Would anyone loan / hire me a trailer?

bestman · 10 May 2022, 21:15

Evening Gents,

For the first time ever I've managed to buy a boat without a trailer.

It's dry stacked at Universal on the Hamble, and as part of the deal we get 28 days at any of Premier's other sites. I was thinking of taking her down to Dartmouth for the first week of August.

Going by sea will cost the thick end of £500 and is weather dependant, so ideally I'd trailer her down.

This got me thinking, there are lots of unused trailers lying around in yards whose utilisation is about 0.005%. However nothing is without risk so maybe lending them to strangers is madness?

What do people reckon? I'd be happy to pay or donate (RNLI?) Can the risk of me wrecking it be covered by insurance?

Just thinking out loud really. Boat is a 7m Coastline......

Dry Run · 11 May 2022, 08:40

Try Blendworth Trailers in Rowlands Castle - They hire trailers by the day.

Pikey Dave · 11 May 2022, 09:42

It’s only around 100nm, I’d be very tempted to sail it. Is the £500 just in boat fuel or are there collateral costs in there too?

Ferryman · 11 May 2022, 10:37

It’s definitely weather dependent but it’s a great boat trip to Dartmouth with a lunch stop at Lulworth or similar. It will cost about £150 in fuel for a car and trailer anyway.
Launching on the Dart is easy enough but parking in August with a trailer is horrible! I’ve never used it but there is a slipway at Totnes and a huge car park.

bestman · 11 May 2022, 11:34

Cheers for your thoughts Gents,

Food for thought.

I use 1.2L/nm for planning, but the narrow 7m Coastline, with 175hp on the back, is actually pretty economical. 0.9L/nm and £175 each way is probably more realistic.

The thing is that we are not flexible on dates, and as the wife, kids, dogs will be travelling down in the truck anyway, I thought trailering might be the best option.

I was really just musing that spending £4.5k on a trailer, that is going to need storing and maintaining, and rarely gets used might not be the most sensible plan - especially if there is a community of boaters (Ribnet?) with similarly low utilisation.

Pikey Dave · 11 May 2022, 12:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by bestman

Cheers for your thoughts Gents,

Food for thought.

I use 1.2L/nm for planning, but the narrow 7m Coastline, with 175hp on the back, is actually pretty economical. 0.9L/nm and £175 each way is probably more realistic.

The thing is that we are not flexible on dates, and as the wife, kids, dogs will be travelling down in the truck anyway, I thought trailering might be the best option.

I was really just musing that spending £4.5k on a trailer, that is going to need storing and maintaining, and rarely gets used might not be the most sensible plan - especially if there is a community of boaters (Ribnet?) with similarly low utilisation.

Have you tried boat trailer dealers? I know indespension used to hire out trailers back in the day. Others to try would be boatyards/brokers/dealers who will no doubt have trailers kicking about not doing much. The problem as I see it, is once you’ve launched the boat, you’re stuck with a trailer for x days until the return journey. In an ideal world you’d sail it there & stick it on a pontoon for your stay & sail back. But you already know that[emoji3]

Chris Caton · 11 May 2022, 13:21

have you tried Ben from Compass Trailers, Trailer Guy on here, I think he has trailers for hire

GuyC · 11 May 2022, 16:42

Can Universal put a message out to their dry stack members to see if one of them will loan you a trailer. You might find asking on site will bring someone out of the woodwork.

bestman · 11 May 2022, 21:19

Thanks for the suggestions - I'll make some enquiries along the lines suggested.

Tim M · 12 May 2022, 17:49

Plenty of places around the Solent that hire out trailers. As per Dry Run's recommendation, Blendworth trailers just up the A3 have several boat trailers at reasonable rates and do discounts for weekly hire etc. I've used them several times and they're helpful.

Based on generally how badly an awful lot of boat owners treat their trailers I would be extremely reluctant to borrow an unknown trailer for fear of a wheel bearing failure or worse. At least from a professional outfit you know its going to be up to the job.