Boat Trailer Guides

[r00s7a]

I tend to fish alone and the boat ramp I usually use has a terrible south cross wind. This is a nightmare when loading the boat by myself. Looked at some trailer guides in Cabelas and BPS that are around $100, and of course no way I am paying that much for something so simple. I know I can make some myself a lot cheaper, but need some design ideas. Wanting to see if some of ya'll could post pics of your DIY trailer guides. My trailer doesn't come out quite to the sides of the boat, so I figured either welding something to the frame that came out a little past the edge of the boat and then going up, or U-bolting one U shaped piece that stretches the width of the trailer to the frame. Not sure what to use as far as materials. Googled some info that people were using and it ranged from conduit, to square tubing, to galvanized pipe. If any of ya'll have pictures of what you use, I'd like to see them.

 

[WacosSon]

I tend to fish alone and the boat ramp I usually use has a terrible south cross wind. This is a nightmare when loading the boat by myself. Looked at some trailer guides in Cabelas and BPS that are around $100, and of course no way I am paying that much for something so simple. I know I can make some myself a lot cheaper, but need some design ideas. Wanting to see if some of ya'll could post pics of your DIY trailer guides. My trailer doesn't come out quite to the sides of the boat, so I figured either welding something to the frame that came out a little past the edge of the boat and then going up, or U-bolting one U shaped piece that stretches the width of the trailer to the frame. Not sure what to use as far as materials. Googled some info that people were using and it ranged from conduit, to square tubing, to galvanized pipe. If any of ya'll have pictures of what you use, I'd like to see them.

Wish I had a pic of mine, but I don't. I'm attaching a drawing, but its fairly easy to explain and works perfectly. I used 3/4" but you could use bigger to durability

I started out with a 3/4" flange u-bolted to the back sidebars of my trailer with a small spacer under the top side of the flange to make it angle out a bit. I then connected a threaded 5" pipe and a 90 degree elbow to the flange. I connected a 4 foot threaded pipe to that. Lastly I took a 6 foot, durable 2.5" PVC pipe and slid it over the long threaded pipe, so that the boat wouldn't get scratched and it would have some give to it. I fastened it to the other pipe inside it by drilling holes and using a few metal pipe straps. Cost me probably 30 bucks in parts and works like a charm, plus, if something breaks it cheap to replace rather than welding and rebending. I'd use durable ubolts, as those are the things that tend to break, but this thing works great! Don't forget to use stuff that won't rust! Hope that gives you an idea!

EDIT: Just realized that in the drawing I put the pipe strap on the wrong side. In reality, its on the outside of the PVC pipe, so it still holds is solid but has some bending room to give for the boat pressure.

 

[r00s7a]

Look at you go da Vinci! That works even better than a pic. Much obliged for the feedback. I'll look at it and see if that will work for my trailer as well. Thanks man!

 

[WacosSon]

Look at you go da Vinci! That works even better than a pic. Much obliged for the feedback. I'll look at it and see if that will work for my trailer as well. Thanks man!

haha. no worries, man! I realized after I drew it that my u-bolts actually go vertical instead of the horizontal way that I drew them, that way they wrap around the bar without drilling. Took me all of 20 minutes to assemble. Easy peesy. Good luck with the project!

 

[JCW355]

I used a muffler clamp, plastic pipe and glued and a piece of marine grade carpet on the plastic pipe. Small alunimum boat though. Something like your wanting could be easily made if you have proper tools.

 

[Teeeroy]

If you haven't started yet, I have these sitting in my garage collecting dust. I bought the set from either Bass Pro or Academy and used to have them on my little trailer before I had side bunks installed. If you want to come get them in the OKC metro area, you can have 'em. Better to see them being used than sitting around.

PM me and let me know.

 

[r00s7a]

Hey Teeeroy, much obliged for the offer. I think I got it taken care of. I'm going to throw it in the river tonight and see how it does. If it doesn't work I may hit you up! Thanks!

 

[crazyfish]

I am headed down to your part of the state next week. Let me know if you need those from teeeroy and I'll bring em' down to ya.

 

[r00s7a]

Hey thanks, I appreciate it. You getting to do some recreation down here?

 

[Glocktogo]

Isn't OSA an awesome community? Someone's always willing to help out!