Hi Kevkev,
It is too late however I think the 1220 width will be enough for now to accommodate all I have and even more.
The plan for now is 4 boards max in center of the trailer and anything else will be on its side. I am not sure at this stage how will it look like until I physically place the boards inside the enclosure. I am still thinking how to make the racks and what material to use....
Galv steel profile are stiff so maybe the best choice combined with Plywood to make some storage boxes..... I was also looking the option of PVC piping for masts and maybe for sails as well....
Tomorrow the plan is to make mud guards and to tow the trailer away from my workplace. I will definitely have more time to finish it if it stands in my garage. I am really looking forward to it
Using PVC piping for the sails is too heavy and expensive.Grab some core flute from a sign maker ($40 per sheet).Cut through one side and fold away from the cut to make up a tray and hold together with duct tape.Mine are still going strong after 2 years
Temporary Movement Permit purchased for tomorrow 
www.transport.wa.gov.au/licensing/get-a-temporary-movement-permit.asp
I hope everything will go to plan and I can work in piece and quite garage of my own tomorrow .....
Almost there...............
On Saturday I was really pushing hard making the mud guards, mounting the light board and connecting electric cables so I could hit the road and tow it home... ....but I made it !
The trailer is very well balanced, does not bounce on the road and tows like a dream
I am almost ready to go for inspection but need to make the back doors and finish the enclosure front.
Select to expand quotekato said..
Using PVC piping for the sails is too heavy and expensive.Grab some core flute from a sign maker ($40 per sheet).Cut through one side and fold away from the cut to make up a tray and hold together with duct tape.Mine are still going strong after 2 years
Couple of options with the PVC... if you can get hold of 300mm PVC cheaply you can take to it with a hole saw to reduce a heap of weight (swiss cheese style)
The other thing you can do with just a short cut off of 300mm is cut it into 75-100mm bands. One at the front and one at the back and you'll get two sails in each one. You can cable tie them in place or teck screw it straight into the steel cross members.
Select to expand quoteWindWarrior said..
Couple of options with the PVC... if you can get hold of 300mm PVC cheaply you can take to it with a hole saw to reduce a heap of weight (swiss cheese style)
The other thing you can do with just a short cut off of 300mm is cut it into 75-100mm bands. One at the front and one at the back and you'll get two sails in each one. You can cable tie them in place or teck screw it straight into the steel cross members.
Mate... I love Swiss cheese and I like the idea with cutting the holes to reduce the weight. It will also improve the air flow and ventilation.
Any other ideas?
No progress whatsoever in the last two weeks except riveting, riveting, riveting, riveting, riveting.
So far I have used 300 rivets for fixing the panels to the framework.
Yesterday I had a brilliant idea to buy a shutter rollers at the back of the trailer instead of top hinged back door.
Searched internet for some ideas and available options and today after quick phone call to one of the Perth's supplier I was stunned..............
cost will be >$1000.00 !?!?!
Geez,,,,,,.... What for I am asking....??
Is there any cheaper option around at all?
Please share if you have any ideas...
A top opening door gives you shade and keeps you dry in the rain and much cheaper!
I put in about a thousand or more rivets a week .
I bought a german pop rivet gun it has a ratchet so its only 40% of a normal rivet gun to pull back & it has a catcher to catch all the rivet stems it also ejects them .
for the $100 I paid considering I broke heaps of not so cheap rivet guns its been a great investment. lasted for 6 years all day every day & still going strong.
When i saw another one for sale i bought that as well . Now i have two .Just in case i never ever want to go back to the normal type again .
After 300 rivets with the old style you probably got carpel tunnel syndrome & won't be able to hang onto the boom when the trailer is finished .
That said it does improve your grip strength.
I bet your sick of picking up all the stems as well .
Looks good keep up the good work
Select to expand quoteactiomax said..
After 300 rivets with the old style you probably got carpel tunnel syndrome & won't be able to hang onto the boom when the trailer is finished .
That said it does improve your grip strength.
I bet your sick of picking up all the stems as well .
Looks good keep up the good work
thanks for your understanding... I have used the old style gun
I am happy to have improved my grip strength and I am still able to hold onto the boom...... sometimes... lol
Not much progress on trailer building since last post as I bought the SUP for my wife and spent last two weekends on the Swan River SUP-ping, BBQ-ing and finally windsurfing this Sunday for the first time in the season...
I love WA weather! I guess there will be few more rainy weekends to progress with my build..
Actiomax: for info of others, could you advise the brand name and model of the rivet gun you use?
