Kayak Trailer
The trailer was made from a old small boat trailer. A welding shop in Homosassa Springs added the vertical tubes and the crossbars that have the pads on them. After I used trailer a few times I decided to add a diagonal bar to the front for extra strength and it stops the front bar from wobbling when I stop the truck. Notice the yellow tennis balls at the end of the top cross bars. They protect your head when you're working on the boat in the lower bars. Single chain links were welded to the ends of each crossbar and on the vertical posts that makes a nice stop for the tie down straps.
Three of the welded-on chain links and the python lock cable are visible here. They are great to prevent the tie-down straps from sliding off of the ends and running the Python locks through on the upright posts.
In addition to the new parts, the axle was replaced and the original 8" wheels were replaced with 12" wheels. This keeps the bearing RPM lower for interstate driving. There are bearing buddies (wheel grease holders) and waterproof lights on it also, even though it's never backed into the water.
The distance between the lower and upper bars is enough to allow two kayaks on each bar if they are loaded nearly sideways. In practice I don't plan on doing that. Since I transport the kayaks upside down it is nice to be able to flip the kayak over on the lower bar to rig them up just before a launch. Between the trailer holding four kayaks and the roof of the truck holding another my truck would be maxed out with five people and boats.
I use two Python cable locks through the scupper holes to lock the boats to the trailer in addition to the usual nylon straps. If the kayaks are on the trailer for any length of time I remove the tie-down straps and only use the Python lock to prevent the straps from deforming the bottoms.
Here are some of the measurements:
The trailer is 64" wide from the outside of each fender.
The vertical posts are 2"x2" and 58" tall and 93" apart (front of one to front of the other). The vertical posts are u-bolted to the main frame which allows removal and some front-back adjustment, as needed.
The bottom horizontal bars are 2" tall and 1.5" wide. They are 31" long (check your kayak's width). I should have made at least two of these 33" long to better handle the tandem kayak better (it barely fits on the 31" bars).
The top horizontal bars are 1.5"x1.5". They are also 31" long.
There is 25.5" between the top of the bottom crossbar to the top of the top crossbar.
Add a chain link to the ends of each crossbar (see photo above) as a stop for the straps and a couple of links to each vertical post for the locks.
