Hi I currently sail a Wave but will be sailing a Hobie 16 soon. I want to get a trailer that I can use to transport my Wave now, but one that can also carry a H16 when I eventually get one.

Does anyone have the Trailex TX-416-HC? I hear this works great for the H16, but can it be used to carry a Wave too?

On the website photo I see the grooves on the side that carry the hulls of a H16. Can these grooves be moved in to accomodate the 7-foot beam of the Wave?

thanks!

-Will

P.S. here's the link to a picture of the TX-416-HC from Trailex's site... http://www.trailex.com/photos/full/tx-416hc.gif

I'm not 100% on this but I think Trailex bolts their trailers together. So the cradles for the hulls are mounted using u-bolts and/or bolts through the crosspieces.

Email trailex and find out for sure.

Trailex trailers are like Tinkertoys - with a 9/16" wrench, you could reduce it to a pile of extrusions and bolts within 20 minutes.

They are infinitely adjustable - the bolts don't go through the extrusions - they have "T" shaped heads that lock into slots in the extrusions.

Great trailers.

Get a trailex and you can put anything on it.

I have a trailex and move the cradles for my HT and then move oneside in 4 inches for my A cat. Easy as pie. The bolts slide in the extrusions and can be adjusted to anyspot along the extrusion.

Best trailers on the market.

Bill

I have intended to write an article about trailers. The crux of it all is simply make a flatbed trailer.

I have several trailers, mostly Trailex. I started off with a Hobie 18, Nacra 5.5, Mystere, 6.0, Nacra 6.0, Taipan 4.9, Taipan 5.7 and now a Wave (3 of them, actually)

I was constantly having to adjust padding, rollers or whatever.

Finally, it came to me. I stripped all that stuff off the trailer, bolted on two 3/4" Marine Plywood 4x8 pieces to make an 8x8 flat bed.
Went to the local carpet store trash container and pulled out some really cushy stuff and padded the trailer.
Voila! (a little french lingo there) a trailer that can handle any boat any time.

I can also load 4 Waves on my biggest Trailex which was designed to handle 2 20' cats with a total weight of close to 1000 lbs.

Another use of this idea.., just build some framing for siding and you can haul all kinds of stuff while you are not hauling a boat.

Rick

Be aware that the axle is not designed for a lot of weight. If you carry a lot of heavy loads above the axle's weight rating you may be passed by one of your wheels while crusing down the road.

Either:

1. Order a Trailex for a Hobie 16. Then you can shrink it down for the Wave. Trailex is great but be careful what you ask them for. If you mention the Wave you might get a trailer where you have to buy more pieces or longer pieces to make it fit a Hobie 16.

2. Buy an 8.5' wide aluminum snow-mobile trailer.

hmm a snow mobile trailer... i bet i can find a few of those in florida. haha yeah i guess i'll go with choice # 1.

Rick - here's my concern with a flatbed trailer. With just a piece of carpeted plywood, what prevents a 16 foot cat from inching its way off while i'm howling down the highway at 65 mph? it doesn't seem very secure, but i've never tried it. how do you get the Waves to stay still and sturdy?

and that brings me to another trailering question - how fast can you drive with a trailer? is 65 the max? I've never driven with one on so this will be new for me. any other trailer-driving tips are appreciated.

it's good to hear about the flexibility of the trailex though. I emailed them yesterday (monday night) with the question and specified the TX-416, so they shouldn't get confused. Man these things are pricey... if I get one it'll be worth more than the boat its carrying! ha.. wow. i guess its worth it though.

thanks again for the response.

With the flatbed, just as any other trailer, you have to tie the boat down. I use those ratchet type tie down and criss cross from starboard beam to port frame of trailer, and vice versa, front and back.

I am usually pulling them with my diesel RV. While I can go about 85 with it, I usually travel at 60. Otherwise, the boats get covered with diesel soot and my mileage drops drastically. At slower speeds I get over 10 mpg.

With the car, I pull the trailex at whatever speed limits are + 5 mph. No problems yet.

Rick

You don't have to get an aluminum trailer - a galvanized trailer will be about 1/2 the cost. I'm sure there are dealers around you but you might try www.Sailmax.biz to look at that option.

It can't be good to have the hulls of a 6.0 or f18 on a flat surface trailering though, right?

So, butting in on another thread with another newbie question:

I have an EZloader galvanized trailer which I just got with my boat. I'm pulling it with a Ford Ranger.

The question I've got is this: bringing the boat home, I was doing only about 60-65mph on turnpike/interstate, but up around 65 the wind effects boat appeared to become noticeable, I expect this to get worse at higher speeds. I had some concerns about trailering with the tramp installed, believing it might provide some wing/sail effect making the trailer even more squirrely back there. What says the collective? Should I never go these speeds, tramp or no tramp?

Just came back from Daytona (I-4) doing about 75-80 mph. I was admiring how the boat/trailer really could handle the speeds.

I think the tramp' DOES provide some sail (lifting) ... In fact I don't think my tires even saw the pavement over 70 mph <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Now if I could only keep the "pointy" side up on the water like on the trailer ........

There are all sorts of ways you could cushion the hulls, or you could use cradles. Be creative.

have you checked the tongue weight?

Heh...yeah, I'm more likely to stick to ~72...the troopers around here in the mid atlantic are a little tougher on that. I know your stretch of I-4 though, so I'm not surprised...



You know, I haven't really. The tongue weight is actually quite low, because I can lift the tongue move the trailer, with the boat on it, by myself without much trouble. I expect the tongue weight is about 50lbs, perhaps a little more. I think of squirelly behavior when there is too much weight, but I guess too light would do that too.

This trailer used to have a platform screwed to it - looks like some old OSB - that rotted out and was just yanked off. I was thinking of replacing that with marine grade 3/4" ply and putting astroturf on it. I need to build a sail box anyway, so I can put that up front to increase the tongue weight. Thanks for the tip!

Too little tongue weight can certainly make the trailer fishtail a little. As far as I have learned- about 7-10% of the trailer weight should be on the tongue. I experimented with mine and eventually figured it out.

There is another thread about trailering and tongue weight here: http://www.catsailor.com/forums/showflat...&PHPSESSID=

Thanks for the pointer to the thread!

Rick has an interesting idea with a carpeted flat bed trailer. Why would this arrangement create more damage to the bottom of the hulls than that with cradles or rollers? On a flat bed trailer the boat weight is evenly distibuted over a larger area as opposed to cradles or rollers.

In the near future I will upgrade my galvanized trailer to cradles or possibly to another configuration. I was considering purchasing recycled plastic decking boards (2'x8' if available) and bolting them to the trailer crossbeams so that the boards run under the hulls length wise. The boards could be covered with marine carpet. I could even make a lip an the outer part of the boards to limit side movement. Any comments?