: I have saved this link from and old BBS post. It has some good comments.

I ran into the same problems as the guy in the article: loading & unloading from a van, roof racks etc. I was hauling two 17 ft grumman canoes . When i got my kayak it was too much to fit. I hunted around for a suitable trailer then decided to build my own. I bought the light duty trailer kit from Harbor Freight ITEM 42708-0VGA $179.00 (free shipping). The axle is rated at 1060 lbs. (More than enough for a few boats). the kit has every thing you need incl. lights, and was alot cheaper than ordering individual parts. I looked at just extending the tongue but ended up scrapping the short frame and building my own out of 11 ga. S.S. The whole thing loaded weighs less than 400#. It trails really nice and I don't notice a drop in mileage like I did with the roof racks. We've even pulled it with an ATV to some hard to reach put-ins. The only bad thing is when I get stuck by P.L.S. (Is That Really stainless steel?)
If you buy the kit from H.F. make sure they HAND SIGN and NOTORIZE the cert. of origin from the mfgr. W.VA. DMV would not accept a rubber stamp transfer from H.F. and I had to send it back after two trips to the DMV office.
Also, Get a Spare tire, it's cheap insurance.