Best design for no trailer

N

Nick Dolphens

New member
I'm looking into building a sneak box style boat. So far I like the Mallard and the Scooter at lockstockbarrell.com. I'm really looking into a design that I could carry upside down in the back of my pickup. I realize I'd have to rig up some sort of support for the area that hangs over the tailgate. I would think this is feasable beings I have a full 8' of support with the tailgate down.

Does anyone else do this? Would anyone highly oppose to this idea?

Thanks for your help.

Nick
 
I suggest you check out the little 10' Sneakbox plans from Zach Taylor's "Succesful Waterfowling" book. Unfortunatly, I can't remember what he calls that particular model.

It's a little flat-bottom version of a sneakbox. 48" wide I believe and about 10' long. It was designed to be thrown up on top of a car, or slid into the back of a pick-up. Plans show decoy racks, spray dodger, oar locks etc.

Easy plans to follow and with modern fasteners and adhesives available today, I think you could build one quickly and a little lighter than what's described in the book.

Good luck!

Jon
 
I have now traveled with a 11' 3" x 54" Sneakbox, and a 12' 3" x 60" Sneakbox in the back of my '05 4 door Chevy PU. I have the short, short bed because of the 4 doors. I use a Harbor Freight bed extender that was $40. It puts an adjustable horizontal tie down bar about 2 feet beyond my tailgate. Another foot or so of the boat sat beyond the extender. Worked very good. Though both boats are more than I could have loaded myself without building some rails and a winch I suspect.

So what you need to figure is not what will fit, but what can you lift and how. With an 8 ft bed, even a 12 ft sneakbox will only be 2 feet beyond the tailgate and not need additional support.
 
We often hauled the South Bay Scooter right side up in the back of my pickup (full size 1/2 ton-8'bed)...stern first into the bed. Also hauled the scull boat that way too. Just aft of the front of the bed, I'd clamp a 2x4 there and that would keep the boat from tipping and sliding out. I also ran line from the bow handle, back to tie offs on the bed. Never had a problem.
The South Bay Scooter & Brant II fit nicely between the wheel wells.
As mentioned by some, the bed extender would be a great help as well. One of my friends bought a scull boat and hauled it with his pickup and the bed extender. Worked great.
Lou
 
How young are you?

Envision this scenario. Drag boat out from where it's stored. Muscle into truck. You need to put it in the bed right side up....because......now you go back to storage area and get oars, pushpole, outboard, tank, anchors, lines, decoys etc etc etc and load into the cockpit of the boat. Drive to hunting spot, unload oars, pushpole, outboard, tank, anchors, lines, decoys, etc etc etc........SO YOU CAN UNLOAD THE BOAT. Now you load the boat with oars, pushpole, outboard, tank, anchors, lines, decoys, etc etc etc. YOU HAVE NOW MOVED YOUR GEAR THREE TIMES AND HAVEN'T LEFT THE RAMP YET!!!!

When you are done hunting, repeat all of the above in reverse.

This will get old, really really quick.

So, if you are in your 20's and broke, as most guys in their 20's are, you gotta do what you gotta do. If you are in your 30's with a young family, you might have to prioritize and suck it up and do the truck bed thing. If you are in your 40's and up, you are now supposed to be smart enough to realize that your body can't take that punishment on a regular basis, if at all, and you say f it and buy a trailer, no matter the cost.

A new small bunk trailer is what, $600???

Good luck

JimG
 
I had to chuckle at the previous post. been there! done that ! To make life a little easier I used a winch and two planks to get the boat in and out. You still have a fair amount of packing and repacking. Also don't forget to tie down the boat in the truck unless your into destruct testing. The fifty mile an hour test is really something. I'll let you visualize that. ( : o )

Look for a used trailer if money is a factor. A wire brush, A good primer, New bearings , New tires. Pay nothing for the trailer.
 
JimG,
Way too funny. I used to do that quite some time ago. Now........if I don't have the boat on a trailer....it doesn't go.
One trailer I used for years (and still use), I bought for $25. I rewelded it, added some outriggers and uprights so I could haul 2 boats. Ran from Michigan to the East Coast (Maine & Mass) twice with the rig with 2 boats on it. Once with the sculler and Whistler on it and the 2nd time with 2 scull boats to Lobsterfest.
I'll post pics in a bit....computer acting goofy.
Lou
 
Last time I did that was with my MLB Wigeon. Good thing I took it to my lake cabin cause I wasn't gonna try and load it back up. When I was in my 20's it wouldn't have made me breathe hard.
 
Yo Harker,
Guess none of us are as young as we used to be. I know, that sounds so obvious. ;)

Hey partner, glad to have you back..on line. You going to be at Westlake?
Take care, you're in my prayers constantly.
Lou
 

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This will get old, really really quick. [/font]
[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Good luck

JimG [/font]
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Jim summed it up in a nutshell. I was too lazy to type the same thing earlier when I first saw the original question. Thanks Jim.
 
Here is my follow up post.

