My last trailer was a Rocket Trailer. Total trash. I would not even have used it to cart around a woodshed. It had 'Quality Axles' on it, which were ANYTHING but. They were rated for 3500 lbs. and I had exactly 7000 lbs. on the trailer when (trailer & fuel included). They were both trashed within a couple years. I had to replace both of them due to bent spindles.

I also highly recommend Kodiak Disc Brakes. Most of the trailer manufacturers offer them. I think they are step above the Tie-Down Engineering Brakes. Go with the Stainless Steel Calipers with Nickel Cadmium Rotors (dual plane, with cooling fins, much stronger and less prone to warping. This is the most popular combo, but you can get Stainless Steel Rotors for BIG dollars. Tie-Down Engineering uses a single plane rotor which is thinner, weaker, and more prone to warping. Their SS kit includes a SS rotor, but the caliper is the weak portion on the Tie-Downs as it is plain Aluminum and prone to corrosion.

My strife on my last trailer:

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...ghlight=kodiak

Thanks for the responses. I bought the trailer. I went with Gary's recomendations, triple axil, leaf instead of torsion, drum breaks/electric on 2 axils, 10,500 lb. Lifetime warranty, 5 yrs. on brakes. $ 4304.00 to my driveway.

What were his comments on leaf vs. torsion axels?

I'm with you Sydwayz......we tried.
Pure Energy. Good Luck, hopefully in your case we will be wrong.

Purenergy, please don't skimp on the trailer. It will bite you in the ass when you least expect it. Warranty is GREAT to get things fixed when they break. However, imagine the headaches of having to actually fix them. Boat blocking, sending the trailer out, rebuilding on the side of the road, etc. Its nice to know you have reduced the risk of breaking in the first place. I only speak from experience. My first trailer on my first boat was a skimp, as it came with the boat, and I did not know any better. (All previous experience was with jet-ski trailers.) When I bought my trailer it was 2 years old with hardly any use. It was falling apart. After I did it the right way, the boat was sold and towed on that trailer from VA to MT without one single issue. Its nice to have that confidence.

Rockets are/were the biggest piece of sh!t in the aluminum trailer arena. They are not all like that. Other than Rocket, aluminum trailers have proven to be useful and dependable. Let's face it brakes, couplers, winches, lights ect that you choose are all from the same vendors, regardless of the trailer brand you choose.

Good luck with the trailer. I'm quite sure you'll be satisfied...

they are low cosmetic maintenence and keep the total wieght of the package down compared to steel.

it's easy for these guys to spend 10-12K of your money.

Never mentioned Myco, or anything like that. I just highly suggested over engineering it capacity-wise a bit; which he did as PE has a 31' Sonic.

You guys might be wrong in assuming that a 10,500 lb. trailer has 3-3500lb axles. My Manning trailer (which is rated for 12,000 lbs.) has 3-6,000 lb. axles.

what about trailer flex? how large are the Nexttrail I beams?

That's because your heavy ass lead filled crap heap weighs 4000 lbs.


Honest, I don't know their exact way for making the ratings, but I know it starts with the axles.