Home made trailer

[chris1979]

I have an old 14 foot cruise craft runabout and I need a new trailer. I just spent $800 last year on new rollers, springs, rims, wheels and tiers. The frame needs some work now. I thought I could just weld a new frame up and use the parts I got last year. Any idea on the dimensions of steels to use. I thought of using 150 C style beams for the middle. Is that over kill? Would be grateful for any help.

[fishmaniac]

I have an old 14 foot cruise craft runabout and I need a new trailer. I just spent $800 last year on new rollers, springs, rims, wheels and tiers. The frame needs some work now. I thought I could just weld a new frame up and use the parts I got last year. Any idea on the dimensions of steels to use. I thought of using 150 C style beams for the middle. Is that over kill? Would be grateful for any help.

By 150 C style beams are you referring to one-steel parallel flange channels (150PFC)? If so, that would be overkill for a trailer of a 14ft boat.

It would be important to consider the weight of your boat, motor and the position of your axle to accurately determine the size members you would require. If you look at many of the trailers for boats up to 18ft, they are made up of hollow box sections. For the main trailer frame they are 100mm by 50mm and 3mm thick while the cross bars (where your rollers are mounted) are generaly 50mm by 50mm and 3mm thick. In terms of their strength in bending, a 100x50x3 is equivalent to a 100PFC, your 150 is in excess of 3 times what you need!

In saying that, you will never have to worry about fatigue craking over time (not that should be much of an issue if the welds are good quality and you are not loading the member to its limits).

You need to provide a bit more detail but at a glance, the 150 is overkill.

Edited November 17, 2011 by fishmaniac

[Yarraone]

By 150 C style beams are you referring to one-steel parallel flange channels (150PFC)? If so, that would be overkill for a trailer of a 14ft boat.

It would be important to consider the weight of your boat, motor and the position of your axle to accurately determine the size members you would require. If you look at many of the trailers for boats up to 18ft, they are made up of hollow box sections. For the main trailer frame they are 100mm by 50mm and 3mm thick while the cross bars (where your rollers are mounted) are generaly 50mm by 50mm and 3mm thick. In terms of their strength in bending, a 100x50x3 is equivalent to a 100PFC, your 150 is in excess of 3 times what you need!

In saying that, you will never have to worry about fatigue craking over time (not that should be much of an issue if the welds are good quality and you are not loading the member to its limits).

You need to provide a bit more detail but at a glance, the 150 is overkill.

'C' Channel is an option I feel is better than tubing, But weather you have to go to 150mm I would say is overkill... No matter what you do if you use tubing it can hold water which will lead to rust..'C' Channel will allow the water to run straight off..