Amphibious walking beam trailer

[Noel Woods]

[QUOTE=Delduck;208667]Has anyone tried taking a 10-12 JON boat?

The problem ironically, is that most small boats have fairly short sides (freeboard) that don't allow for very tall gear.

[Hideous 4x4]

Bob, this is kind of what I was thinking about, only this one fastens to the transom.

eide boat loader | We Put Fun Back In Fishing

[Hideous 4x4]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py5uoDCN3Tg

Here's another, just some ideas.
Not sure what equipment your hauling, but like Noel said not much freeboard with a john boat.

[Delduck]

I think for us the eide boat loader would work perfect we would just need the balloon tires to stay on top of the mud. We would certainly without a doubt destroy the you tube one. Thanks for the feedback

[Canadian_Zuk]

I made something similar to the eide boat loader. I use it with my ATV to get into remote lakes, its a simple design. I just used a 1/2" diameter black pipe 4" longer than my transome is wide. I welded bolts into the ends of the pipe so I could bolt on 2 mountain bike tires. I secure the pipe/tires to the top of the transome and have an trailer coupler attached to the bow upside down. I flip my boat over and tow it like a trailer behind my quad, having the boat upside down gives more than 12" of ground clearance and also prevents it from getting snagged on tree branches and schtuff.

[Hideous 4x4]

Got the walking beam's welded, I went with the traditional trailer hub for the tires and a bushing for the beam pivot. After having 3 boats and the Alaska trailers and never having water contamination with them. Don't fix whats not broke. I mounted the tires about 1 1/2" apart just like always. Not sure if a short or long wheelbase is better, the short rides extremely smooth so I stayed with that.
When I picked up the aluminum the owner was asking about what kind of brake I would use, I told him what the sheet metal shop had. He said they used a sharp edge and that you will get a stronger bend with a radius bend. What he said made sense. I spent yesterday making this brake. I will bend 36" wide with a radius. A pencil fits inside the bend. I bent some smaller pieces and it worked great, now I just need to get the final dimensions and bend the tub.

[Hideous 4x4]

Made a finial decision on the tub, 50 1/2" long at the top by 45" long at the bottom by 27" wide. The bender worked fantastic! It will come in handy on other projects down the road. I even bent a 7" piece of 2024 x .080 to over a 90*, it took as much pressure to bend that little piece as the 27" x .090 5054 and it didn't crack. So that little radius made the difference.



Here's a shot of the axles.

[Hideous 4x4]

Waited over a week for Amazon prime to send the fast cure 5200, got impatient and went to Home Depot and bought the slow cure 5200 and glued and riveted it. Guess what showed up after we finished!
The tub is a lot bigger than I thought, should hold everything that we would cary and then some. I will get some pictures when it sets up.

[sirjared]

Have you thought about building the tub out of fiberglass and foam. Or lining the aluminum tub with sheets of foam. Then it would float for sure. I built a 5' x 10' hover craft with 4" of foam and it will float about 1500 lbs.

[Hideous 4x4]

It did cross my mind when I was searching for a plastic tub but that's as far as I got. I'm sure it would work.

[Hideous 4x4]

The 7 day cure time is up. After the first 4 days the glue was still tacky, this glue use's humidity to cure, I wound up having to tent it and stick a humidifier under it. It started to sit up just fine after that. The humidity in the mountains of CO is very dry, then we heat with wood so that drys out the air even more. Anyway it came out just fine. I would use the quick cure if I did it again.

[Delduck]

Some crate motors are sent in a plastic tub if you check with some local auto places they will sell them to you for $25.00 at least they did for us around here. I haven't bought one in a couple years.

[Hideous 4x4]

Another thought for a tub, thanks Bob.

[Hideous 4x4]

Painted the walking beams and bolted them to the tub. This is how I will lock the walking beam if I need a trailer tire for a spare on the max.

[Hideous 4x4]

Well she's just about done. I'm running out of room in the shop, I want to leave it inside for a while longer just to make sure the glue is fully cured. This is the basic trailer, I will build a cover out of the 18oz truck tarp material. What did you guys use for a drain plug?