Association Forum - Trailering Project for a Swinger

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

Trailering Project for a Swinger

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Page: of 2

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4303 Posts

Response Posted - 09/27/2013 : 20:53:27

I looked for a trailer for a year before I stumbled across one that I bought. It was about 2 years old if I remember correctly and in near perfect condition. It had approx. 200 miles on it at the time I bought it according to the previous owner. I paid $1,500 for it.

It was built for a Hunter 260. I've spent $300 - $400 adapting it to fit my boat.

Make sure you really want/need a trailer. I just had to get a trailer at the time and as of today my boats been on the trailer one time for about 15 minutes. I've got $1,800 - $1,900 invested in my trailer and $2,700 in storage fees ($45/mth X 60 mths) for the past 5 years and the boats only been on it once for a test fit.

I WILL finally be pulling the boat in November or December 2013 for the winter so I can do some maintenance on the wood trim and will polish the hull while it's out so at least I'll get a little bit of use out of it.

Obviously not a very wise investment on my part. I could have used the money I've spent on the trailer to upgrade the sails (a couple of times!). It would have been a lot better use of the money.

Edited by - on

pastmember
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

2402 Posts

Response Posted - 09/28/2013 : 07:19:32

Isn't TrailRite in SoCal? There must be old trailers down there, call them and see if you can get a lead. Or call welders around marinas, if you own a trailer odds are good you will visit a welder about something.

Edited by - on

dacc
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
40 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2013 : 11:30:07

Hey Gary, All,

I was able to find a trucker who's doing the Florida to Seattle drive already to pick up a boat, and he quoted me $0.50/mile to bring the trailer up here on a flat bed. Looks like a legitimate independent operator with insurance and everything. I just need to arrange forklift time at a yard on each end for loading and unloading, which looks to be <= $100 a pop.

Not sure what slips cost in your neck of the woods, but it will only take one off season here to recoup the transportation costs of the trailer, and a second before the trailer pays for itself.

So far so good. I'll report back later.

- Dan

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4303 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2013 : 18:26:15

That's a pretty good price/mile but I'd try to talk them down down some. Usually they will come down some just for asking. They usually shoot a little high knowing most people are going to want to "deal". If you can get them to come down .05 - .10/mi you just saved a bundle. They may say no but at least you tried.

I'm not sure where you're picking the trailer up but Microsoft Streets & Trips shows it's about 3,100 miles from Orlando to Seattle which will run you approx. $1,550.00 plus the cost of the trailer. You're basically paying for his fuel to get to Seattle to pick up the boat for his other load. He get's a free trip and you get a trailer. Win, win for both.

You should find out what route the driver is planning on taking in advance and come to an agreement in writing on the maximum they will charge you for this load. There are a lot of different routes you can take to get from Florida to Seattle. You don't want to pay for the driver to go to San Diego or New York to see his girlfriend, wife, kids, etc... on his way to Seattle. Not exactly the straightest route.

Edited by - on

dacc
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
40 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2013 : 18:45:43

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by GaryB
 That's a pretty good price/mile but I'd try to talk them down down some. Usually they will come down some just for asking. They usually shoot a little high knowing most people are going to want to "deal". If you can get them to come down .05 - .10/mi you just saved a bundle. They may say no but at least you tried.

I'm not sure where you're picking the trailer up but Microsoft Streets & Trips shows it's about 3,100 miles from Orlando to Seattle which will run you approx. $1,550.00 plus the cost of the trailer. You're basically paying for his fuel to get to Seattle to pick up the boat for his other load. He get's a free trip and you get a trailer. Win, win for both.

You should find out what route the driver is planning on taking in advance and come to an agreement in writing on the maximum they will charge you for this load. There are a lot of different routes you can take to get from Florida to Seattle. You don't want to pay for the driver to go to San Diego or New York to see his girlfriend, wife, kids, etc... on his way to Seattle. Not exactly the straightest route.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I got some other quotes first, and did some reading of anecdotal deals on some forums. Then I pitched him $1500 flat, so it's not actually by the mile. He says the usual rate is $1/mile, but didn't push back. So I suppose I could have gotten it lower, but overall it seems like a good value. Also he's not towing it, which is what the next lowest quote at $2600 was for.

