"Pete C." wrote:

cavelamb wrote:

Pete C. wrote:
cavelamb wrote:
Pete C. wrote:

There are trailer plans with engineers stamps for sale from various
places. Northern Tool has a collection of them available for various
types of trailers.
Unfortunately, nothing there that will fill my bill.

I need a trailer for a 26' long x 10' wide sailboat.

6000 pounds would be realistic.

Fortunately shoal draft with a 4' wing keel.

While a flat bed and custom cradle would be the cheapest solution
I'd never be able to launch from that without a crane.

--

Richard Lamb

The key here is to find the closest match size and capacity wise to what
you need and then adapt from there maintaining comparable material specs
to the original plans. You need a starting point with appropriately
sized materials to base your adaptation on.

One issue is that DOT seems to want the trailer to come all the way to the
back of the boat - little to no overhang.

The only plans I've found anywhere near that length are for goose neck types.

Most likely a *very* easy issue to resolve. I expect the real
requirement is to have a "bumper" area with the plate and lights
(particularly the three clearance lights for over 80" width) back there.
There are probably no structural requirements for that area.

I expect your functional trailer structure can stop well short of that
point, and if you make the frame rails from something like rectangular
tube, you can have the extension section telescope from inside that
frame out the required distance and lock it in place with a hitch pin on
each frame rail so that when you are ready to launch the boat you can
remove the hitch pins and push the rear part in and out of the way and
lock it in that position with the hitch pins.

I would also note that 10' wide is well over the 8'6" width limit and
will require wide load markings and permits.