Maaxim: probably too late now, but this riveter is a pearler: www.bunnings.com.au/kincrome-280mm-11-short-arm-hand-riveter_p5910185
Yes its called fiesta flipper. Bought both $100 ea there abouts .
what I have found that reduces riveting time by heaps is.
I have attached a magnet to my nail bag belt & I put the rivets on that . Because they stick out all over & the fact that I have to use different colour rivets. It makes it easier to grab & I can see what colour straight away instead of trying to get a rivet out of the bottom of a nail bag pocket. Small screws etc .
If anyone else tries this little trick after reading this you will thank me .
Another thing is don't buy cheap drill bits spend the money on quality they will out drill & drill faster so much better that cheap ones in the long run its heaps cheaper .
I went and bought one of the rivet guns from Bunnings. Thanks for the tip. My garage will no longer be covered in the bits from the rivets.
Its nice being able to use two hands two, and seems too easy.
As for drill bits, the 'jobber' (I think thats what they were called) drill bits, which are double ended 1/8", seem to last much longer than the equivalent of normal HSS drills. I think I keep Suttons in business as I am always grabbing spare bits in case I find I have run out. I have also learned that a lubricant is brilliant for drilling through thick steel. I have nightmares of while I was growing up, using blunt drill bits all the time, so new bits and a lubricant 
and I'm in heaven!
Hello, Actionmax,
Nice tip about the magnet, thanks. For others, Gesipa Flipper rivet gun on YouTube:
Actionmax,
Just had another thought. For the amount of rivetting you do, is there any reason you don't use a battery-powered rivet gun?
Here's my effort. I went for aluminium construction with the painted siding that is very popular at the moment. The framework for the base I used is only 75x50 and being aluminium I was a little worried about it bending over time so I did 2 things, one was to make the cross members and framework for the racks directly over and in line with the springs. The other measure was to add a diagonal brace in the sides from the top corner down to the top of the springs. This helps the side section to form a sort of open web truss and helps transfer the downward force into the springs and less so at the ends of the trailer. My racks are a little different and some people prefer the simpler racks all the way across but I didn't want my boards sliding around. The plate used for the springs and drawbar is a structural grade sorry I don't remember the exact name but it's readily available. I went for 600kgs springs as I wanted a soft ride and smaller wheels to minimise the wheel arch intrusion. The whole thing weighed in at 225 kilo's .
A couple of tips: for welding aluminium with mig. Aluminium is an excellent conductor of heat and this has the effect of freezing the molten metal as soon as it hits the job. By simply pre heating the job with a gas torch I achieved much better fusion. On the heavier plate sections for the springs and drawbar this was a big help in achieving a strong weld. I don't want the bogie falling off as I'm driving along.
Squareness when building the cabin. I simply tacked the sides together on top of the sheeting(the non painted side), added some temporary braces and then dropped the sides onto the trailer. Then I adjusted the top diagonals with a bit off a tweak and all of sheets went on with no squareness issues a minimum of rooting around.
Rego. I don't know about other states but for DAS KAPITAL NSW keep all of your materials receipts as the RTA will ask for them as proof that you built the trailer. I got my weigh bride ticket from the local scrap yard for about 25 bucks. Blue slip guys aren't real keen on crappy welds so grind up any dillberries.
Select to expand quoteMaaxim said..
Trailer frame painted today with a good quality etch primer for galvanized steel.
After checking the standard requirements re chains rating marking etc. It looks like there is no way around it but just to cut the chain which is already on
Thank you to all who made me aware of this regulations....
The only" strange" regulation is not allowing for the chain to be welded to the drawbar direct but to weld it to a steel plate which then can be welded to a drawbar....
Is this not a strange regulation? I guess I need to find the "appropriate" way to do this tomorrow.
Maybe I will call the workshop where I am planning to register the trailer to confirm the way they want to see this done....
Mate in the Boilermaking game that's what we call solid. You could move a Russian tank around on that.
Select to expand quoteCluffy said..
Here's my effort. I went for aluminium construction with the painted siding that is very popular at the moment. The framework for the base I used is only 75x50 and being aluminium I was a little worried about it bending over time so I did 2 things, one was to make the cross members and framework for the racks directly over and in line with the springs. The other measure was to add a diagonal brace in the sides from the top corner down to the top of the springs. This helps the side section to form a sort of open web truss and helps transfer the downward force into the springs and less so at the ends of the trailer. My racks are a little different and some people prefer the simpler racks all the way across but I didn't want my boards sliding around. The plate used for the springs and drawbar is a structural grade sorry I don't remember the exact name but it's readily available. I went for 600kgs springs as I wanted a soft ride and smaller wheels to minimise the wheel arch intrusion. The whole thing weighed in at 225 kilo's .
