Trailer tongue wall size

BigBody79

BigBody79

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2005
Location
Lumberton
Building a kayak trailer. Tongue needs to be 15ft long will go from ball to back of trailer. I want to use 2x2 tube. What wall thickness. Boat weighs about 100 pounds.
 
does your kayak really weigh 100 lbs?

The Harbor freight boat trailer doesnt have tube greater than 1/16 or 1/8 but they do use larger tube. I'd go with 3/16 or 1/4 if you must use 2x2.
 
Black Bear said:
does your kayak really weigh 100 lbs?

The Harbor freight boat trailer doesnt have tube greater than 1/16 or 1/8 but they do use larger tube. I'd go with 3/16 or 1/4 if you must use 2x2.
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1/4" 2x2? Holy hell that would make for a heavy trailer just for a small boat.
 
i did say 3/16..... its also 15' long depending on how its designed, you might could get away with less. Larger diameter tube would be better than 2x2.
 
I'd price out 2x2 11 ga and 3x3 14 ga and go with whichever is cheapest and makes you feel the warmest and fuzziest inside. Or buy a roof rack and forget the trailer altogether. Seems like a lot of trouble for one boat. Do you plan on carrying more in the future? One boat with the load distributed across the axle isn't going to put much strain on any one point of that spine. Can you sketch out the basic plan?
 
A few more details. It will hold two different boats but not at the same time. One is a 12 foot creek boat that we use for duckhunting the other is a 19 foot touring kayak. A trailer would be much better just because it is a pain to put the roof rack on and off all the time. I priced out to 2x2 .120 wall and 3 x 3.120 wall. The 2x2 is 55 for 20ft the 3x3 is 76 for 20ft

The basic design is going to be a 4 x 4 square to hold the axle and support the rear of the trailer this we made out of 2 x 2 .25" angle. Then there will be a support running from The corner of the square to halfway up the rest of the tube. The tongue will extend all the way to the back of the trailer
 
catfishblues said:
I'd price out 2x2 11 ga and 3x3 14 ga and go with whichever is cheapest and makes you feel the warmest and fuzziest inside. Or buy a roof rack and forget the trailer altogether. Seems like a lot of trouble for one boat. Do you plan on carrying more in the future? One boat with the load distributed across the axle isn't going to put much strain on any one point of that spine. Can you sketch out the basic plan?
Click to expand...

Could weld the roof rack to the trailer tongue & put an axle on it.:D
 
I will put my vote in for a 3x3 x 11ga.

If I used 2x2, it would be at least 3/16, but I wouldn't do that.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
buy the ball coupler to suit your needs. Buy tubing that fits inside the coupler so you can bolt or weld to it for mounting (your preference). I bolt all mine, ease of later maintenance.
 
BigBody79 said:
One is a 12 foot creek boat
Click to expand...

Fail.

That's a touring kayak. A creek boat is more like 7-8'. Like this.

DSC_01702_zpsd211053c.jpg


Back to the subject...
 
Trailer would be for both of these boats:

One is a 12' Creek Boat (I do know what I have believe it or not)
m12 creek boat.png


This boat is a Seda Glider 19' Touring Kayak
truck1.jpg


The shell does not stay on my truck. If it did wouldn't be a need for a trailer.
When I had my old truck the creek boat fit fine in the bed because it was an 8' bed.

The problem now is that you have load/unload the boat twice. Not really that big of a deal but I have a limited amount of time to paddle
and it is a pain to load/unload for a 5 min drive. If it were already on a trailer ready to go it would save me 15/20 min each time and that's
30/40 more minutes I can paddle.

When duck hunting season comes in the kayak will be off and the creek boat will be put on. This way I don't have to load/unload the creek boat before and after ever hunting trip. That an all of the boat related gear can stay in the boat ready to go for the next trip.

15' was chosen mostly based on the creek boat. Right now the trailer that the creek boat is on is much too short and it over hangs the back of the trailer. I want that boat supported all the way to the trolling motor. Then with the kayak I'll have some over hang in the rear but nothing that will be too much of a pain.

Below is a quick sketch of what's in my mind.

Trailer.png
 
If the main tongue is really going to be 15 feet long, I'd go with something less noodle-y than 2" tubing. Step up the size, go with a thin wall, and you'll have a much stiffer tongue than you would with a thick wall 2x2.

There's not going to be much weight to put it in bending but it's still a pretty long unsupported free length.

Ah, whatever. 2x2 is probably fine, even thin wall.
 
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Yea, I'm thinking that the 3x3 is what I'm going to go with. It will be better in the long run. In the above drawing it is a 3x3.
 
2x3 would work as well, you don't need any extra stiffness in the lateral bending direction so you can save some weight that way.

Where is the axle going to be placed relative to the C of G of the boat?
 
Axle will be at the back of the trailer. centered in the 4x4 section. I don't know if there'd be enough tongue weight otherwise.
 
Seems like the tongue is just begging for a gear box of some sort attached to it. I know you don't need one with a pickup truck, but I look at that design and the empty space just kills me! Looks like it would work fine for what you want to do. I like the suggestion of 2x3 .120 wall, but whatever's cheap should do the job.
 
I'd use 2x3 .120 wall to help against torque and to get tongue strength without going overboard with weight. I don't think there is anything wrong with 2x2 .120 wall or the 3x3 either.
 
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