We love to camp. I mean, that is the whole reason that we built an Adventure Van! But while the adventure van will carry all of us and the kitchen sink to our favorite camping spot or swimming hole, hauling our canoe and two kayaks was a different story. I mean sure, we could throw our two kayaks up on the roof rack, but we have a big ol bulky 13’ canoe that would literally kill me trying to get up on the roof rack every time.
Oh, and then when you throw in bicycles for 5, firewood, coolers, and some of the extra stuff we like to take along, a custom trailer that could hold our canoe and kayaks up top while leaving the bottom clear for everything else was a must. Every time I am pulling it I get questions about it so here is a guide to show you everything we did to make it a perfect canoe/kayak camping trailer.
We started with an old 4-wheeler trailer that we never used any longer. You can find these trailers anywhere and there are tons on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist or even your local trailer store.
Ours is 7’ x 5’ and what we feel is a great size because it is not too big and can be pulled by our GMC Acadia when we aren’t feeling like taking the ol gas guzzling Adventure Van out.
The trailer was used hard for a decade or so and then sat for a while so first thing was to have our local mechanic repack the tire bearings. After that we gave it a good painting with just some regular ol’ rustoleum paint and rewired the lighting system.
Now that the trailer was in good working condition again it was time to retrofit with a system that would enable us to safely attach the canoe and kayaks.
We started by attaching four 4”x4” pressure treated posts to each corner. This trailer was pretty narrow to start with so instead of just placing them all inside of the trailer, taking up another 8” of space; we decided to cut a space in each post to slide into the trailer rail. This also enabled us to attach them more securely to the trailer.
Once the main posts were attached we screwed four 2×4”s across the trailer for the canoes and kayaks to lay on. The lower crossbar is measured ???” from the bottom of the trailer in order for us to fit our bikes under. The second crossbar is placed ???” from the bottom of the trailer just giving just enough room for the canoe to fit under.
The finishing touch was to add three pieces on each cross bar to serve as braces for each kayak to slide through.
