Construction ideas needed.

[Jeff Bower]

Perhaps you could find a accordian type of door that would slide on a track (top and bottom). Just unlatch on the back and slide forward out of the way? or a roll up type?

That is the best idea so far IMO...I would think if you use the nylon material it wouldn't be hard to make either.

[Jeff Horton]

That thought crossed my mind while I was on a job today. But I was thinking dividing the door into two sections. Let them fold on themselves and then swing out against the side of the trailer and just bung it off. Simpler than having to deal with tracks and hardware.

Each door could be (3) 3 foot sections. That should be easy enough to handle even in a breeze.

[Jeff Horton]

I did some work in SketchUp, pretty basic but it helped me get this thing into perspective size wise. It's a darn big trailer! But I can see better what I am up against. Need to do some take-offs and get some idea of the amount of wood this would take.

The bifold door idea just might be do-able. Still not sure if it is worth the effort required to build this though.

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Hi Jeff.

I almost missed this one.

Why not give a thought about the way that you are going to load and unload it?
I mean has the idea of a rear door crossed your mind? You could just haul the trailer backwards to the lake shore and slide the kayaks in and out of the water/trailer with the aid of a ratchet pulley from the other end of the trailer and that would need only to put rubber rollers on the supports.
The door could have hinges on its bottom and turn into a ramp when opened similar to a horse carrying trailer.

Then you could secure the kayaks by their ends by securing one end to the door and tightening with the hauling rope from the other end.

You could even make the supports in such a way that the kayaks are inclined lenghtwise and that will ease the loading and unloading the kayaks.
As a side effect you would get two triangular spaces one on each end for storage of life vests and accesories that coud be reached from the sides.

Side compartments for the rows that could be either back loaded like the kayaks or side loaded so that you could cram in other stuff in between spaces could be also added.

I know that kayaks are somewhat lightweighted but they are difficult to manouevre, that's why we have to lift them always from the center and keep the balance hence the side loading door. But if we think about making thing differently we might find less tiring ways of loading them specially after several hours of rowing.

I do not know if I conveyed the idea clearly, I can send you a skecht if needed. If it sounds too crazy just disregard I just let my mind go.

[Jeff Horton]

Your conveyed your idea perfectly Toni. I have thought about that but ruled it out pretty quick. The problem is space. I don't always have the room to load/unload that way.

With a truck, trailer and boat unloaded out the back of the trailer your looking at needing 50 to 60 feet of space. We may be unloading in crowded parking lot of on the side of a road where there isn't much space. A trailer it going to take up a lot of space as it is. But adding 12-20 feet for unloading boats is going to make it even worse.

The more I think about this the more I am leaning toward something like this one. With a short storage box gear.



I love the idea of bring able to store 2 or 3 boats inside the trailer. Just come home, park it and not have to unload it. But this is so much easier to unload than off the top of my truck that it would be huge improvement!

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Well, that makes true the sentence " The simpler the better" Simple to build, specially if you have welding equipment, protected storage of goods below and easy acces from all sides, what else can one expect?, It rowing for you?
That would take away all the fun wouldn't it?

[Dave Richards]

I suppose 20 foot wide tambours would be out of the question?

What about lightweight panels of doorskins with wooden frames? They could ride in tracks similar to garage doors. I have an idea for a track arrangement. How high is the trailer box? Wide?

[Jeff Horton]

Dave, I have about decided this is just not worth the effort or the expense. Been discussing in another forum too and there is just to many issues to work out on this.

One big one is pulling such a big lightweight kite on a windy day! Probably scare the pants of anyone in an adjoining lane.

Someone just posted this photo of their trailer and I am thinking of something similar. Just making it look nicer. The woodworker in me has trouble with construction quality even though I am sure it works just fine!



I am thinking a frame and panel construction just to make it look better.

[Dave Richards]

Aw, c'mon. You know your inner over-engineer is just kicking to get out.

I think you're right though. You'll certainly be able to make it look nicer than that picture. Give it a sort of Arts and Crafts look.

[Jeff Bower]

How about making the storage part look like a really wide and short kayak? Your up for bending, clamping and glueing again aren't you?