A few years ago, I got an
Aluma 638BT. The bed is 63" wide x 96" long and I sprung for the bifold gate option. I got it to transport my Weta trimaran, which is a small boat that comes with a beach dolly. The boat overhangs the trailer, but it works well. I also added a
Condor Pit-Stop. I chose this one because it has I nice easy to use mounting/demounting system and also comes in handy in the garage. If I need it to haul two bikes, I think I'd suck up the cost and buy another one and an extra mounting plate, but that would depend on the bikes I'd need to haul.
The trailer tracks really well with the tires supplied, even at a brisk pace. I fiddled with tire pressure the other weekend when we delivered a zero-turn mower to my brother's house near Cleveland. Coming home empty, dropping the pressure to 35 PSI really decreased the bouncies on bumps. I also like the width of the total trailer, as the fenders are visible in my side view mirrors, which really comes in handy in reverse. I chose aluminum mainly because of the weight difference which I appreciate when moving the trailer without the car and also adds a little to the payload (GVWR-trailer weight). The total package then hovered around the $2K range, but meets my needs for taking the boat hither and yon as well as the rare short distance MC haul. If you're clear about your needs you can get significantly less expensive without compromising safety.
I can't stress enough the importance of doing a little reading about trailering before jumping in. You want to understand weight balance as it applies to your trailer or else you may get into sway problems if the tongue weight is too light (weight too far aft). And you need to do the arithmetic about tow ratings: it's a weakest link kinda thing in that your vehicle will have a Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating (GCVWR) which sets the limit on the total (tow vehicle + payload + trailer) capacity. For trailers of this size you don't need a terribly large vehicle, so it's hard to get in trouble, but you will see 3500# rated
hitches on vehicles with a 2000# tow rating, and it's possible to have such a vehicle loaded with enough weight that the GCVWR would be exceeded with the addition of a 2000# trailer. I've seen many cases of people who buy, say, an SUV that's marketed to "tow up to 5000 lbs" and find it wholly inadequate for towing their 5000# boat trailer. OTOH, if you've a pickup like the one mlytle showed, it would be real hard to exceed the tow vehicle capacity without grossly overloading the trailer (hard to do with motorcycles, easy to do with sacks of concrete or flagstone).
This guide from Curt mfg is pretty good, and worth understanding before towing anything. Because of safety margins and luck, lots of people have gotten away with knowing less, but the same can be said of untrained MC riders.
Gene
P.S. to Jim's question I got mine at
PSL trailersin White Marsh. Price at the time was competitive, they were good with my questions before and after the sale, and the trailer's required no service or warranty repairs. Living in Ellicott City at the time, I didn't think of Morton's. Were I doing it again, I'd make a call to them part of my search.
Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 4:26 pm
