Kayak trailer adapted for bicycles

FABULOUS TRAILER MOD:

I've modified my trailer so that it will carry three bicycles and one kayak
OR......several kayaks and one bicycle.

Thing I'm most delighted with, is/was...that the trailer-tongue
was just long enough that I can mount a bike on the TONGUE...!!!..
(leaving the entire "rest" of the trailer to carry many kayaks stacked, or
if individually placed, two kayaks + bicycle.

Photos make clear how the bicycle front-fork is mounted.

WARNING---WARNING---WARNING---WARNING---WARNING---

In ADDITION to being secured...by the "hanger"....you absolutely
must tightly...tightly....bring a rope from the hanger to the frame
of the bike (preferably, tightened by use of a "trucker's hitch") to
pull the frame and fork down HARD to the bracket.

The rear tire must be secured so that it CANNOT swing side-to-side.

The bicycle mounted on the tongue is way down, out of the windstream.

SOT boaters and fishermen are not often required to "shuttle" cars between
a put-in and take-out.    We whitewater boaters face that requirement with every trip.   Where we bring only one car to the river there are two solutions:
hitchhike or bicycle the shuttle.  Where there are few cars on a remote mountain road....bicycling the shuttle is the only alternative.   Up to now I've been just tieing the bike to the sides of the kayaks.    This mount on the trailer-tongue is a totally splendid adaptation.

Judd

My friend has a bike mounted to the front of his driftboat trailer tongue,

what about using one of these for the front forks (~$25):


and this http://www.yakima.com/racks/bike-racks/product/8002065/boa.aspx for the back wheel. It could bolt right to the frame and top of the Jobbox. It would never slide around and be pretty secure. Our stuff is never safe from thieves, locks just keep the "honest" away.

Does the trailer tires wear funny with all the weight from the Jobbox on one side?





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Yes, that would work but threaded rod & nuts are "free" by comparison.

I CHOSE to use threaded rod and nuts because a "quick-release" is just too easy for a thief.  Not everyone has a crescent wrench handy.  Your locking quick-release system looks nice and more convenient.

As for the rear wheel....Don't want ANY kind of projection on the top of the lock-box that would chafe or damage a kayak.  I often secure my wife's SOT there.   And besides, I'm "a rope kinda guy".....familiar with it, comfortable with it, secure with it.

No, I've had no differential tire wear.   The secure storage capacity of that lock box is SO nice.  The trailer ball-clasp is lockable and I do keep it locked to the car.   When the trailer is sitting beside my house it's secured with a heavy chain locked over the axle, and I always keep the ball-clasp locked closed.

Sometimes at motels, I'll unhook the trailer and push it against a wall or terrain-feature where it    c a n n o t    go back any further.  Then I'll back the Corolla over the dropped tongue, trapping it.

My Std. Transmission Toyota Corolla on my most recent trip to Portland, OR and back got road mileage of 39.x mpg.    Last summer doing the exact same trip with the trailer & boats I got 36.x mpg.    Best-day-in-it's life my old ASTRO van got 18.x mpg, the lowest mileage 11.4 mpg.   The trailer with its lock-box and hauling capacity of 4 x 8's and 20-foot timbers... makes my Corolla a complete replacement for the van.

The Toyota comes drilled & tapped to recieve an off-the-shelf hitch.   I was curious and just recently looked:   None of the american economy sedans are drilled and tapped for a trailer.   In fact across FORD and GM...you gotta move up to a SUV before a trailer is even an option.   

At $14,000 (common discount price) the Toyota Corolla.....is just the "gold standard" for cars.   

Judd

those Jobbox's are 14 gauge steel, you would need a torch to break in to it. It's a great idea for safe storage on the road. A nice safe place to keep stuff, even at home. It is too bad people can't respect others property!

Hey Judd, what kinda bike is that on top of the box? Kinda looks like a Legnano.

Pisciform.....That's my road bike, a steel-frame Guerciotti...
analog-shifters....22-pounds....bought it circa 1988.

Judd

Ah yes. Here's the Legnano - similar paint.

Very pretty bike.........I would   d i e    with those gear combinations.

