Strapping surf board under TT lashed to the axles

[hbillsmith]

Looking for anybody that's already doing this and can report their experience.

Not really a surf board, but a 12ft Porta Bote. I've heard of some folks hauling the 87 pound folded boat by sliding it in underneath the travel trailer and lashing it to the axles. I have a 2013 Kodiak 24' trailer that has dual wide stance axles. I checked and they appear to be heavy metal tubes (not rubber). I'm sure I can safely buckle strap the 6" thick by 12.5 ft long folded boat to the axles, my concern is two-fold. A) What will that 87# of weight do to the way axles (bend them?) and B) Will impact my tire wear (cause the wheels to bow enough to cause uneven wear)?

Thanks....Bill

[Fizz]

Of you do go the axel route I would secure it to the front one only and let it float on the rear one. That way nothing gets twisted.

[RayJayco]

My custom saddle boxes and ladder rack

[Veebyes]

You serious? The axcels? Any idea how much those things move up & down independently & together with every road joint & pothole.

There must be a way to strap it to the roof of your TV or TT.

[hbillsmith]

Thanks for the reply Ray. Sure, I'd like to see the pics. Either post the pics or link here or if it's easier for you, just email them to me at hbillsmith@hotmail.com

[RayJayco]

I don't know about sitting it directly on the axles, however I do carry my 20' aluminum extention ladder under mine basically with 'U's mounted to the frame. Many miles and no harm to the ladder. Actually it still looks rather new and shiny...

It was a design that I made a few years back that has an aluminum box on each side, clean side has clean water stuff such as filters, white hoses, pressure regs, etc., and the dirty side which has all of the dirty water stuff. The ladder slides between them, think of it like saddle boxes... I had the guy make a ~24" w. x ~6" tall aluminum "U" to hold the end. No problems. I have some pictures somewhere if you want to see it...

[wbwood]

hbillsmith wrote:
The SUV is 16.8 ft long and the bote barely sticks out over the windshield so I've never really bothered to tether the nose although I buckle and triple wrap to the rack. I appreciate your thoughts.
Thank you....Bill

We don't tether ours either...

[hbillsmith]

The SUV is 16.8 ft long and the bote barely sticks out over the windshield so I've never really bothered to tether the nose although I buckle and triple wrap to the rack. I appreciate your thoughts.
Thank you....Bill

[paulcardoza]

First pothole you hit, you'll be shopping for a new boat.

[wbwood]

I would just carry on the roof rack of the SUV as you mentioned you have done. You can leave it up there and drive around. With it being 12'/ long, you might need to tether it at the bow and stern though. My kayak is 10' long and fits nicely on the Malone kayak rack on my wife's Ford explorer. When camping this weekend, we just left them up there unless we were paddling. Drove all around. To us, it was very convenient.

[Chris_Bryant]

Jay Pat wrote:
With many of the bumps and potholes I saw this summer and how violent the axles can be, I wouldn't expect the bote to survive........

Disclaimer: I have no experience with this. Just my thoughts.
Pat

That's what I think- each axle moves independently. The first speed bump and you would have twice as many boards.

[Jay_Pat]

With many of the bumps and potholes I saw this summer and how violent the axles can be, I wouldn't expect the bote to survive........

Disclaimer: I have no experience with this. Just my thoughts.
Pat

[hbillsmith]

Coroplast or something like it is a nice idea. thanks.

[mlts22]

Can you add something like Coroplast between your skiff and the ground? The plastic will help with the fine grit, but having something like the corrugated plastic can help keep larger pieces of debris from making their mark.

[hbillsmith]

Thanks for the reply MrKoje, that is probably what I will do. The Kodiak has an enclosed underbelly but having braces go across from each frame would work. I still have the two PortaBote brackets I used on the towlite and I could have the welder attach those to the new cage. These brackets are fashioned such that you can use a padlock for security.

[mrkoje]

I don't think it would hurt the axles so much at about 40lbs per axle BUT I would be concerned with being able to properly secure it down.

What I would do if the only place I could put the boat would to be underneath the trailer would be to take the trailer to a welding shop and see if they could weld 3-4 braces from each side of the frame to create a under TT storage rack to put the boat in. Once you get it framed in then you could attach some sheet metal yourself to enclose it and create a compartment with some tie down spots.