Ugly Trailer Update.

Bed now bolted to frame to aid the weld.  One wheel and tire purchased, still in need of a second.  Might replace both tires after first season...it all depends.  Still in need of blinker, etc.

She's ugly, guaranteed.... but she makes me happy!

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Question/advice for those that have built their own, or have some structural experience.

I have a friend that is a welder, has access to lots of welding gear, and can get whatever materials I need.  He just needs me to tell him what to build.  My question is about how to build the racks to support four canoes, two on top of two.

The base for this is a homemade utility trailer that I just bought and plan to convert to a combo utility-canoe trailer.  All of the framing is 2 inch square steel tubing, all welded.  On top of the base frame are side rails about 30” off the deck, connected to the frame with three posts.  3/16 aluminum decking and side walls.  5 foot tongue that can be extended to 8 feet.  It is built incredibly solid.  The guy who built it is a retired bridge inspector that started his career in welding.

I think the best option for the bottom canoe rack would be 6.5’ long crossbars welded to 6-12” posts that connect to the trailer’s side rails via bolts – so that they are removable.

My question is about the support needed for the upper rack – is a single centered "I" support per crossbar, perhaps with steel plates cut at 45 degree angles from the vertical to horizontal bars for stability – enough structurally?  Or will I need two vertical supports in the middle, separated by 6-12” (or other distance).  If I can get by with a single vertical support, then I won't have to extend the width of the lower crossbars - but I want this thing to be solid.

This will haul primarily Royalex/plastic boats at 60-70 lbs each.

marlin55388 wrote on Apr 14^th, 2009 at 1:59pm:


 Last 13 years until the Auto industry downturn, I worked as a cable builder.
Crimping/soldering were done on a daily basis. The cables I built were for industrial applications, and water/oil corrosion was always a major consideration. I've used the crimp/shrink connectors both for my personal use as well as at work, and while they have there use, IMHO, I wouldn't use them anyplace that wasn't easily assessable. Trailer wiring, or any vehicle that has the wiring under the frame or in hard to reach places is going to eventually have shorts or broken wires, often at the point of crimp. Vibration/heat/ moisture can and will take there toll.
 IF I was wiring a trailer for myself, this is what I would do. Get some CLEAR heat shrink tubing ( Radio Shack) or the Internet. SOLDER the wires together, slipping a piece of tubing on before you solder. After the solder cools, take some Dielectric grease, and smear on solder connection. Then shrink the clear tubing over the connection, you want about a 3/4" of a inch on the wiring jacket either side.
 The grease will keep out any moisture, The solder is stronger than a crimp, and in the event of a "break", you can see it thru the clear shrink tubing.  Takes longer, but will last longer as well. You don't have to do every connection this way, but the ones that are underneath the trailer or hard to reach are worth the effort. I also like solder on connectors, with clear shrink tubing over the crimped type with the colored plastic.
 A little trick, you can lightly crimp a connector, removing the colored plastic before hand. slide your shrink tubing on before crimping the connector. Lightly crimp, then SOLDER the connector instead of a full crimp. Smear with the grease (lightly), and then shrink the tubing so it cover like the colored plastic. Better connection, plus the clear lets you see any problem.  Often times on a crimp connector, even though it "feels" like its on solid, wires get broken and corroded and you end up spending time and effort tracing the problem. Anyone who has ever spent hours only to find the trailer ground wire was the culprit, even though it appeared solid, knows what I'm taking about. The double ground wire is a great idea. ALONG  with that, make sure the spot you bolt your ground to is clean, and again you can apply the Dielectric grease to contact spot for a better ground. Nothing worse than trying to sort out a wiring problem on your trailer, flat on your back, while the traffic cop is writing you a ticket for defective equipment

Portager-Think about a square gusset plates-diamond when welded on. Then on that gusset plate welding a short section of U channel-open end up-on the gusset plate-with holes drilled thought it to accept bolts that would fasten a section of tubing of the appropriate size for the brace between the two upper rack halfs might work. More than one bolt is going to be better due to the racking action....you made also want to consider using locking nuts for peace of mind...or lock washers at a minimum. It would be relativing easy to tear down for storage. And an alternative to square tubing is rectangular tubing for the horizontals, stronger too depending on the orientation...welding a chain link or hooks on the underside of tubing works good too, for the tie downs....Spray on bed liner has been a good performer on the custom ladder rack on the truck (and I have also seen it using by a trailer makers rather than paint and some folks are using it on the rockers and fender flares of their trucks-or powder coating-or if a forever system is desired make it out of stainless steel-which is stick weldable. Yeah I know stainless is of a higher cost....but think about this...no paint and it is forever-made the investment in rail boxes for the work truck after having carbon steel....the carbon steel had a second coat of paint and they perforated in four years....HOLY BOXES....the stainless in now 5 years old and looks brand new and does not crack like Al...aluminum. The milk truck now has 170,000 plus miles on it and is driven year round. Be warned that stainless is a little harder to work with due to it's cutting (and drilling) characteristics and it does cost more but it is forever! After having experience with it it is a no brainer for me...and heck you will the canoe trailer to that special person! or at least the rack!

Couple more trailer ideas:

Another way to waterproof connections is to use a hot melt glue gun. Squirt melted glue into the shrink tubing first, then heat it and as it shrinks the hot melt glue will ooze out of both ends.

After all of that trailer wiring and rewiring is done make sure that you seal every opening in the channel or tubing where you ran the wire or else you will prbably be doing it over again in a year. Why? Mice, they love to crawl into trailer frames and chew wiring all winter. Come spring your lights will do all sorts of weird things when the insulation is gone from the wires.