What's the best car trailer for 17" wood and canvas canoe?

[Larry & Margaret]

We built a 17' Penobscot with Jerry Stelmok 25 years ago. We can no longer lift the canoe to the roof rack on our Forester and are seeking advice on the best car trailer for a canoe of this sort. Many thanks!

 

[Benson Gray]

Welcome, the thread at the first link below with a previous discussion on this topic may interest you. The first question is if you wish to carry the canoe upright or upside down. I used an old snowmobile trailer as shown at https://forums.wcha.org/attachments/5305/ for many years. It finally died so I replaced it with a Malone MegaSport as shown at https://forums.wcha.org/attachments/55415/ a few years ago. The second link below has more about the trailer options from Malone. Good luck and let us know what you decide,

Benson

J

Thread 'Trailer'

Oct 1, 2023

We haul our Old Town cedar/canvas with a trailer. I would appreciate seeing photos of your trailer without canoe. Just curious how folks rig a trailer for canoe hauling.

I would also appreciate it if the WCHA member I met at Little Hosmer pond in Craftsbury could contact me.

• John Zaber
• Replies: 15
• Forum: Tips and Tricks

Trailer

Malone Auto Racks designs, manufactures, and distributes auto racks and trailers for kayaks, canoes and bikes.

maloneautoracks.com

 

[Dave Osborn]

I’ve used Trailex trailers in the past. They work well.
Keep in mind that your canoe will collect more dirt, etc when pulled behind a vehicle.

 

[Todd Bradshaw]

Try to find one that is not overbuilt (or over-sprung) for your needs. One with a 5,000 pound capacity, for example, is going to have such stiff springs that it will ride poorly and be pretty hard on your canoe. We have an old Holsclaw from the early 1970s that was 600 lb. capacity and is equipped with coil springs and small shock absorbers. It rides drastically quieter and smoother than anything with leaf springs. We have used it over the years for a couple of small sailboats, an iceboat, canoes, sea kayaks and currently it holds two Hobie pedal boards and a gear box up top. There are some nice light trailers available from companies like Yakima, but the prices are insane. We will just keep switching the pads and cradles as needed on our old Holsclaw.

 

[Bob Sherlock]

Larry and Margaret,

Your question was specifically about trailers and others more knowledgeable than me have responded on that.

On the off chance that an alternative way of avoiding lifting the canoe to the roof of your Forester would be of interest, I thought I'd share the following solution that is working for me.

The Reese canoe loader, pictured, allows you to lift only half the canoe's weight at a time. The adjustable vertical support is mounted to a trailer hitch. You lift one end of the canoe onto a rotating T-bar, attach a shock cord to temporarily secure it, then lift the other end and walk it around to the front while the first end swivels on the T-bar. Then you strap the canoe to your racks as usual and tie bow and stern ropes. I made pads for the roof racks to protect the gunwales.

Unclear whether Reese still manufactures these, but we found one on FB Marketplace.

 

[Worth Gretter]

The Reese canoe loader, pictured, allows you to lift only half the canoe's weight at a time.

Here is another approach, homemade.
A steel pipe sticks under the roof rack, with a foam pool noddle on it for protection of the canoe. One end of the canoe is lifted onto the pipe, with the other end on the cart. Then the other end is lifted, and the canoe flipped over onto the rack.
This 18 foot canoe weighs 71 pounds.

 

[Bob Sherlock]

Worth, that's ingenious!

 

[Todd F]

Worth, nice job!