Trailer boat touring.

[TMC]

Hi all,
As you all know I'm pretty new here, but love putting my 2cents in here and there and reading/soaking up all your info.

One thing I couldn't find was a trailer set up for boats to our rigs on this site. If there is one I hope people can put me in the right direction.
You see I live and breath fishing. It's in my blood
And next year around October I'm planning on going to Arnhem Land. And was hoping to get some ideas of some blokes who have done this..

Everyone is telling me to go small boats, but I really want to tow mine, 4.4 tinny I have customized over the years.
Just hooking up a swing away tyre setup to make those nasty launch spots a breeze.

I hope people can add a few nice rig set ups to give everyone ideas. And help along the way.

So what "out of the way" trips have you all towed your boat too?

[FNQGU]

Hey TMC - like you I am all for towing my tinnie on trips and most of my trips revolve around fishing. I have a 3.8 Stessl Edgetracker on an off-road trailer with a 25 Yammie on the back. I built the trailer to go anywhere and be able to drop it off the sides of creek banks etc. If I was to build another one though, I think I would make it a tilt-trailer. Re the boat size, I wouldn't want to go much smaller, or too much bigger. The 25hp is a good compromise for being able to run long distances v weight and manhandling back onto a trailer.

When you say 'going to Arnhem Land, I take it you know all about the restrictions to go past Cahills Crossing? Unless you have an invite it is pretty difficult. The Northern Land Council issue permits, sometimes, but don't count on it. Otherwise the NT is full of good fishing if you time it right. Cape York can be a bit harder, you generally need to know where you are going and also be there at the right time of year. The wet season very much affects access to Cape York.

I've towed my boat all over the Cape, across to the gulf, around the gulf into the NT and done a few rivers on both the East and West sides of the NT. It is certainly do-able with a 4.4 if your trailer is up to it.

[TMC]

When you say you have built a heavy duty trailer. Have you just strengthened it with a few more braces and added LT tyres.

Never though much of tilt trailers, might look into it.

Yeah know some people up at Arnhem.
But that's off the cards. Kinda wana focus on a more fishing trip this time take it easy.

So would the best time of year be around now?


Cheers..
Troy

[FNQGU]

Sorry Troy, only just found this thread again.

I built my boat trailer from scratch. Basically I went around looking at boat trailers for six months and looked for all the features that I wanted in the design. I then sketched it all out, measured things to fit my boat and the weight that I would be carrying, and then cut up all the steel and welded it up. I had a blacksmith weld up the suspension components just to be on the safe-side. I made the suspension so I could slide the axles forward or backwards if I changed boats in the future, but since setting this I have not changed it.

I got the whole lot galvanized when I had finished it and tested it and was happy with the end result. That was in 2004 and besides a cracked weld in the winch post after a pretty horrid trip one year, it has performed as it was intended to.

In terms of best time of year to fish the top end - for me it is the run-off. The Top End run-off is some of the best barra fishing that can be experienced in my opinion, but be prepared to share with hundreds of other fishermen. I am sure that there are some others who are in the NT who can give you more info, but I had a ball fishing the March-April period one year, despite the numbers of people and boats.

Cape York is almost the opposite. The build-up is the best time, and time it for as late in the year as you can manage, pending the Barra closure seasons of course. The heat can be a hassle for some, but the fishing more than makes up for it. The reason for the differences between the Cape and the Top End, mainly comes down to access and the type of rivers I think. Cape York is often closed right through until May or even later sometimes, and the run-off isn't as huge as the flooding disappears a lot quicker. Cape York is also ridiculous with tourists from May till end of September. There are days when over 400+ 4wd vehicles pass through Coen each day!! For me, this is the time of year to be avoided.