New Trailer prices?

[slowleak]

I need to buy a trailer for an 18' boat, its a glass hull that will weight roughly 2100 lbs rigged with an outboard and gear.
I've gotten a pretty wide array of prices from various dealers here, with the best prices being from a large dealer about 100 miles from here. The price they gave me would make it well worth the drive.
So far, none of the trailers in this size have brakes, which I don't mind, I've never had a boat trailer with brakes nor seen any with them around here.
It needs to be a single axle trailer with rollers and I prefer a galvanized steel trailer. I've looked at Load Rite, EZ Loader, Venture, and Sea Lion so far.
What sort of prices should I expect to pay? The range in prices spans over $1500 for basically the same trailer from various dealers but I've not yet found the same trailer to compare at different dealers, just other brands versions of such a trailer.
Most seem to be in the $3100 range. If I wanted brakes, surge brakes are the only option and I'd have to go to a much heavier trailer than I need.

I'm mostly interested in what others paid for similar sized trailers new, basically a 17 to 19' single axle galvanized roller trailer.

 

[UncleWillie]

Not to many of us have purchased a New trailer without a boat. So most are a package deal or used trailers.
You have done your homework so you know what the going prices are in your area.
Where are you located? ??? That makes a Big difference!

A 2100# boat plus the Trailer, will put you solidly in the 2500-3000# Range, Gross.
If your Tow Vehicle is not rated for at least 5000# +, Brakes should be a consideration.
Pulling isn't an issue. Panic stopping from 60mph might become a White(or Red!) knuckled affair!

 

[slowleak]

I'm in NJ.
The trailer under the boat I'm buying a Load Rite 19-2400 and it fits it well. It has no brakes either.
I don't think I've seen any single axle boat trailers with brakes for sale on the dealer lots.
I've pulled this size boat before with no issues without brakes. The ride to the ramp is mostly down back roads with 25 mph speed limits anyhow, and at the times I'm out fishing, there's rarely another car in sight on the road.

I don't think I've ever bought a boat with a trailer, or at least not a trailer I intended to keep under it. The guy with the boat I'm getting had just replaced his trailer so he kept it for the new boat.

I travel for work, so if I can get a deal elsewhere its no big deal. I bought my last new trailer in FL, and the one before that in PA.
I also found that used trailers and boats are in much better shape in the heart of the country away from the saltwater.

 

[UncleWillie]

You are looking at the smaller single axel trailers.
Unless the trailer weighs less than 300#; That 2400# trailer is going to be overloaded with a 2100# boat on it.
NJ requires Brakes when the Trailer+Load (Gross) weight reaches 3000#. You are just under the requirement. So, you're OK!

I have a single axel, 18ft, 3700#, Galvanized, Karavan Trailer, toting a 3000# boat, so Surge Brakes were not an option.
It came with the boat from the dealer, so I can not comment on its actual cost.
The dealer quoted my Insurance company as $2500 if that means anything.

 

[oldjeep]

Loadrite numbers indicate the hauling capacity, so the 2400 is the actual carrying capacity, not load plus trailer weight.

 

[slowleak]

The frame decal states its got a GVW of 2950, so that's more than enough to handle my boat, going to the next heavier trailer would be sprung far too stiff and add too much weight to the rig overall.

 

[roscoe]

this is new, old stock. with brakes.

Karavan 3100 lbs. Galvanized Bunk Trailer

List Price: $2,899

Sale Price: $1,395*

North Chicago suburb.


http://newboattrailers.ahlstrand-ma...van-3100-galvanized-trailer.html#.VXf0NCmZ5D4

 

[Lou C]

As long as the axle has brake flanges it's not difficult to add brakes to a trailer that size.
The hardest part is snaking the brake line through the frame. The rest is just bolting on the actuator and brake assemblies. While the state requirement is 3000 lbs, unless you towing with a 2500 series truck that is a lot of added weight for your vehicle brakes to have to stop. An SUV or 1500 series truck is designed to stop its own weight plus the max load it can carry. That's usually in the range of 1,100-1500 lbs. Thats why most manufacturers say brakes are needed above 2,000 lbs....

 

[slowleak]

this is new, old stock. with brakes.

Karavan 3100 lbs. Galvanized Bunk Trailer

List Price: $2,899

Sale Price: $1,395*

North Chicago suburb.


http://newboattrailers.ahlstrand-ma...van-3100-galvanized-trailer.html#.VXf0NCmZ5D4

Good link but their over 800 miles away and I need a roller trailer. That's about the price of a similar bunk trailer here too.
I can't get away with bunks, the ramps here are too shallow, if I were to back in with that trailer till the boat floated, the front wheels of my car would be in the water too.
Who ever designed all the ramps here must not have ever launched a boat. I had a bunk trailer under a flat bottom bass boat on 12" wheels, I could back in till the trailer axle was at the end of the ramp and the boat still wasn't wet.

