Most economical aluminum enclosed trailer

economical? aluminum?

i'd take a look at ATC. very high quality, i actually like them better than featherlite. and at a good price -- for aluminum.

 

CargoPro (Thule) was the best for the $$$, yet they went under or so i heard BECAUSE they were selling them too cheaply. Remember that a high quality Alum trailer also gets good resale value.

 

Why aluminum? If it is for corrosion resistance I would say okay. I don't think the weight difference is anything substantial. The wind is more of a problem that the weight in my experience. If you are storing it inside I would go with a standard steel trailer. Personally, with my weak tow vehicle I sold my small enclosed trailer and bought a small open trailer. It tows ten times better and I hardly notice the difference in gas mileage vs. no trailer at all. The white trailer cost me around $3200 brand new and I sold it after getting 7.5 mpg on one trip using my minivan to haul the car up to NC. The red trailer cost me $700 ish on ebay and I repainted it for about $80. I'm selling it Friday for $1400 and getting a wider versoin with a full wood deck that is slightly wider for a bigger vehicle for around $2300.

BT
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

There is a huge difference in the weight of an aluminum vs. steel. You can feel it when pulling an empty steel trailer. Same size in aluminum feels like nothing there vs an empty steel one, it feels like you have a car in it compared to aluminum.

I have a Thule and it is light weight and well priced, not sure if they are still in business bought mine about two years ago, made in Maine and good quality.

 

Aluminum corrodes as does steel but it corrodes differently. A common misconception.

The cost in repainting rock chips will be greater than the fuel savings if you dont put some kind of nose on that trailer.

I looked at aluminum trailers but couldn't justify the cost difference for my amount of use.

A used name brand trailer is free in that you get all or most of your money back when sold so I guess aused Featherlite would have been a good deal as well.

 

Exactly! Got about 90% back from the new/spec'ed CargoPro when it was sold and that is after two years of about 40 track events. Call it $1k gone for 40 events = $25 for use of the tailer per event. And the lighter weight of Alu also means gas savings to some degree.

 

I can definitely vouch for Featherlite. I pull a 20' Featherlite enclosed trailer with a 2004 Chevy Tahoe (5.3 liter) and with a 3500#load, it is a dream. I live in West Texas where the wind blows most of the time and even in 25-30mph crosswinds, the Featherlite tracks straight and true all the time. They are pricey, but worth every penny IMHO.

 

Not so sure about that. Horton haulers quotes their 8x20 enclosed car hauler at 2545 pounds, and the featherlite 8x20 is 3000 pounds.

Good advise about the brand name thing. It is true that a cheapo brand will devalue quickly in comparison.

The corrosion of aluminum is different, but I would say it will have a longer service life if kept outdoors compared to most steel frame trailers. The little enclosed one we had was only a year old when I sold it, and it already had some rust on the framing.

No worries about rock chips! Much depends on your tow vehicle. The (relatively) aerodynamic Odyssey tow vehicle has not caused one chip in 10,000 ish towing miles so far. If we were using a box van to tow I am sure it would be different. Even if it did cause a few chips I don't really care to spend the money making cosmetic improvements to the little car. For me it is all about the driving experience and using a low resistance cheap steel trailer allows me to enjoy the car on my very limited budget. We also don't want to strain the transmission on the tow vehicle with any additional resistance. I thought the trans was about to fall out of the van when we were towing the enclosed trailer!

So I would say if you have a real tow vehicle, get the enclosed trailer, and if you can afford it, get the brand name!

BT

 

pull my Featherlite with a Range Rover loaded with a lotus Exige, tools, fuel, spare wheels
nothing to it!

 

It does? Please explain. There is galvanic corrosion but the normal oxidation process that aluminum goes through actually protects the metal (as opposed to steel which corrodes the metal). You can acid wash AL it to get it back to shiny new.

Not really. At towing speeds aero factors dominate to such a degree that the weight difference doesn't matter. (Of course it matters for other reasons but not fuel economy.)