Pretty good ( port Kennedy)

 Well built, 2900/2700 kg under a 6.4m boat. Good design, easy for drive on. But made in Vic, so you are up for freight. IIRC,  mine was over 12k. But proper rocker roller load sharing tandem, steel guards, s/s calipers on the eoh brakes. My boat isn't far short of 2 tonnes all fuelled up with gear.

Just as a general comment, look out  when you get a price. There are corners to be cut. Some will quote on tandem but they are slipper springs, not load sharing, rubbish imo. Plastic guards are cheaper, and easily replaceable, but don't like being stood on. Look for things like integral footpaths at the back corners, where you might want to step up. Rollers vs bunks vs wobble rollers is a debate that  goes on forever-- a good drive on design may incorporate all three.  Make sure that the eoh battery and assembly is mounted high, not down on the drawbar. Steer away from hollow tube as much as you can, if you want longevity in steel. They'll all rust from the inside, and there is no way around it. Hot rolled c channel keeps the wet, hard to wash spots at a minimum, and you can sandblast and re gal if required down the track. Don't bother with those big side guides sticking up, more likely to mark your boat than help it. A good drive on will centre your boat from a long way off centre. 

HTH 

You get what you pay for.
7mtr leeder on tandem trailer with gear weighs how much?
Stick with the known local brands and get the right setup to suit your boat. Might cost a bit more but what's your boat worth sitting on the bitumen after the trailer fucks up?

 I have a 9 year old Trailit. Most of the bolt on fittings have shitty galv and have caused the rust to spread like cancer. Need to pull the boat off for serious work.

i wouldn't buy another.

PM sent

 Don't get a John papas trailer 

I have a John papas box trailer and 2t tandem boat trailer and both are going well after 6 years  

Same had a papas on the last boat and went back to them for a box trailer as well.

No issues and would go back any time.

Found them much better than the Dunbier that comes standard on lots of Aussie boats

 The comments against RHS to use as a material in my opinion bullshit and uninformed. it dips well for galvanising and is superior structurally to Unibeam  (less distortion) and easier to fabricate with. My trailer requires a rebuild and I'll be using RHS gain to do it just a slightly heavier section. My trailer is 13 years old and has only now just started to have rust problems, Not bad for a well used trailer imo.

Being a steel fabricator I reckon I have a well formed opinion and expertise in this area. RHS just needs to be flushed well with a hose after use, not hard to do. 

The Dunbier trailers are built to a minimum standard, fine for road trailering and that's about it. 

 Problem is mate, people skip the trailer on the cleaning routine. Watch them at ramp.

Saw it many times when l was servicing and repairing trailer for 2 years. The amount of RHS crossmembers l replaced l lost count.

My own I beam trailer is going on 16 years old and will get another 5 easily out of it. 

I agree about RHS being structurally better. But for longevity of ownership ibeams a winner.

Biggest problem with cross beams is the tiny holes that are put in for draining, bigger holes on the underside would make for easier cleaning and less rust issues.

 i only have a 4.2 dinghy on a papas trailer but the trailer is 16 years old now im the 3rd owner and is still rust free on the frame only rust i have is on axle Springs and bolts on the rollers have just replaced hubs as they were bad. 

And some good info here.

I'm going down a similar path atm on rebuilding vs  new.

Would  be great to get some input from guys in the know as my knowledge is very limited .

Firstly I have a 13 year old melride(chivers brand ) rhs, the problems is with the crossmembers at the bottom under the keel rollers where a small hole was drilled in each crossmember.

a mate told me this hole is for when they galvanize it to stop  the air inside the tube expanding and bursting? Can someone confirm this  as this is where the problem has occured.But as seakem has described above might be from where the tube was  bent in the mandrel?.

Seems funny to have a hole from a mandrel but then not weld it back up to stop water ingress and then galv.also they have rusted from the inside so no amount of washing down the outside would have stopped this.

Anyway about 5 years ago I put a sprinkler system on and drilled about a 8mm hole on the crossmember up near where it's welded to the main frame on the side to and fitted a small tube into the hole 

to flush the crossembers out . I think this would be a good idea if it was drilled out before it was galved but not sure if this is a good idea or not

Ive always hosed the trailer down properly.alot of people say I beam is the go but it doesn't seem to be the main problem in my experience, my main frame would last another 5 years.

Also I guess the amount of times a trailer has been used would greatly effect the amount of corrosion, some guys may only use the boat once a month where others  are using it a few times a week.

