Trailer or Roof Top

[Joe Purdy]

I have a question for all you experienced lon-haulers.
I have the opportunity to buy a 4' X 8' trailer for $30. It is solid, and built using a chevy axle. It takes 4 lug 14" wheels. The body is made of angle irom, and seriously... it is a good looking trailer. One of the tires is leaking all around the bead on the inside of one of the rims, so it will need a new tire. But before investing....

Your answers will make the difference between me investing to fix up the trailer or not.

Rig is an 07 Xterra 6cyl 4 liter rated for towing...Average on Hwy mileage is 21 mpg. Trip will be to Ocoee and Nanty.
Assuming the trailer weighs 350lbs, and is perfectly balanced on it's axle, do you think it would make any difference in gas mileage if I pulled 4 or 5 boats on this trailer as opposed to hauling them on the roof rack? I feel like the answer should be that the trailer will save me gas, but I want to hear the voice of experience...

Thanks

[paddledog]

For all things MPG related I defer to the hypermilling geeks.
Here is a thread related to roof racks.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.p ... -3912.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Using plain goober logic, look at it straight on.
The taller the truck, the more air it has to move.

This trailer reduced my MPG by less than 1 MPG,
However, the aerodynamics of the Juggernaut are WAY different
than your truck.



This was the trailer set up on the way out to Colorado,
With the addition of a catamaran frame.



I don't know how long it would take to compensate for the $30.00 plus tires
but in the long run it would pay for itself.
Watch out though, as soon as people know you have a trailer,
they will ask you to help them move. If you only knew how many
requests I get having both a trailer and a truck with this much room.


(All the CO pics up soon!)

[BEubanks]

Hard to go wrong for that price, even if you decide not to use it on this particular trip. Of course, that partly depends on how much space you have to store a trailer. It's nice to have the option of a trailer for all kinds of hauling, not just boats. Of course, it does require ongoing expense for tires, license, etc. If you have the room for it, go for it. If it turns out you're not using it much, you can always sell it.

[DMG]

Other than installing trailer hitches at U-Haul for about a million years, my credentials in this area are a bit thin. But I'll give it a try.

Just to use round numbers, let's say the trailer and repairs cost $100. Paddledog's estimate of losing 1 MPG by pulling a lightweight, low-slung trailer seems reasonable based on my own experience, even though your vehicle cuts a narrower swath than the Mighty Juggernaut. If you got 20 MPG for 1800 miles, you would use 90 gallons of gas. If you tied your boats on top of your vehicle and got 15 MPG over the same distance, you would use 120 gallons. Keeping with numbers I can do in my head, 30 gallons times 4 bucks a gallon is $120 which is more than enough to break even on the trailer. Do better than 16 or 17 MPG or so with the boats on top and you're probably not saving anything by buying the trailer, at least using my dumb math. Make the same trip for the next five years using the same trailer and now you're saving big time! The trailer will be quieter and less annoying, too. You won't even know it's there.

This would be my approach, for what it's worth.

[hdh]

what mpg does the Juggernaut get????

Harlan Hughes

[robkanraft]

I don’t think it is all about mpg. Sometimes it’s about convenience. I own trailers and I still prefer to pile stuff on top of the van. There’s times a trailer is great, there’s times it’s a pain, when you have class 4 shuttle roads or no room to maneuver or park. If you do get a trailer do repack your wheel bearings and do buy a matching spare tire. Having all your critical gear attached to a dead trailer on the side of the road is a bummer. Also, make sure you have a hitch lock, I had a near-theft experience at an Ark. takeout. Also a spare tire lock etc. My two cents...

[okieboater]

I have run tests that prove to me that in a SUV, you get your best gas mpg using a trailer with no gear stacked on top of the SUV. Most SUV's will haul 4 people in comfort which cuts down gas money a lot if you spit the costs.

I have found that hiway driving around 60 mph saves a couple or more mpg as opposed to cruising 70 or 75 mph. Anything over 75 and you can see the gas needle go down!

Rob is correct in his statements that hauling trailers does bring on other issues. His recommendations are right on!

Number one trailer issue for me is finding a parking space or leaving the loaded trailer outside a motel for the night. Covered trailers offer a lot of security, but being able to easily pile on extra gear on a open trailer is very nice.

I have been fortunate to make several trips out west this season. Putting 4 or even 5 boaters in a SUV with all the gear in the trailer has really cut down on the individual costs to travel.

Last trip I made out to the ARK, we were doing day trips out of a house. Even so we used the trailer. It was a lot easier to dump gear and kayaks into the trailer. Not much tie down issues or strained backs when you just toss the stuff in, put in a few cam strap tie downs and off you go.

[Butch Crain]

Just acquired a utility trailer.

Any suggestions on configuring/outfitting it for multiboat shuttles?

[okieboater]

Hi Butch,

My 5 by 10 open trailer has the same problem.

So far on kayaks, we just put gear bags etc in the bottom and lash kayaks across the ends with a cam strap in the middle.
This works better than it sounds.

