So this past weekend with the rain coming in heavily on Saturday it put a real damper on me doing any work on the trailer. With my daughter’s birthday party on Sunday afternoon I was concerned about time but with a bunch of help on Saturday my wife was nice enough to assure me all I should need to do on Sunday was help carry in groceries and hang the piñata. So order of the day was to set up the bounce house which had my son in his clothes for the first time ever on a weekend before 8 O’clock AM and then get to Lowes, then come back in build the trailer.
With setting up the bounce house done I started my trek to Lowes. Once there I started to look at lumber and formulate my plan in my head. The plan was going in multiple directions. My initial plan was to get just one 2×10 and put that on the trailer and I could customize the rest later. But then with 200 bucks worth of Lowes Birthday and XMAS gift cards burning a hole in my pocket I said screw it lets floor the whole thing
I soon realized my math skills that I never thought I would ever use were in need… and with no calculator in sight I had to do some math in my head…. SO… you know how that went… Actually, believe it or not, surprisingly well.. I picked up some 5/8×6 pressure treated deck lumber and a pressure treated 2×8 for a ramp, and a 2×4 to put under the trailer (I also had some scrap 2×6 boards at home that I would use as well.) to even up the spacing of carriage bolts. I then grabbed some pressure treated strapping for some guide rails for the Motorcycle tires. I had already purchased the Chock for the front wheel and straps I had bought with the trailer at Tractor Supply.
The trailer with floor, chock and rails..
Initially, I put the trailer decking down cut at length spaced with a nail to allow for water seepage using standard deck screws just to get spacing correct. I then replaced each screw one plank at a time with one single carriage bolt at spaced intervals from front to back. Essentially it worked out to 4 carriage bolts per plank. My first plan was I was going to use 8 carriage bolts per plank… I then realized that was just plain over kill not to mention expensive. Before I tackled the ends I mounted the chock and then mounted the guide rails with standard deck screws.
My math for planks was off or so I thought. Apparently my sub conscious was working for me. You see, I started with one plank at the very center of the trailer and worked my way to both sides. I then realized I had one plank left and 2 sides to do… DOH! But I then realized in looking at the problem, that I would have to make a long cut anyway to fit a plank. And I decided to use some of my scraps so there would essentially be 2 smaller planks per side. It worked out well I think, and I decided the sides would be more than fine with just standard deck screws instead of carriage bolts.
Before I could complete that though insert a few hours of my daughter entertaining her friends and opening her birthday presents. (Insert sounds of screaming kids and Happy Birthday being sung.)
Once everyone left I resumed work. I cut the end planks and after that I decided to try and get the motorcycle on. The initial motorcycle mount went OK but I realized the chock was to far back. So I remounted it as far forward with the motorcycle not only touching the chock but the front rail for the trailer
as well. With the other way the rear tire was sitting too far back to be able to remove the ramp…. OOOPS… Ok so maybe I should have ordered the 4×7 trailer… But it works and I’m very happy with the balance of the t
Completed and bike is mounted
railer with the bike mounted. One person can move trailer and bike with absolu
te ease which is a major bonus as the size of the trailer behind a GMC Yukon makes it almost impossible to back up.
Overall I’m happy with the results. Eventually, I will make
walls that are removable for motorcycle mode and the walls will be mounted for home improvement chores/dump runs.