new rims and tires purchases easier to swallow.

I've decided to go with RustOleum topcoat for finishing coat.

i found that a paint and brush cost a lot less than spray cans. hope it helps. lookin good neumie

FZ, I'm only spray painting the axle. The frame and everything else are being done with a brush. Top coat will be on tonight.

Looks great so far, Neumie.

Keep those progress reports coming. It will be really neat to see the entire process.

What was once metallic brown is now semi-gloss black.

Paint made a huge difference. Are you putting in a floor?

Yeah, I'll be putting in a floor. As you can see the cross members aren't straight, so I'll have to figure out how to create a level floor. I have a plan in place, I just have to put a little more thought into it. I also want to put it back into a rolling chassis before I begin building the floor and box, so next week will be new hubs and rims/tires.

I won't be getting a lot done on the trailer the rest of the week. Tonight I'll have to do some touching up, Wednesday night is Pub night, Thursday laundry, and the Friday I'll be heading home for Memorial Day weekend and the church picnic. I'll jump back on the project Monday night.

Elliot's hardware in Plano probably has the best selection I have seen of stainless fasteners in the metromess, west marine is pretty good too but they are awful proud of it.

Ok, I finally have done some work on the trailer yesterday and today. Took my grinder with cut off wheel and removed the metal supports for the side stepping platforms and a few tabs on the back of the trailer (aka shin busters), primed the metal and painted it black.





Tomorrow morning I'm ordering 14"galvanized wheels and Carlisle radial tires from Discount. I'll also pull the axle (again), remove the wheels/tires and measure to buy the appropriate new hubs & bearings. The trailer will be back in rolling chassis and in a fully restored state from when I bought her by next week. I'm heading to Rockport with the family again for the Fourth of July weekend and will be in San Antonio the following Wednesday-Sunday. So I'll be on a break for another two weeks before I get back to her. Then the real fun begins when I start building her out.

Well, I got the trailer back in rolling form. New hubs, bearings, Bearing Buddies. Rolling on new 14" galvanized wheels and Carlisle radial tires. I wanted to get it back in rolling form before the weekend since I'll be out of town for the next week and a half.

Of course, it's another step forward and two back. I noticed when I rolled it into the garage that the trailer wasn't sitting level. Sure enough the driver side is sitting 3/8" lower than the passenger side. Measured the springs and found out they're different. So, when I get back on the trailer I'll have to decide which spring I'm going to with. This "cheap" trailer is costing me a fortune.

Bummer!

That stinks about the extra costs, but doing it right always comes with a higher price tag. Looks great!

This.

Looking better all the time Josh.

If it only 3/8 inch difference and they are the same load range springs I wouldn't worry about it. As long as it doesn't rub or drag when it's loaded it should be fine. Just load the heavier kayaks on the high side.

Yeah, but I'll know that the driver side is shorter by 3/8" and it'll annoy me. Plus, I did the scientific "bounce on the frame above the spring to see how much it deflects" test and the spring on the diver side is much stiffer than the passenger side. I would rather swap them out without anything built on the trailer than when it's finished.

Well our resident "know-it-all" & Shaun have inspired me to try my hand in fixing up a trailer for my kayak & canoe. Also on my last outing on GV, I got tired of waiting for all the power boats to launch and load up I attempted to carry my kayak to my truck. I only managed to some what carry it over some rocks and drag it the rest of the way on grass, but managed to still get a couple of deep scrapes. After getting to my truck, I was so tired I felt like I was going to pass out gasping for air. After pouring 2 bottles of ice cold water over my head & face, I felt a little better to load mt kayak on to my truck bed. I won't be attempting that that anymore. With all those people around, no asked if I needed any help, but then again I didn't ask either. So, I have this boat & trailer that I bought from craigslist (my wife calls it my $1500 mistake since it has never seen the water since I bought it) I just might as well use the trailer for something. Just need to know how to get rid of the boat. May try to sell the boat & keep the trailer. If I can't find a buyer, may just give it away....To be continued

Ren, what kind of boat and trailer? Does it run?

