For years, decades really, I’ve struggled moving boat trailers around by hand. They always seem to be on grass or dirt; somehow I’ve never had the luxury of paving. My jack wheels can create a lot of serious drag in grass, and they’ll dig holes in dirt when I straighten them out.A thread on the WoodenBoat Forum, an immensely valuable resource for me, addressed this problem. “Thorne,” the forum member who started the thread, discovered Croft Trailer Supply in Kansas City, Missouri, not a place I’d think of for boating gear. Croft makes a pneumatic-wheel kit with dual 10″ wheels. The plated-steel hubs have grease fittings to lubricate the axle and bushings. Between the wheels is a plated-steel caster plate with a 2″ socket. The two 10" pneumatic tires provide lots of support on soft ground. The rope coiled around the winch post is what the author uses to pull the trailer; the jack-stand wheels follow on their own. The grease fitting for the far wheel is visible on the inside of the hub.
Photographs by the author
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Awesome!
Agreed! Great idea!
Awesome. I, too, have to move the trailer for my faering, IRONBLOOD, over rough field, and it has become very difficult as I get within a half year of 80! This is a very nice solution. (Much better than selling my beautiful 15-year-old escape hatch.)
When you want put the trailer in a different direction, do the wheels turn usually? I find that when I have to change direction with my regular trailer, I wind up having to kick the wheel around.
Al, kind of depends on the surface I’m on. Anything fairly hard track is automatic as there is a bunch of offset in the wheels. The photo shows the bit of line that use to pull it around. Nice not having to bend or push on hard stuff.
Hi Ben,
Just saw this. Since I was one of the WoodenBoat Forum members who copied Thorne on this great idea, just thought I should post a photo. The wheels are still working very well on my light Trailex trailer. They seem like overkill, but the big wheels make the trailer float over rough ground and the whole thing is just easier to maneuver on any surface.
Do you have picture of the wheels in the horizontal swivel up position?