Finally got around to getting all the pieces to finish the trailer. Had some yakima stuff already, and since I’m a cheapskate, I had to fish ebay to find what I wanted for the price I was willing to pay.
All in all, I’m very pleased with the final product. Took a lot of de-rusting to get to the bare metal. Good quality trailer, just not cared for. Excellent base to start with. Unfortunately, had a fair amount of pitting and I wanted that gone. Took to the bondo and smoothed everything back out and prepped for paint. Ended up with 3coats of clear over 4 coats of gloss black enamel. Reformed the fenders, rebuild the axle, bought a new tire and wheel. Shortened the tongue by18" and added a new 2" coupler. Added eye bolts in the right places to ensure good tie down to the trailer for long interstate hauling. New LED lights and wiring. Still need to install the winch tower for a front anchor point.
Wow, very nice. I have a small trailer sitting in my yard just waiting to be transformed. That looks great!
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
Thanks DF. It wasn’t a bad rebuild / conversion. Just had to find all the right pieces / parts to do what I wanted. I didn’t want to farm any work out - and didn’t want to spend a bunch of $$$. It took a while to find the parts to hard mount the Yakima bars to the frame. Note to self and others - always, always wear a respirator when de-rusting, sanding bondo and spraying enamel paint. Messed my breathing up for several days after painting. Won’t ever do that again.
Nice work! Can you tell me what your overall length is loaded w/ yaks.
It’s about 19’ as the kayaks sit now. I haven’t settled on the final resting point of the cradles. I would like to position the yaks another foot or two forward. Just got to play around with the positioning. Mostly concerned about the longer interstate drive to the LC.