When I take a raft I just put the frame in the bottom and stack coolers, dry boxes and gear bags inside the frame. then strap on kayaks.

This method has worked really well on a lot of trips for the two years I have had this trailer. Only issue is the stuff is out in the open and if the bad guys decide to rip off the gear, there is zero protection to slow them down.

I would like to come up with some sort of a marine plywood top that would be about 24 inches hi above the trailer bed and let me store stuff under neath but be able to slide the inflated raft on top of the plywood. So far I have not come up with a light weight model. Easy to do with a lot of supports/frames etc to hinge the top plywood to - but I have not figured a light weight way to do it.

I have seen folks just bolt in a rack to stack canoes etc on like the big canoe rental folks do, if you just want to carry kayaks and canoes.

Sorry not much help, but the answer depends on how fancy you want to go and the extra weight you want to add to the trailer.

[paddledog]

Juggernaut persevered to get 9.8 MPG over 2250 miles.
Average gas price $3.79.
Total gas cost $870.15
Divide by five comfortable paddlers and
you get a round trip gas price for a week
at $174.03

Average cruising speed 68 - 70
Flat screen with DVD/PS2.
Sleeps three comfortably

The trailer I used on this last trip was designed for the
22 foot catamaran we were hauling.
The "wings" added are just right for the inflated boat.

On the utility trailer I normally use
I put a sheet of outdoor plywood 3/4 inch on the deck
and covered the front openings between the deck and the rails
with 2x10's to stop rain and mud from hitting the contents.
Using heavy prussic loops on the trailer tie downs to allow you
to use lighter 6 -7 mil for tying down gear.
I raised the axle and replaced the small 12 inch wheels with
automobile wheels and tires.
Bearing Buddies are the way to go.

[ONELUCKYDEVIL]

For Rigging:
I have a 4x8 utility trailer with short sidewalls. Don't have a shop for welding so I bolted two pieces of angle iron with eye-lets across the sidewalls to lay two rec yaks on. After that, I used metal conduit and fittings to make two "T's" that rise from the floor of the trailer about 4 ft. This creates an upper level to put either a canoe or two kayaks on top. It is all removable in about 10 minutes and can be towed with a small car. Gear can be put on the floor of the trailer below the boats.
It is so much easier to strap boats down on the trailer versus the top of an SUV.


The trailer would be cheaper MPG due to less air drag but those tires aren't really made for long trips at 70-75 mph. Supposedly the inner walls will overheat and break down at high speeds over time.
Ditto on all of the comments of positives/negatives of trailering.

Mike

[Cowper]

I saw an interesting thing about trailers, when I towed a small motorboat first with DeBo's Subaru, and then later with my Corolla.

In the Subaru, it rode in the slipstream, and had only a very minimal impact on mpg. Got about 28 mpg, driving at a speed that had previously yielded 30 mpg with no trailer.

Later, took essentially the same trip, using the Corolla to tow. At a speed that would have yielded 40, maybe even 45 mpg, I got more like 33 mpg.

So for one car, the "hit" was less than 10%, for the second, it was over 20%. I'd be the first to point out that "one trip statistics" are always highly suspect as to accuracy. But if I accept that the difference was big enough that it at least showed some trend, then it would seem that the aerodynamics of your towing vehicle is just as important as the aerodynamics of your trailer, because the two together are going to determine your actual mpg. So you won’t really know how this trailer will work with your vehicle, until you try it. It’s a bit of a gamble.

The down side to trailers is, "something else to go wrong". We boaters as a whole have far more trips without trailers than with trailers, but when trip stories are told, a significant percentage of the "trouble" stories start with "I was towing a trailer....” Flat tires stories are common; broken trailer parts figure in too, and I know of at least one or two "began swaying and ended up jack-knifed" tales of woe.

I think you should make the call based on how much the trailer changes your total trip dynamics. If it allows you to take a raft frame or other boats that would have been left at home, then it is worth it. If it allows you to take on additional riders in comfort, and thus split the gas costs more ways, then it is worth it. But if you are taking the same number of people and boats, then the extra hassles of maintaining and licensing the trailer, not being able to park and maneuver as easily, and having something else to go wrong (what long-term trailer owner has not laid on the pavement and jiggled wires trying to get the lights working again before dark?) create enough expense and burden that any mpg savings will probably not add up to a net benefit.

[Ryan Center]

Joe, as you know I have done both in my truck. And I would much rather tow a small trailer than haul boats on top. It definitely saves me some money on road trips........Oh wait, come to think about it I think it cost me more. Like the time I had a wheel bearing freeze up on a trailer I borrowed from my uncle. Oh, and the time I borrowed my brothers trailer and had a blowout ripping the fender off and damaging the side of the trailer. Oh by the way, I'm going out east Labor Day weekend, does anyone have a trailer I can borrow?

[okieboater]

Hey Ryan, didn't you blow the gas props on your camper shell rear window as well

Dave

[paddledog]

Ryan,
Check your blinker fluid
and change the air in the spare and
everything will be fine.
I'll loan you Toms trailer.......