It's a 1984 Phantom with 90hp Chrysler motor on a Dilly trailer. When I got the boat, the motor ran pretty good. I put in the shop to get the motor tuned up, but the mechanic said he won't fix it until I get the transom fixed. The guy I bought it from "neglect" to tell me about the transom problem. 1st time buying a boat, so I didn't know to check for that kinda stuff. Pretty much got had. Called around and the cheapest to get the transom fix was $1700. So it's been sitting in the backyard for going on 4yrs now. Still don't wanna give in to the wifey & say it was a mistake... But just don't have the money to fix it. Wanna fix it myself, but don't even know how to begin. Be awesome if I can find a buyer, but with the transom problem and no title for the motor it's gonna be hard. Have titles for boat & trailer though.

ya but but sure look sweet.
i bought some springs once at
norther tool. looks like its
been done right & should be yrs
before you have to do much to it
again

Sorry to hear you are having to spend so much time on the underneath of the trailer Josh. Have you had a chance to plan out how you want to the rack to be?

Ok, for a change of pace I decided to stay up here and work on the trailer instead of put 1000 miles on my truck. I ran over to Ace Hardware Friday after work and was surprised by the volume of stainless steel hardware, but not the price. Why does that stuff cost so much? Anyways, after that I ran to Lowes for the wood and paint.

Yesterday, I got most of the sub-frame built, but by 2 the heat started to get to me. I lag screwed from beneath the frame. Wood on Wood got Gorilla glue and wood on metal got an exterior chalk/adhesive. There will be bolts running through the frame, but I have to wait to build box frame before I do so. I had to notch the bottoms of the wood frame to go over the metal frame.




The uprights were notched to fit around the center 2x6 and then bolted on using angle steel. The front upright was through bolted through the trailer frame. I added some cross bracing for the rear upright. Both uprights are pretty solid as is, but they are designed to be incorporated into the box frame for added support/bracing.






I cut out the plywood for the deck, cut the notches for the post and just temporarily attached them. I need to be able to remove them to paint the sub-frame and bottom of the deck. This should give you an idea about what's going on.

Looking good Josh. I can here the cash register starting to add up $$$ now.

Yeah, I won't be posting the final cost like I thought I would.

Great work, Josh.

Starting to look like you'll be paddling the trailer around. Looking good Josh.

Well, I got two coats of paint on the cross members and bottom of the deck. I used gorilla glue and stainless steel screws to attach the deck (no pic).



I did some measuring and am in the process of determining how deep of a box to build. I think 20" will be sufficient.

Oh, I'm downgrading the capacity to only 8 kayaks after doing some measuring.

Looking good Josh.

Dang that thing is coming together.

Nice build.

Ok, 100+ heat gone, so I got some work done on the trailer.

Crafty

More progress tonight. I got the Cross members installed and threw my 15ft Search on it to show the size of the trailer.

Very nice

Looking good Bob!

Looking good Josh. Now hurry up. Good heavens. I've got mine built and thousands of miles on it already!!!

More progress.....

I made up the sloped pieces so there would be a slope to both the doors.


Then attached the center cross members along the top of the box and top of the tree.


The trees weren't vertical, so I used my ratchets to get everything square and ran diagonal cables to keep everything square when traveling down the road.


Finally I boxed in the box. It's getting so close I can finally see the finish line.

One more picture outside.

Looking good!

Interior is painted. I went ahead and just used plywood for the doors and used southern yellow pine for the frame. All that's left is to paint the exterior, run the lights, and put the padding on the cross members. And maybe a few small things, but I should have it at the G2G so I can put my new Ride on it.

It's getting there! What color will it be, or will it be natural wood?

It's going to be grey. I'll have HOW decals made up for it.

SHE'S DONE!!!!


Ok, maybe just 95%, but close enough to use.





She looks good with my new Ride 135 sitting on it.

I want to thank everyone who's been patiently following this thread. The project has taken 3x as long as I thought and a dollar or two past budget but will be well worth it. I'm genuinely proud about the way it's turned out. Thanks a bunch.

Josh

Looks good Josh. Even better with a kayak loaded up on her now.