A couple of tips: for welding aluminium with mig. Aluminium is an excellent conductor of heat and this has the effect of freezing the molten metal as soon as it hits the job. By simply pre heating the job with a gas torch I achieved much better fusion. On the heavier plate sections for the springs and drawbar this was a big help in achieving a strong weld. I don't want the bogie falling off as I'm driving along.
Squareness when building the cabin. I simply tacked the sides together on top of the sheeting(the non painted side), added some temporary braces and then dropped the sides onto the trailer. Then I adjusted the top diagonals with a bit off a tweak and all of sheets went on with no squareness issues a minimum of rooting around.
Rego. I don't know about other states but for DAS KAPITAL NSW keep all of your materials receipts as the RTA will ask for them as proof that you built the trailer. I got my weigh bride ticket from the local scrap yard for about 25 bucks. Blue slip guys aren't real keen on crappy welds so grind up any dillberries.
Cluffy, getting that trailer under 254kgs is a good effort! I guess with aluminium you can do that.
I have stayed away from migging aluminium. I tried it a few times when I first got my mig and found it quite frustrating in not really being able to tell whether there was good penetration or not. I might try your tip and preheat a sample and see if it works better. I have probably got a bit better with welding since then, so maybe it will be easier this time around.
How does it go with metal fatigue? I'm a bit paranoid about it, and at least with steel I 'feel' it would fatigue less, and you can see if the weld has a lot of heat in it, suggesting good penetration.
It's funny looking at your frame and comparing the triangulation to a model I made. It looks similar to yours. I made a simple model out of divinycell strips and hot melt glue to test the strength of different constructions and it really is surprising how much stronger it is using triangles. Having tried this, I still made my trailer up without any.
Is aluminium a lot more expensive than something similar in steel?
Select to expand quoteFormulaNova said..Cluffy said..
Here's my effort. I went for aluminium construction with the painted siding that is very popular at the moment. The framework for the base I used is only 75x50 and being aluminium I was a little worried about it bending over time so I did 2 things, one was to make the cross members and framework for the racks directly over and in line with the springs. The other measure was to add a diagonal brace in the sides from the top corner down to the top of the springs. This helps the side section to form a sort of open web truss and helps transfer the downward force into the springs and less so at the ends of the trailer. My racks are a little different and some people prefer the simpler racks all the way across but I didn't want my boards sliding around. The plate used for the springs and drawbar is a structural grade sorry I don't remember the exact name but it's readily available. I went for 600kgs springs as I wanted a soft ride and smaller wheels to minimise the wheel arch intrusion. The whole thing weighed in at 225 kilo's .
A couple of tips: for welding aluminium with mig. Aluminium is an excellent conductor of heat and this has the effect of freezing the molten metal as soon as it hits the job. By simply pre heating the job with a gas torch I achieved much better fusion. On the heavier plate sections for the springs and drawbar this was a big help in achieving a strong weld. I don't want the bogie falling off as I'm driving along.
Squareness when building the cabin. I simply tacked the sides together on top of the sheeting(the non painted side), added some temporary braces and then dropped the sides onto the trailer. Then I adjusted the top diagonals with a bit off a tweak and all of sheets went on with no squareness issues a minimum of rooting around.
Rego. I don't know about other states but for DAS KAPITAL NSW keep all of your materials receipts as the RTA will ask for them as proof that you built the trailer. I got my weigh bride ticket from the local scrap yard for about 25 bucks. Blue slip guys aren't real keen on crappy welds so grind up any dillberries.
Cluffy, getting that trailer under 254kgs is a good effort! I guess with aluminium you can do that.
I have stayed away from migging aluminium. I tried it a few times when I first got my mig and found it quite frustrating in not really being able to tell whether there was good penetration or not. I might try your tip and preheat a sample and see if it works better. I have probably got a bit better with welding since then, so maybe it will be easier this time around.
How does it go with metal fatigue? I'm a bit paranoid about it, and at least with steel I 'feel' it would fatigue less, and you can see if the weld has a lot of heat in it, suggesting good penetration.
It's funny looking at your frame and comparing the triangulation to a model I made. It looks similar to yours. I made a simple model out of divinycell strips and hot melt glue to test the strength of different constructions and it really is surprising how much stronger it is using triangles. Having tried this, I still made my trailer up without any.
Is aluminium a lot more expensive than something similar in steel?
