: Paul

: Do you find that your trailer is a bit bouncy with just a hundred lbs +/- of
: kayak and gear?

Actually, I haven't yet built the boat rack for it. It is still a work in progress. so far, though, my main uses have with hauling a motorcycle, and moving furniture. Friends who used it on a trip from Chicago to Omaha went one way with it filled, and brought it back empty. They reported no problems at all.

The axle is indeed solid (as opposed to liquid?) but it is not fixed directly to the frame. Is that what you were thinking? The axle is mounted to leaf springs which seem to do a pretty good job. If I assume that a torsion axle is one that flexes by rotating and twisting itself, like the torsion springs on an old VW beetle, or a garage door, then I can't see much difference. They are just different types of springs, and they deflect under a load. I imagine a pair of shock absorbers might dampen any harmonic oscillations, but I think leaf and torsion springs would be equally susceptible to such oscillations -- so I'm happy with the cheaper system.

: I have spoken to friends about this, and there is concern
: that the solid axle trailers, especially the light weight ones, will
: bounce and could cause damage to a light weight boat on it.

"Could" cause damage? Sounds hypothetical to me. Any of them ever had a boat damaged by a trailer? I've never seen or heard of such a thing, but I suppose it might happen. If the boat is secured to the trailer then when the trailer goes up over a bump, so does the boat. They move as a unit. Even if there wasw some slop in the attachments, the lightweight boat would just bounce a bit on the (hopefully) padded rack or cradle. From a physics standpoint, if I recall things, the trailer, having a greater mass than the boat would take longer to accelerate when hitting a bump. The lightweight boat would be able to accelerate more and just bounce away. If the boat was heavier, though, with a sloppy tie-down, the trailer would slam into it like a hammer. With a solid tiedown, though. the two components should move pretty much as a unit.

: They have
: tortion axles for all sorts of weights of trailer and some can be adjusted
: I've heard, so that even with a 40 lb. boat it will flex enough to keep
: from bouncing really bad. Would be a lot better ride for a kayak. Don't
: remember the co. name that I heard building/selling these axles, but it
: would be interesting to see what it would take to build with this set-up.

Sounds like the advantage they are trying to sell is the adjustable spring action. For a few bucks you could just put on lighterweight leaf springs on a trailer like mine. for that matter, I think I have three leaves in each spring. It might be possible to remove one leaf from each side at no cost -- but it would be a pain to do.

On the other hand, in my case the whole issue may be moot. The motorcycle is about 500 pounds, and the whole idea was to be able to take both the boat and the motorcycle at the same time. This would permit solo paddling in the local rivers. I could do my own shuttle by dropping off the motorcycle at the takeout point. The car and trailer go to the put-in point where they get parked. I paddle back to the cycle, take out, and chain up the boat with the cycle chain.
I ride back to the car on the cycle, load it on the trailer and head back to pick up the boat. Many trips, but it should beat walking or paddling upstream.
It works with two people, too.

Anyhow, with the weight of motorcycle, plus one or two boats I no longer have a light trailer bouncing up and down.

Or, I suppose I could carry ballast

Thanks for worrying about me.

PGJ