Regular trailer plus trolley vs Combo boat trailer-trolley

beermatt's picture
Submitted by beermatt on Sun, 08/09/2015 - 20:17

Forums:

Hi all

Someone I know is selling a flatbed trailer, which I'm considering buying as it would generally be handy (especially with moving house at the moment), but I'm not sure I have the space to store both the Mirror and a separate trailer.

So that got me to thinking, at the moment the Mirror uses an integrated trolley-trailer which are designed to work together. Why don't I sell the trolley-trailer combo; and instead buy a fold up launching trolley and a flatbed trailer? Get some ramps for the trailer, and then I have something that is multifunctionally useful, rather than just being purely used for the boat.

I never use the trailer for launching anyway, I always dismount the trolley and launch it from that.

So what does everyone reckon the pros/cons of the two systems are? Flatbed/regular trailer plus trolley vs integrated boat trailer-trolley. I imgine weight is a disadvantage of a regular trailer, but can't think of much else. I imagine there must be because very few people use them for dinghies.

62816inBerlin's picture

62816inBerlin

Mon, 08/10/2015 - 14:34

Not having a road trailer myself but toying with the idea of downsizing in terms of cars, I've also toyed with the idea of buying a simple multipurpose trailer and simply adding a means of putting the dinghy on that. My launching trolley comes apart anyway (transported inside the car at present).
Not sure what the licensing / technical inspection rules are, though. The fact that the boat is much longer than the trailer and overhangs it may be a problem here in DE (boat trailers usually have the lighting / licence plate board fairly far back).

The flatbed would be a compromise to look at. You could leave the boat on it when both are not being used, I suppose.
I've read somewhere that the launching trolley / road trailer combos fetch a good resale price, at least here in Germany.
Cheers,
Gernot H:

P.S. with a Mirror on it, weight shouldn't be a problem ;-{)

beermatt's picture

beermatt

Wed, 08/12/2015 - 12:05

I'm not sure what you mean about the overhang and regulations. My current combo trailer is only "half length" in that it barely goes half way past the length of the hull, but my plan on buying a flatbed would be an old caravan chassis or something similar, that would be big enough to sit the entire boat on.