Expanding Trailer

Comment by kim whitmyre on December 8, 2014 at 10:56pm

Xlnt, Brad! Looks quite nice; is it your design?

Comment by Brad Ingram on December 8, 2014 at 11:40pm

Kim, it is actually Rick Hueschens design. Only difference is I used an old hobie 16 trailer. It's a fully set up deal for under $500

Comment by Jay Bennett on December 9, 2014 at 2:33am

nice one Brad, something I am planning to do myself this summer. I wonder how it difficult it will be to slide apart when the hulls are full of gear. 

Comment by Brad Ingram on December 9, 2014 at 9:18am

As of right now, it's super easy to slide them apart. I doubt another hundred pounds in each hull will be much more difficult.

Comment by Rod McLaren on March 10, 2017 at 12:15pm

Hi, Brad,

Your comment a few minutes ago on Gary's post reminded me of your expanding trailer. I had not remembered it is a Hobie trailer. This is the system that I have been contemplating for the Mana but I have worried the hulls would be too high out of the water to allow the boat to float off. But I see you have smaller wheels than I was imagining, and I am now wondering if the keels of the two hulls are outside of the wheel wells when the boat is collapsed? The dry weight for the Mana is not much more than the T21 so this now has me wondering if a modified jet ski trailer would work. 

Also - what size of galvanized pipes did you use? Are they EMT conduit or something heavier?

Most of our boat launches that I use are fairly shallow without much incline. I am thinking that a telescoping trailer tongue might be a good idea, and would not be too difficult to do.

Comment by Brad Ingram on March 11, 2017 at 3:34pm

Hey Rod, 

I have 12" wheels and can roll her off with just the back tires of my truck touching the water. An 8' extension would be legit. For bringing onto the trailer I have the normal Hobie mast cradle with winch that I pull her up with using a bridle across the mast beam. The keels rest a couple of inches above the wheel wells. 

I used EMT, but I'm going to go over to some steel tubing. I think 2" x 3/16 wall would be good for the expanding tubes and 2.5" x 1/8 would be adequate for the main tubes attached to the trailer. I plan to just have to mounts for rollers and cradles welded on at the local welder shop. I had a customer a couple of months ago that said he would galvanize me for free! I think this will alleviate all of the bending and sagging that the EMT has decided to do after two years. I sourced all of the tubing and the welding and can do it for about $300. I bought the trailer for $200 so not too bad!

Comment by Rod McLaren on March 11, 2017 at 4:15pm

Thanks for the reply, Brad. This is already sounding so much more doable than I anticipated. The welding is not a problem - I have a welder that I use for fabricating bicycles and tricycles for the past 5 years - so it is just a matter of sourcing piping and that will not be difficult. I am watching for a good used trailer and there is time to do that - the kit should be here in a month or so and then the building starts.

I am already very much appreciating this Forum. 

Comment by Brad Ingram on March 11, 2017 at 6:10pm

Sounds like you should be getting excited! I'm going for square tubing with the new setup instead of the round so i can alleviate all of the excess wood The square tubing won't roll back and forth like the EMT, which is why I have the long wooden crossbeams connecting them. More aerodynamic on the highway with the square tubing!

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