When welding aluminium a sure sign of bad fusion is a very round looking beady weld. This profile of weld also is prone to cracking along the toe of the weld. It's a common mistake to assume that these round beady welds are simply the way aluminium migs run but it's actually a sign of not enough heat and bad fusion. My mig is a very nice unit, its a Lincoln 180c 240 volt. They go well for panel beating jobs but will also pump some juice if you need it. The most important item when using aluminium wire in a mig is to get a plastic liner for the welding lead. The standard metal liner will not work well at all. My mig ran quite well when I welded out the trailer but the welding lead has since become coiled due to long periods of sitting around coiled up so wire feed is a little problematic at the moment. I can probably fix this by straitening out the lead but I'm tempted to just replace it. I tried to get the aluminium wire to run in a spray transfer but the voltage necessary to achieve this was causing the aluminium wire to ignite and it was kind of like trying to weld with a fire cracker lol. I ended up using a globular transfer which is all most 240 volts migs are capable of anyway. You can tell when the parent metal is hot enough and your settings are correct, the weld will have a nice flat face and will look much smoother. Be careful though as its a very short step from here to overheating and blowing a hole so keep an eye on the face of the weld as soon as it starts to hollow out switch to a stop start technique until it cools off a bit. With aluminium 2mm thick and below preheat is not really needed but for 3mm and up I find it very helpful. Just don't go to hot. 100 to 150 degrees is heaps. you should be barely able to tap it with your fingers without burning yourself but I don't recommend this form of temp testing for the inexperienced lol.
Regarding metal fatigue, aluminium definitely work hardens much faster than steel but I live close to the water and my trailer doesn't do many miles. I keep an eye on it all the same but I think by the time cracks and brittleness have claimed my trailer a steel trailer will also have major rust issues to deal with anyway.
The cost, it's more expensive for sure but not as bad as you might think. I can't remember the exact figures but I budgeted for about 1500 bucks and I think it cost me a bit over 2 grand all up. Maybe 600 bucks of that was aluminium sections. Include in that figure is consumables as I ran out of wire and argon during the job. I've seen professionally built trailers advertised for over 6 grand second hand so I think I got out of it pretty cheap.
as for the diagonal braces, a few diagonal braces tossed in makes a world of difference to the rigidity of the structure. If you look at the photo of the bare framework, you can see 2 small pieces of triangular plate at the bottom corner at the back, 2 small pieces of tube in the top corner at the front of the straight section plus the obvious braces in the sides and front of the frame. After the frame was fully welded there was zero movement in it. If you grabbed the side and shook it the whole trailer moved. As good as they are you can get away without diagonals as long as you use enough rivets in your sheeting as the sheet itself braces the structure if it is riveted properly. As I mentioned before the main purpose of my braces is to prevent the bottom frame form bending over time.
Thanks for that Cluffy. I wonder if my own welding would be any better on a professional quality welding unit. I will keep telling myself it would!
I use a transmig 135 which is all I could find at the time. Given I had never used a mig before, it took me a few years to figure out that the feedroller was skipping, which is why it was so dang hard to weld. The POS had been assembled with the gearbox for the feedroller so that a little bit of pressure would pop the gears out, which meant the wire stopped. Its hard to weld when the wire feed is not very smooth. Had me scratching my head for ages, as I didn't know if it was me or something else.
It also had a manual gas valve/trigger, which was a PITA to use. The best thing I did was get ambitious and change it over to a Euro connector and install a solenoid for the gas. The thing runs like a dream now.
Now, its all lack of technique
I have noticed the bracing in your framework. I can understand how much difference it makes. Its surprising how well a model can tell you what is strong and what is not. It beats welding in sections and then cutting them out later..
Thanks for the idea of pricing on the aluminium. I will leave it alone for the moment as I don't trust my welding skills enough to give it a try. I might start out small and make some internal racking with aluminium and weld it, and see how that goes first.
My main problem with welding now is that I can't convince myself to just tack things into place first. I get excited and do a complete weld which is not a good idea if its wrong, and the heat can distort things sometimes.
Hey Cluffy, this is a sweet looking trailer and what a great effort with making it out of aluminium.
I am jealous of your skills. Respect mate!
WindmanV I'm doing all my riveting on a ladder & I think there just too heavy in my nail bag . Bloody thing weighs about 20kg already .
I know its time for a break when i loose all feelings in my legs because of it.
I have tried braces on to take off the weight but that makes it hard to reach up.
I did buy a special nail bag with braces & three times the amount of pockets & i though great this can go here & this here etc & buy the time i put all my tools in it i couldn't lift it off the ground.
Ive also sewn on a plastic piece that was used to hold a packet of screw driver bits onto my nail bag i use this to hold all the interchangeable bits for my impact gun . It stops all the swarf jamming up in the tech screw driver bit There magnetic like you get if they go into the nail bag pocket. Does make life easier & i know a few other installers who have copied that trick also .