 

[slowleak]

As long as the axle has brake flanges it's not difficult to add brakes to a trailer that size.
The hardest part is snaking the brake line through the frame. The rest is just bolting on the actuator and brake assemblies. While the state requirement is 3000 lbs, unless you towing with a 2500 series truck that is a lot of added weight for your vehicle brakes to have to stop. An SUV or 1500 series truck is designed to stop its own weight plus the max load it can carry. That's usually in the range of 1,100-1500 lbs. Thats why most manufacturers say brakes are needed above 2,000 lbs....

None of the trailers I've looked at have brake flanges nor do they offer any such trailer with brakes. The only trailers I've seen with brakes were either over 3500GVW or were tandem axle models.

My F150 is rated to tow 1450, my car about 1000 lbs, but I've had 7000 lbs behind the truck with no problems. It tows better then my buddies brand truck.
I bought the truck new in 1986 and have been using it as my tow vehicle ever since. (4x2 300ci I6 with a 3 speed manual OD trans).

If you go by the state regs, you need brakes as soon as the trailer hits 40% of the vehicles gross weight, you need brakes, that means any trailer over 1,980 lbs. (GVW of the truck is 4,950). I've got a bass boat here that weighs in at roughly 2000 lbs on the trailer that sits on 12" wheels, try getting brakes behind a 12" rim.
My pop up camper probably hits that mark as well, but with 8" rims, brakes will never be an option, nor have I ever seen them offered. The popup camper weighs far more than the boat all loaded up and ready to go.
I've never once felt it or my bass boat needed brakes, the truck don't even feel those trailers behind it, even in the hills in PA.

I towed the boat which I need the trailer for with my car because it gets better mileage, it towed fine, but its now on blocks in the yard till I find a suitable trailer.

Trailer ratings in my opinion are suspect on some vehicles, I own both a 2002, and 2003 Ford Crown Vic, both have factory trailer hitches, the 2002, is rated at 3500 lbs, the 2003 at only 750 lbs. Other than a few cosmetic differences, the two cars are identical. The owner's manual for the 2003 states that 'Towing isn't recommended", yet they sell the car with a factory installed 2" square class 3 trailer hitch???

My ranger pickup has a similar warning, the manual says its rated at 1,100 lbs, yet my buddy has one a year older, identically equipped that's rated at 1500 lbs, and with a larger motor, and the same everything else, its rated at 4500 lbs???
My 4 cylinder isn't that much less power than his 6 cylinder, and the trans, suspension, brakes, and rear axle are the same.
I've towed up to about 2500 lbs with that truck with no issues, its not ideal but its not unsafe in anyway. It just takes some common sense.

 

[NYBo]

My F150 is rated to tow 1450...I bought the truck new in 1986 and have been using it as my tow vehicle ever since. (4x2 300ci I6 with a 3 speed manual OD trans).

I can't believe that's the towing rating. That sounds more like the payload limit.

try getting brakes behind a 12" rim.

There are 7" drum brakes, both hydraulic and electric, that work with 12" wheels.

 

[slowleak]

I can't believe that's the towing rating. That sounds more like the payload limit.
There are 7" drum brakes, both hydraulic and electric, that work with 12" wheels.

The owners manual lists the various optional motors and transmission packages and it goes from 1250 up to 8,500 lbs. The least capable is the 6 cylinder three speed manual on the column, then mine, a 6 cylinder with the Clark three speed with OD manual, and so on, if mine had the Borg Warner 4 speed with the granny low the rating would be almost double, if it were an automatic, it would increase again.
However, it tows just about anything, I did add a better trailer hitch some years ago, since the bumper was too high to tow most boats.

There may be 7" brakes but they're not on any of the trailers I've seen around here. My neighbor has a newer Coleman popup, the thing is downright heavy, he uses a Honda to tow it, I wouldn't attempt to tow it with even my 1/2 ton pickup. I think the listed weight is something like 4500lbs yet its got no brakes, and sits on 5.30x12 tires. The big issue with that thing is tongue weight, the axle sits so far back, when the propane tanks are filled and the storage box is packed, the thing has to have about 500 lbs or so of tongue weight.

Mine isn't that heavy, but its certainly over a ton, maybe more with the propane and water tanks full. Yet it came with 8" wheels.

I looked at a few used trailers today but every one was rusted or needed lots of work, and they wanted nearly as much as a new trailer.
I'd really like to find a larger trailer with a lower spring rate, I want as much extra tongue ahead of the boat as I can get to keep my truck out of the water when launching.
When I test ran the boat, with the trailer he had it on, you couldn't walk around the back of the truck while unloading the boat without getting wet, and even then the boat wasn't yet touching the water. I really wish we had at least one steep ramp for launching a boat.