Tinnies and camper trailers

Have seen lots carried on trailer with no problems except how to get from trailer to water. I believe current regs' are if carried on trailer then it needs to be rego'd as a boat trailer. Have seen the boat loading system for roof racks so you can raise / lower with one person, looks O.K.. Just a couple of things to consider

You have to reg your tailer anyway so it $28 bucks if it's a box trailer or $28 if it's a boat trailer. Depends what you want to call it! The trailer that came with us to the cape was a box with four pieces of tube then a cross bar at the front and back, Like tradies racks in the back of a ute. I would recomend having tags on the cross bars about 75mm tall at the end of the cross bars. You can drill a hole in them and run your tie downs over the boat. Alternatively (whick is what I did) I drilled through the tags and trought the gunnel of the boat and bolted it to the racks. You have to make you cross bars the correct width with this method.
It's easier to load the boat on and off the trailer than the roof also.

Leroy

Hi Seamus,
I have a Trak Shak with the boat racks and I have a 3.7m Dart on it . I wanted a fairly large tinnie as I have a thing about crocs . It works well , although the Dart is a bit heavy to lift over - with a lighter boat it's a breeze .
BUT ( there is always a but ) the problem with this system is that when you get to where you are camping , it is nearly always away from where you launch the boat .
Trak Shak will install a folding trailer on the draw bar bar , but I am having some wheels made which fit on the side of the tinnie and a small attachment which locks onto the front of the boat and the Treg coupling . I think the folding trailers take up too much room and add too much extra space .
My Trak Shak also has an attachment for storing the 15 hp outboard .
There seems to be a few off road trailers offering the swing out boat rack designs .
I could not put my Dart on the top of my 100TD - it is too big and too heavy .
Good luck ,
Willie .

Seamus

My Tambo camper has a really simple boat rack.

You have to lift boat off each time but the racks that lift up with struts can also be a pain as struts do not give an even weight when in different positions. ( and they cost heaps)

I think they have a swing over rack as well but my racks only cost me around $400.

Dixo

If it's a small tinnie it's probably best on the roof and the motor, tanks etc on the trailer. This will share the weight and allow you to run down to the boat ramp to launch. Too many camper trailers are overloaded by adding a boat & all the gear(1.5 tonne +) then often have mechanical failures when taken offroad.
An ideal set up is a Trayon camper on a tray back ute, then tow the boat on an offroad boat trailer. We had great success with this set up at Cape York being able to launch at ramps, on the beach or off a river bank. Just another idea. Craig.....

hey seamus,
i few years ago i came across an article about a company i think out of ballarat that make a brilliant camper/tinnie trailer compo. the tinnie sits in the trailer almost as it would on a normal boat trailer. above it on a deck sits the camper section. so you can rock up to your destination and launch the boat without having to offload the boat from the camper. the combo came with a collapsible boat trailer that was stored in the unit. it fitted up to a 12 to 14 foot boat i think and had space for up to a 15 hp engine. i think.
sorry i cant be of more help but i am sure with a bit of detective work you may find the company's details somewhere. it is definately worth a look.

We have boat racks on our ct for a boat and carry a 3.75m Quintrex Dart on it. We try to camp where we can drop the boat off and more it close to our camp. We will however be taking an extended trip (3 months duration, and only 5 sleeps to go) and have decided thaT WE WILL PUT THE BOAT ON THE ROOF OF THE gu pATROL (OOPS, caps lock) as we will be doing a lot of overnight stops. We have found that it is no more difficult to put the tinnie on the 4by than the trailer. Outboard is carried on a mount attached to the dual wheel carrier. All works for us.
Happy camping,
Jan & mike.

What a forum. Thanks to all those who responded with helpful suggestions. All comes down to making a decision and hoping it is the most practical and safe.

Thanks all.