The "setup" I have for gripping the forks is CORRECT on the trailer tongue.
I did the lock-box top incorrectly, not thinking it would make a difference.

On the lock-box, I'm going to have to dismount one of the brackets and
space it so that I can have locking nuts ON EITHER SIDE of the bracket.

The picture itself illustrates what is wrong.   The fork goes to increased
width immediately above its bolt-flange.  That increased width interferes
with a "proper grip" and as you can see, the flange bends as the nuts are tightened.    With nuts trapping the flange and locking against one another
I'll get a more secure mount, and that bending will not happen.

You learn things as you do them..... .....

Judd

very nice setup, I may have to get a trailer just to haul bikes and yaks on long weekend trips...

as far as shuttling with a bike, do you prefer to drop the bike at takeout or drop the boats and gear, drive to the takeout, drop off leave teh car, then ride back to the put in (then lock up the bike somewhere?)

this shuttle conundrum has had me stumped for a while...  (mostly because I'm lazy and not bright  )

as far as shuttling with a bike, do you prefer to drop the bike at takeout or drop the boats and gear, drive to the takeout, drop off leave teh car, then ride back to the put in (then lock up the bike somewhere?)

I used to shuttle a bunch with my driftboat, I have a couple of suggestions.

I like to do the bikeride part during the best weather part of the day, so sometimes it is before, but most of the time, it is the after landing. It is easier to hitch a ride during afternoon daylight, than 5am in the dark. There is more road traffic during the day too.

Regardless of when we do the riding portion, we found a way to keep the bikes from getting ripped off.

You need a few pieces of burlap or camo material to hide the bike. Usually, one side of the river has public access, and the other side is much harder to near impossible to get to without wading/swimming. We ALWAYS put the bike on the far side of the river. We throw it in the boat, paddle it across, hide it under the burlap/camo, cover with some vegetation, and row back across and re-trailer the boat, go up to the launch. You also need to place some rocks on the covering to prevent the daytime winds from blowing it away. It is best to put the bike a little upstream of the boat launch, so it isn't in plain view of the launch. I usually hide the wheels in two different locations away from the frame. If someone wants to steal my bike, they have to work for it.

We always hide a small Igloo cooler with ice, a few beers, and some snacks. The rider always get 2 or more beers, everyone else only gets one (incentive for the rider). If you put it in the boat, there won't be any left. Watch out under the covering though, one time on the Trinity River a rattlesnake took up residence in the shade under my burlap. I about peed myself when I heard him buzz!

I think the best shuttle tool is those gas powered scooters. My friend has one, it fits in the trunk, he leaves it in the back of the boat (no need to shuttle it downstream first), it goes about 25mph (it claims up to 35mph, but it would have to be a skinny kid), can hold up to 300 lbs, goes about 20 miles on a quart of gas, and it has fat tires with a seat and "shocks", and he got it on Ebay for about $250 new.  There is no paper,scissors,rock to see who has to ride that up to get the truck either.

My friend has a bike mounted to the front of his driftboat trailer tongue,

what about using one of these for the front forks (~$25):


and this http://www.yakima.com/racks/bike-racks/product/8002065/boa.aspx for the back wheel. It could bolt right to the frame and top of the Jobbox. It would never slide around and be pretty secure. Our stuff is never safe from thieves, locks just keep the "honest" away.

Does the trailer tires wear funny with all the weight from the Jobbox on one side?



Amazon has the Same thing fro Delta for half the price on those bike mounts.



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Running the shuttle before the trip requires more organization and forethought than I usually bring to the river (or anywhere).   

I drop the bike at the take-out and chain & lock it to something secure, like a highway guard rail.   Then drive up to the put-in.   

This tends to get you on the river fastest....which on one of those short-day winter trips, where the "scouts" and "portages" and possibly someone's broken paddle or boat can reduce your downriver progress to a snail's pace, helps to assure that you'll get off the river before nightfall and won't have to bivouac on a riverbank somewhere....which has been known to happen.

Judd

Thanks guys, I have often wondered about shuttling, and have always wimped out and gone for the 2-car trick...but one of those gas scooters sounds perfect (and I wont even have to worry about it getting ripped off