Geez, something like 32 years ago, when I was 14, is when I started duck hunting with my dad. We had (still have) a 12' Grumman cartopper boat which we would put on top of the cap on his pickup. Around in my early 20's I picked up a bunk trailer, but since it's it's a light transomed boat, we'd remove the motor to travel on the road and since there is no drain plug, once home I'd have to push the boat off of the trailer and flip it over. Around the time I was pushing 30, I aquired a 14 foot Starcraft with an old '68 Johnson 20hp tiller. Did some trailer swapping, then in the fall of '99 I had to buy a new motor and at the same time put a new larger trailer under the boat. Now it gets fun. Couple of years after that, Dave Clark had a glass Perry sneak box that I bought from him. I'd haul it up into the bed of the pickup, close the tailgate, then hook up the Starcraft. I'd get to the ramp, launch the Starcraft drive into the parking lot, unhook the trailer, then back down the ramp and slide the sneak out of the bed of the truck. I'd then tow the sneak a mile or two to where I hunted and would set the dekes then hide the Starcraft and hunt from the sneak. It was lots of fun to hunt from but what the heck was I thinking with all of the extra work. I sold the sneak a couple of years ago and last summer got rid of the Starcraft. I picked up a used Seaclass TDB last summer and oh my middle aged body is quite appreciative of that.

JimG
 
Two seasons ago I lost half the season with a stove up back from loading my Poleboat on top of a trailer. I do not recomend that pain, simple. If you insist, consider a loader like the one Cabellas sells but not that floppy double jointed thing. If you are interested I will dig out some pics of the one I built and use on my hunting trailer also. Take care of your back from an ol fart.
 
" YOU HAVE NOW MOVED YOUR GEAR THREE TIMES AND HAVEN'T LEFT THE RAMP YET!!!!
When you are done hunting, repeat all of the above in reverse.
This will get old, really really quick. "

JimG
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So right,JimG.Having done the above when I was in my 30's,i can say with confidence :YOU ARE SOOOO RIGHT!!!!
I may add.....@4AM" whose that arsehole blocking the ramp the past 20 minutes"
 
Look around on ebay, craigslist and in the papers. I have bought several trailers for $200-$400. I have found the best prices are actually on trailers that had junk boats on them. Folks are just trying to get rid of the boats. I've either sold the boats cheap or in one case offered it for free that came with the trailer. It was gone in a day and I got the 19" ft trailer I wanted for $300.

baumy
 
I've really enjoyed your advise guys. Especially your Jim! You have me pegged; I'm the 29 year old guy with a young family trying to "launder" the least amount of money out of the checking account as possible. A $400 craigslist trailer purchase wouldn't go over well - at all.

In interest of keeping the peace, and not having a trailer that I have to haul back and forth from our cabin lot (neighborhood codes won't let us park a trailer in the drive). I'm looking for other alternatives.

Thanks to everyone, I really enjoy the site.

Nick
 
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and not having a trailer that I have to haul back and forth from our cabin lot (neighborhood codes won't let us park a trailer in the drive).
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Nick,

The additional info sheds a different light on the subject. Are you going to be hauling only to and from the cabin at the beginning and end of your season? Are you going to be launching from your cabin lot? If your making a "beach launching " off your lot and want to store the boat up next to the cabin between hunts, you might also consider a set of cart wheels for getting across the lawn.
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I would say try to use a trailer, but if you musn't... I have a pond management company and we've been putting little jon boats on a ladder rack for years with no hassles. I've got an easy way for one person to slide it up all by their lonesome. The hardest part would be climbing up on the bed rails and wrestling with the ratchet straps. It's still going to be a pain loading and unloading all your gear. Here's a pic

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Here's a few reasons for no trailer.
1. The hitch ball already has a travel trailer hooked to it for the big hunting/fishing/camping trip. I'm thinking of making a boat that would fit neatly on top of our teardrop trailer, but I not sure it wouldn't overload it.
2. The road to get there is too rough to haul a trailer on (damned rare, this one).
3.The place you want to go hunting doesn't have a boat ramp within miles (damned frequent, this one).
4. You don't have a place to park the trailer. This includes at work, for squeezing in an afternoon quicky hunt. Ditto if you're parking anywhere near downtown.
5. You hate backing trailers, especially one narrower than your truck, and it's dark, the ramp's crowded, and everybodies watching and waiting, and even after the boat's in the water it a half a mile to find a place to park. Remember, with a car topper, you're not at the ramp, you're at the nearest wide spot in the road at the hunting area.
6.The damned trailer lights worked fine last night, but the cop is pointing out to you they don't work now.
7.Two more tires to go flat, burn a bearing, whatever.
8. You can put more stuff in a trailered boat, so you do, you probably don't need 1/2 of it. I'm always amazed how much less stuff I need when I hunt in a field, and have to carry it on my back, than when I hunt in the boat. I tend to haul less stuff hunting with my canoe for the same reason.
In case I sound biased, I'm not. Two out of three boats I own are on trailers, I consider them a nessesary evil for boats too big to carry.
 
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