: . . .An added benefit is not having to lift my boat solo onto the top of the minivan.

Make that "boats". As we all know, you can't stop with just one. A small trailer will carry several, and you can make a box for the trailer that will hold paddles and PFDs as well. If you don't have the roof rack it is kinda hard to fit those 6 to 8 foot paddles inside a compact car.

: My question has to do with the length of the trailer, including the tongue.

I just measured mine. From the front of the trailer bed to the middle of the coupler (roughly the center of where the ball fits into it) the length of the tongue is a smidge over 3 feet. Figure the total length of the trailer at 11' 3" -- give or take an inch. That figure is subject to some creative variations though. Since the trailer frame is not welded (someone thought it was) but is bolted together, additional pieces can be easily added. For example, the tongue could easily be extended by several feet by simply buying a piece of metal tubing and bolting it on. The existing part for the tongue already has several predrilled holes which could be used, so you would not be drilling more, and possibly weakening that component. If you prefer to work with wood instead of metal parts, you can build 10 to 12 foot long bed on the 8 foot frame. Uning the existing mounting holes in the trailer frame parts, and a few "L" brackets, bolt on some 2x6s on edge. Pick a suitable length. Build a plywood floor on these just as you might construct a floor for a house or a garden shed. If you choose to do this, you'll have to balance your load so you get some more weight on the coupler, but that is a rather trivial problem: Place your gear box to the front. For convenience, or for recycling, if you have an external strongback you might bolt it to the trailer frame. It should certainly be long enough and strong enough!

: I am trying to figure out how much of my 17.5' long boat will stick out the
: back of the trailer. Let's see, with an 8' bed length and about 2' ahead
: of the bed, that leaves 7.5' sticking out the back. A big red flag on the
: stern might just do it - if I have the 2' ahead of the bed. Your help with
: the measurements would be appreciated.

There is a place on the tongue to mount a wheel or jack to support the tongue. If I use those holes and bolt on something as simple as a short length of 2x4, going UP with the part, instead of down -- as the jack would be installed -- I should be able to construct a crutch about 2 1/2 feet forward of the fornt of the trailer bed. With uprights at the tail end of the trailer, bolted to the end frame of the trailer, I would have about 10 1/2 feet between these points.

If the forward and rear mounts are about 30 inches above the bed of the trailer, anything that extends over them will also extend a safe distance over the trunk of my car. This would give me a safe 6 feet to overhang the front of the trailer bed in front. With a similar amount of overhang in back I could center a 20 foot long boat. If I had a longer boat I'd either make a longer tongue piece and replace the existing one, add onto the existing one, or build a carrying rack that went up higher from the bed of the trailer, allowing the boats to ride above the roof of the car. The longer tongue is by far the simpler option. On my trailer the tongue is attached at two points: the back attachment is a bolt and nut, the front attachment is a clevis pin and wire clip. The idea is that you can get the trailer bed to tilt by simply pulling the clevis pin and clip. This also lets the tongue fold down when the trailer is stored. For our purposes, though, it means that an extra-long tongue can be made and attached rather easily by simply removing the clevis and one bolt and nut. Once you pull the clevis the end of the trailer can easily raise for access to the bolt, so you don't have a big hassle with crawling underneath. I syuppose if you planned to make frequent tongue replacements you could replace the bolt with a second clevis pin.

Hope this helps.

PGJ