I think I'll pretty much be buying his fuel like you said. His rig holds 30k lb, so the trailer probably weighs 7.5k by itself. Maybe he averages 7mpg? That's almost $1500 in fuel at $3.40/gallon.

Bonus is I won't be putting 3k miles on the trailer. =)

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4303 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2013 : 19:03:59

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by dacc
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by GaryB
 That's a pretty good price/mile but I'd try to talk them down down some. Usually they will come down some just for asking. They usually shoot a little high knowing most people are going to want to "deal". If you can get them to come down .05 - .10/mi you just saved a bundle. They may say no but at least you tried.

I'm not sure where you're picking the trailer up but Microsoft Streets & Trips shows it's about 3,100 miles from Orlando to Seattle which will run you approx. $1,550.00 plus the cost of the trailer. You're basically paying for his fuel to get to Seattle to pick up the boat for his other load. He get's a free trip and you get a trailer. Win, win for both.

You should find out what route the driver is planning on taking in advance and come to an agreement in writing on the maximum they will charge you for this load. There are a lot of different routes you can take to get from Florida to Seattle. You don't want to pay for the driver to go to San Diego or New York to see his girlfriend, wife, kids, etc... on his way to Seattle. Not exactly the straightest route.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I got some other quotes first, and did some reading of anecdotal deals on some forums. Then I pitched him $1500 flat, so it's not actually by the mile. He says the usual rate is $1/mile, but didn't push back. So I suppose I could have gotten it lower, but overall it seems like a good value. Also he's not towing it, which is what the next lowest quote at $2600 was for.

I think I'll pretty much be buying his fuel like you said. His rig holds 30k lb, so the trailer probably weighs 7.5k by itself. Maybe he averages 7mpg? That's almost $1500 in fuel at $3.40/gallon.

Bonus is I won't be putting 3k miles on the trailer. =)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Nice job! Based on the above I'd take that deal and run! Don't ask him to drop his price anymore, you'll just tick him off.

What kind of truck & trailer does he have? Doesn't sound like a semi-rig like we use. The semi's we use can carry 45K pounds.

Edited by - on

dacc
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
40 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2013 : 19:10:54

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by GaryB
Nice job! Based on the above I'd take that deal and run! Don't ask him to drop his price anymore, you'll just tick him off.

What kind of truck & trailer does he have? Doesn't sound like a semi-rig like we use. The semi's we use can carry 45K pounds.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Oops, looks like it's actually 24k lb. I'll take a picture for you. =)

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 10/03/2013 : 10:38:37

The boat trailer I had for our C-25 weighed just under 1.5k lbs. empty.

Edited by - on

Sam001
Vice Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
441 Posts

Response Posted - 10/05/2013 : 01:43:44

Bobbin came with a custom built trailer, that has the 10 ft extension tongue, built in NC. The most important thing to me was the placement of the support boards. I remember somewhere on the forum there was info on the correct placement. I put new tires and brakes on it and drove 300 miles back home.

Edited by - on

dacc
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
40 Posts

Response Posted - 11/26/2013 : 13:16:55

Success!

We dropped the keel rollers before hauling out, and then adjusted them up until they deflected and took a good amount of the load. Used the bathroom scale contraption to measure tongue weight, which came in at 600lb. Drove the rig 100+ miles back home and my boat is nearby again after a year and a half moored in the San Juans.

Successfully used the a-frame contraption to lower the mast, although I'm going to use thicker line and a bigger block next time. Also could use a broad crutch to catch it easily on the way down.

I had new disc brakes put on as the drum ones it came with were worn out. Did both axels as WA state law requires this for loads over 3k lb. They performed great and only got a little warm after the first leg of the trip due to lots of rolling country roads.

I was surprised by how far she leans forward on the trailer, and the front axel tires deflect a bit while the rears don't. Haven't checked pressure myself yet, but when I had it serviced the day before going up there they were full pressure. It seems like the pictures I've seen of others boats show this leaning as well -- anything to be concerned about?

Next challenge is to practice rigging and derigging to get faster at it. Need to get some quick release pins and such as well. Then need to practice backing up with some cones in a parking lot somewhere. Also the trailer doesn't have a tongue extension, so I'll need to learn about using a strap I suppose.

Cheers!

Edited by - on

Page: of 2

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.