sailbox for Dart 15 trailer

[Keith1434]

I am looking to add a sail box [8ft x 2ft x 1ft] to my trailer but the only one I can find on the internet is made in Colchester in galv. steel at a cost of about £250. That is not a problem but it would cost over £120 to get it delivered to South Wales. Does anyone know of a nearer supplier? I am considering making one in Marine Ply but wonder if it would be too heavy. Has anyone made one? Grateful for any advice.

[KarlPountney]

Keith,

I faced the same dilemma when I got my Sprint Trailer in 2010. Having looked around, the best I could find was pretty expensive and those I could afford looked a little insubstantial. So I built my own.

Now, at Stewpot we think we've solved the weight problem through careful selection of materials. The Finch trailer is 2.4m by 1.2m (massive!!!) but the weight was saved by using Soffit Board (white uPVC) panels for the ends and sides. They double-up their boats and the size is needed to carry two-boats-worth of kit. My 2.4m by 0.6m version makes more economic use of materials but is still pretty big (sleeps one comfortably!)
The project is pretty straight forward.

• Take a single OSB3 sheet, remove 40mm from the end (bring down to 2400mm) and rip it down the middle length ways. One piece will be the bottom. The second piece will be the top.

• Take the top piece and cut into 3 pieces 500mm, 1300mm, 600mm. The 500mm piece will be fixed to the frame to stabilise the box, the 1300mm will be the main door, the 600mm pice a flap at the end to allow quick access to the box.

• Make a 2 ladder frames 2400mm x 310mm high from pressure treated timber. Screw and Glue the butt joints. Don't faff about with lap-joints or mortice/tennon/finger joints - long screws are plenty strong enough. A 'noggin' piece needs to be placed 1150mm from one end so that it will be 1/2 way along the main door. You'll screw the (hasp &) staple to this to secure the box.

• Screw the ladder frames to the bottom piece. Use moisture curing glue in the joint. Attach cross pieces across the width the box. Attach the fixed piece to the top and you should have a pretty stable frame. At this stage treat your timber with a high-wax fence treatment. Several coats will ensure a decent finish.

• Soffit board comes in 2440mm by 300mm pieces. Cut and attach to the sides and ends. There's a bit of waste here. The board is tongue and grove. Tongue at the top, grove at the bottom. Get the soffit board from a roofing merchant and not from your DIY shed. Wickes charge around 13 quid. The cheapest I got it was £6.

• Use T hinges to attach the lid (15" hinges for the main door, 8" hinges for the flap) and use bolts & nuts, backed off with penny washers. Hasp and Staple on the side and ends

.

• Make a vinyl cover for the top. This is pretty simple. Use contact adhesive to make the hems and eylets to effectively rivet the corners.

The whole project cost around £120 and is pretty straightforward as that it's all screwed/glued butt joints. Attaching the box to the trailer frame was achieved by first bolting some 4x2 bearers to the frame and then screwing the box to these. The bearers allow the box to be attached to more of the trailer.

The white uPVC soffit board gives a really professional finish in my view and reduces the weight by around 50% compared to Marine Ply. OSB3 is fully waterproof, lighter, simple to work and much cheaper than ply. Treated, it should last just as long.

Regards

Karl Pountney.

[Keith1434]

Karl. thanks for the info. It gives me a little more confidence to tackle as selfbuild. The soffit board idea seems a good option.
Keith

[Robert]

I am looking to add a sail box [8ft x 2ft x 1ft] to my trailer but the only one I can find on the internet is made in Colchester in galv. steel at a cost of about £250. That is not a problem but it would cost over £120 to get it delivered to South Wales. Does anyone know of a nearer supplier? I am considering making one in Marine Ply but wonder if it would be too heavy. Has anyone made one? Grateful for any advice.

I bought mine through Purple Marine and collected it from my nearest store by asking them to put it on my roof bars. Took care when demounting from my 4x4 as it was fairly hefty. Purple Marine didn't know they supplied it but were OK when I told them they did. They do other West Mersea stuff so it just arrived as part of a normal delivery. Suggest you contact Mersea Trailers to see if they have a supplier near you.
http://www.merseatrailers.com/product_d ... -BOX10X2X1

[Mark Aldridge]

Give Steve a call @ SS Marine - 01536 330477

I have one of SS Marine's fibreglass sail boxes and it's supeb. I made one out of marine ply some 10 years ago now and I think Kevin Kirby still uses it with 1966. Problem with the self build wooden ones is that it needs TLC and paint and lots of time.

SS Marine box looks ace, doesn't leak, is light and will serve you for easily as long as your Dart if you put WD 40 on the padlocks!!

[Keith]

Keith,

Steve Sawford makes a really good fibre glass box which as well as a lid has a door at the end for putting stuff in when you have forgotten and the boat is on the trailer. It has ply glassed into the base so you can screw stuff into it if needed. I have had one for 3 years and it has been great especially for a DIY challenged person like myself. He used to have the price on the SS marine web site and for delivery you could probably arrange to get one at one of the open meetings.
Keith 1840

[Dave Lee]

Another alternative is to simply fit a roof box to the trailer. A Thule Pacific 700 (460 litre) is large enough (and most importantly long enough) to take the sails and all the required kit. I fitted roofbars using U bolts and the box sits neatly underneath the tramp.

On the up side the cost is reasonable (£270 with free delivery), it is light to tow, requires almost no maintenance other than an occasional wipe down, it is waterproof and provides reasonable security (the locks could be forced if you were a contortionist, but it still could not be opened with the boat in place). It also looks rather better than some of the neglected and rotting homemade wooden boxes you see around boat parks. You can even use it on the car if you store your kit elsewhere.

On the down side it cannot be opened with the boat in place. This was a real issue at first as we were forever finding things that needed to go inside the box seconds after we had just manhandled the boat onto the trailer. Practice and familiarity eventually reduced our level of rigging incompetence, but fitting rollers to the rear hull supports had a more immediate impact as it has made getting the boat on and off far, far easier.

[Andymac]

Ditto Dave Lee's suggestion.
Something like this on Fleabay;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thule-Roof-Bo ... 3cc3bba299

[Keith1434]

Many thanks for the advice from all of you. I did consider a roof box but did not want to buy and then find I couldn't get everything in, sails, rudders etc. The information on other suppliers is useful too, they are a lot nearer me.

[Keith1434]

just to close the discussion I eventually had one purposemade by a local [Cardiff] metal fabricator for a price just above the one on the internet without the expense of going all the way to East Anglia to collect. I did not have sufficient courage to tackle a home build and could not get a reply from any dealer with a link to this company nearer me.

[WaveyDavey]

My trailer came with a very rotten wood box built within a welded steel from. I stripped it back to the frame and rebuilt it in marine ply. I love the space it gives me to store my boat spares and supplies as well as sails and rudders, but it's very heavy and has the aerodynamic properties of a brick - not good for fuel economy. Also needs regular tlc as others have mentioned.

Reason for my post is to mention ventilation. I built my box without any, which resulted in very damp contents - especially in colder months. Not good for sails and ropes. I later added two aluminium vents, one at each end, to achieve a flow of air. This made the world of difference. Worth considering when commissioning a storage box or adapting something like a roof box.