 Ok cheers  that  clears that up.

Do you think to put a hole up near the main frame   with a small retic hose fed into to crossmember is a good idea for flushing purposes to clear the salt away?

Scott - My Pappas had a hole where it met the main frame as well as one in the bottom of the cross member.

Made it easy to poke a small retic riser in at the top of the member and water would drain at the bottom.

After 6 years the frame still looked near perfect. Just the brackets etc that start looking a little worn.

All boat trailers should come standard with this setup

Had a galv polmac RHS trailer for 20+ years  (local built not the crap imports they do nowadays), just bought a local built dual axle RHS Papas to replace it....very solid.

Beefed up the suspension as the standard 2t suspension looked a bit lite weight for how I use and where take it..now 2t running gear on a 2t trailer

So far so good and can’t fault how solid it is.

Figured 20 more years out of a galv RHS will do just fine....even half that time represents pretty good value for money.

before they hot dipped it I had them slightly increase the drain hole diameter so I could get the end of hose in.

   Seen enough rust through from the inside, due to it being impossible to wash properly ALL  AROUND the inside circumference, to see it as a bad idea.

  You reckon you can wash the inside  top surfaces  of the tube, for it's entire length?  Got a handy freshwater lake to back it into after fishing?

All you are doing is washing the bottom, and maybe a bit of the sides, each time. 

Plus the insides will always stay wet, longer. SHS/RHS might be easier for you to work with as a fabricator, but you will always be able to resurrect the

main frame of a channel-built trailer, unlike a tube trailer. Cutting bits of rusted frame out and welding bits in is just slowing down the inevitable end, regardless of what kind of finish it has. 

Someone above said above they'd be happy to get even 10 years out of a trailer??? I'd expect to last twice as long as that without attention to anything other than the moving parts.

Gets very expensive buying a trailer for a big boat every ten years.

There is a thread on the Ausfish forum originally started by a bloke with a rant on the coast of trailers, reckoned we were all being " ripped off", he could build an aluminium  trailer for a 6m boat for $2K. 

His heart is in the right place, I suppose, he is a tryer, but had to be put in his place regarding some realities about actually doing it as a hobby and doing it to make a living, pay staff, etc  Anyway, he went ahead.

Thread is up to 18 pages so far. He started in October last year, last post was in May, still not finished. Didn't work out quite as cheap or easy as he thought--Who'd have thought.---I've built one for a 6 metre boat myself, and had it galvanised. 

Not much fun working through a Kalbarri Jan-Feb in the storage shed on R&R's , getting jolts because everything was soaked through with sweat.

Yeah but funnily that is the side that has rusted, the bottom.

so washing only the bottom and half the sides  is better than washing nothing.

Put  it this way I've used my boat every week sometimes use it everyday for 3 weeks  but on average id say 100 days a year for 13 years .trailer is still usable but won't be in 2 yrs.

So imagine having put the sprinkler washdown in from the very start of the trailers life, not 3/4 the way thru it's life.

I always wondered if capping the cross members and filling with oil would prolong the life of the trailer. Anyone had experience with this. 

Go a plastic trailer if you don’t like rust

https://www.polymate.com.au/

With my old trailer as I said earlier  I got20 years out of it I painted every 5 years with fish oil

with the new one I’ve done the same but I also spayed oil inside the tubes too.....got an old weed spayer and put a longer clear hose on it...put heaps of fish oil in the canister, left in the sun for an hour to thin it down and the pushed the hose inside the tube the full length of the chassis, then crimped the hose near the canister while I pumped up the canister, then released the pressure as I slowly retracted the hose...worked a treat....it spayed mist oil all over the inside. Used it on the springs and hangers and pretty much everywhere other than the hubs and brakes. Plan to do every couple of years minimum.

Ok guys, so there is some good comments and pics on here. I too am  in the market for a new trailer. 6.2m Aluminium. Currently on a 2000kg trailer. Really just writing to re-ignite this conversation.

Recommendations??? 

My current 7.5m ali boat is now 16 years old. Despite religously washing the trailer down and storing it in a shed, the trailer lasted about 8 years before basically falling apart. Tried to get Trailit to refurbish, but they weren't interested.

Replaced it with an Ace aluminium trailer around 8 years ago and couldn't be happier. Rock solid, tows like a dream, boat centres every time, no matter what angle the boat comes up.....and no rust!!!!

What’s the average lifespan of an ali trailer?