Trailer Advice for business

You have a 1/2 ton truck or bigger? Just get the trailer that fits your business needs.
If still skeptical about towing, you must know some people with trailers that you could tow around to ease your concerns.
I'm close, you can try with mine, but my trailer is 32' so not real representative of what you want.
Seriously though, they all pull similarly with respect to general size. Make wider turns, always watch the trailer wheels in tighter turns, keep a little more following distance and that's about it.
FWIW, trailers are silly expensive in the Seattle area. Expand your search and figure in the savings of traveling somewhere to buy the trailer.

Thank you very much. I've towed a few utility trailers in my life...but not my livelyhood! Practice is now foremost in my mind. I think I've gleaned that we can let the business determine the size of the trailer & not the other way around here. Again-thanks to everyone for your advice!

sjt wrote:
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How does the actual towing of the trailer differ as you go larger? ...

Actually towing a shorter trailer vs a long trailer is no different. Going forward, you'll not notice any difference.

The difference you'll experience is when you make a turn or attempt to pass a vehicle.

When turning, the trailer tires will track inside the turning radius of your tow vehicle. If you are not watching your rear view mirrors, you can easily turn and the side of the trailer will hit a street sign or a light pole on the corner, or worse, another vehicle when you attempt to turn around it; for example, left hand turns at intersections.

It only takes a couple practice turns, left and right, to figure out how much "swing" you need to give the trailer to make any turn.

The very first thing I do after getting a new trailer of any kind, is to hitch and go to the closest parking lot, turn the steering wheel as sharp as I can until the tow vehicle and trailer are in a complete turn, and hope the side of the trailer tongue does not actually touch the back of the tow vehicle. I then get out of the vehicle and look where the tires are actually tracking different between the tow vehicle and the trailer. If the parking lot is wet and it leave tire tracks, this is a marvelous and eye-opening exercise that is well worth a few minutes doing.

The other thing to watch for, with any trailer is passing another vehicle. After passing the other vehicle, you always have to remember that you have 10, 12, 15, 30, 41 feet of trailer behind you, and you just can't move over as soon as the tow vehicle get's past the passing car or the trailer will slam into them. It takes a little awareness and a lot of watching your mirrors to tell when you have completely cleared the passed vehicle with both the tow vehicle AND trailer. And of course, the longer the trailer, the more distance you need to pass. As long as you are fully aware you have plenty of room, then passing is really a non-issue. But for someone who has never towed before, it's a frightening experience to have the car beside you wildly start honking their horn because the trailer is drifting into their lane and they are RIGHT beside the trailer on either side. You finally catch them in the mirror just to see the the one finger salute as they pass on by.

Another thing, the longer the trailer, the wider the trailer swing is. Again, a test run in an open parking lot is your best friend. The longer the trailer, the longer the distance from the trailer tires pivot point to the end of the trailer. Far to many folks (including myself) have clipped objects with the tail of the trailer when making turns. Clearance, distance, and a bit of parking lot practice, and you will not have any problems at all with a longer trailer. And oh, everything said here is equally as true for a shorter trailer, it's just the distances are shorter.

Hope this helps.

Edit:
I've been towing "bumper pull" trailers all my life. Since I've been married (33 years), we've had 1 pop-up, 3 travel trailers, 2 different utility trailers, and towed utility trailers and pop-up, and travel trailers for friends, family, and foes alike.

We have had our new Fifth Wheel for 4 weeks now. I've never towed a Fifth Wheel before, ever, until we got this one. Every week-end I have gone to a huge open parking lot (actually the casino in Anderson, Indiana) and practiced backing, turning, and parking backwards with the new 5er. I probably will continue taking it there for a couple more weeks on Sunday's so I can continue practicing until I get the backing and backing in an actual campsite down pat! Last Sunday (week 4), all the bells and whistles finally "clicked", both left and right backing. I was able to back into my own driveway first shot after that last time. I'm excited to go out once more and try again, only this time, I want to experiment with angled parking (left and right).

The reason I share this is because, even seasoned folks who have been doing things for a life time STILL need to practice, practice, practice with new equipment until it becomes second nature.

So, whatever you end up with, I encourage you to practice in an open parking lot. This way, you have confidence in your own ability, and confidence in your equipment too.

Awesome information everyone-thank you!

The idea of renting a trailer is excellent. We can get a feel of things.

How does the actual towing of the trailer differ as you go larger? Any recommendations on what to look for there with tongue weight etc? Why does narrow make it easier?

This has been a huge help everyone-it's the opposite of what I would have thought.

SJT,

A friend has a gyro wagon that they work locally. When they get privilege. They are assigned chalked off area of some size. It has limited exposure on the sales side and the front to back is limited often by terrain or the back side of the other row.

If this is your case too, just get the largest that you can count on placing. As said, longer is actually easier. (This is something I will confirm from years of dragging things about.)

I can also confirm that any solid trailer beats a quick cover of any kind - If you have the room to place it. This is a memory of some art fairs we did. Weather was always a test, but the time we had a hurricane/monsoon/tornado was memorable.

If you are often in tight spaces, look up the power trailer movers. There are several on the market. With one of these (remember it will be deductible) placing the unit could be very simple.

Good Luck Guy

Matt

sjt wrote:
Thanks on those. I'm more looking for opinions on the actual towing/maneuverability on different sizes of trailers. How much difference is there between a 4x8, a 10x6, and a 16x8 for example?

Buy the right size trailer for your business and tow vehicle, not the right size to back up easily.
Longer backs up easier, shorter fits more places and if you can back up a long trailer, you can back up a short trailer, just requires to pay closer attention.

You’re looking for a cargo trailer set up for concessions, not a TT.
No one wants kettle corn cooked in someone’s living room.

Our flat bed utility trailer (7x14) is way harder to back up and park than our 5er or our old 32' travel trailer. I think any small trailer is harder than a bigger one.

sjt wrote:
Thanks on those. I'm more looking for opinions on the actual towing/maneuverability on different sizes of trailers. How much difference is there between a 4x8, a 10x6, and a 16x8 for example?

Go to UHaul and rent a similar size trailer. Then take it to a parking lot and practice backing up.

I agree with above. A long trailer is easier to back than a short trailer. And a wide trailer you can see in your mirrors is easier than a narrow trailer you can’t. But if you are doing flea markets and trades days type events, narrow driving/access lanes and small site sizes may impose trailer size restrictions on you.