My new Aluminum Trailer for 26D

[sailor38]

After considering cleaning up the 20 year old original rusty Mac steel trailer, adding axles, springs, brakes, and more, I finally decided that safest and most cost effective way to tow my 1990 26S from FL to Canada and back was to talk to experts. Using this forum and contacting builders I settled on FLOAT-ON in Vero Beach, FL. http://www.floaton.com/ They measured my boat, suggested the best trailer (had a 26M in their shop at the time) and also recommended electric over hydraulic brakes (at a big saving if ordered at time of build). They extended the tongue, added two speed winch, made both bunks and V bow support plus cross member under dagger board hole and more. LED lights, disk brakes, tandem torsion axles, aluminum and stainless hdwr. A truly custom trailer at a production price. Although everyone can't take their boat there and have it custom fitted like I did, they have all of the dimensions from my boat and could duplicate it for anyone interested. Contact me if you want more details. Photo link to my trailer is below:

https://picasaweb.google.com/TheSailor3 ... 5Kloe-t-QE#

[Québec 1]

Congratulations, that is one fine looking trailer Have a good trip back.
Q1

[technicalman]

That is very nice! How much would one expect to pay for a trailer like that. I've been considering upgrading my trailer. I have a very similar boat.

[FinallySailing]

Beautiful shiny trailer (which suits your beautiful boat). Do you know the weight of your trailer ? If significantly less than the old heavy steel, how much has that reduced your fuel consumption when trailering ? Petrol here in the UK now costs 1.34 British Pounds the litre, that is 2.21 US dollars or 2.11 Can dollars So any significant weight reduction should have a reasonable good payback.

[sailor38]

Trailer is rated at 4400 lb net and weight is shown as 750 lb on the sticker. Frame is 5.5" I beam AL. They also moved the center of the axles about 12" further back to add some weight to the tongue. This addresses a problem with Mac stock trailers. Price before tax here in FL was about $4750 before taxes. This included a spare tire with spindle and hub for total replacement as well as the electric over hydraulic brakes and added cross member under dagger board. The wheel bearings are not the "bearing buddy" type but ones that force old grease out the front for total filling of bearings.

I looked at Magic Tilt, Continental, and other mfgrs. By the time that all of the options (including getting the boat to fit!) were added up, Float On was equal to the others in price. Yes, you might find something cheaper but after having some bad experiences with another trailer, I wasn't ready to chance a "we'll make a few adjustments to our standard model" answer! You could save a few hundred dollars by reducing "legal capacity" 3000 lb net and going with single axle brakes but I didn't want to chance having the axle with brakes being the one that blew a tire! The electric brake controller for the cab (included in the price) is great and I can apply brakes to trailer manually by pushing a piston on the controller. I did the wiring of the towing vehicle which wasn't a big deal (other than being under the van for some time!).