GPW wrote:Gentlemen , living in New Orleans , the need for me to build a TD becomes obvious . Not only a great camper , but a Hurricane "escape POD"... Since the hurricane , lots of boats got blown away/damaged/scrapped, but the trailers are everywhere, some nice and WIDE ... I know that boats are HEAVY compared to TD 's but How would these boat trailers convert ... easily ???
I made my own plans and templates for a 6'Wx12'Lx5'H basic teardrop, to accomidate "Her Worship" the two cats and a Stupid dog ... Ready to build , trailers everywhere....and only 4 months to hurricane season ... Will they work ???
Hi GPW!
I did exactly what you are suggesting. I started with an old boat trailer and rebuilt it to my needs.
For me, the down sides were:
- the trailer was made out of heavy channel iron, so the tear trailer is heavier than I would like
- I spent a lot of time cutting down the old trailer to build the new one
- the trailer was OLD so I had a difficult time finding bearings and such
- I ended up still having to replace the hitch, wiring, and refirbish the axle. This reduced the potential savings
The upsides were:
- didn't have to buy steel
- didn't have to purchase an axle, springs, hubs or wheels
In summary, I saved some money but it took longer to build.
You can see how I did it at:
http://www.asolidfoundation.com/dd_frame.shtml
Joanne