Here's an update to club members on the findings to date about cargo
trailers. I wanted club members to have this information so that we
can talk about the details of purchasing at the next meeting.

In general, there are not any used cargo trailers available and once
purchased for an original price, trailers do not seem to depreciate
much.

In speaking with Lark Polari, she believed the GDAC trailer was 7 X
12. For this dimension, they have to haul sand bags and lots of
other misc. stuff in other vehicles. By the time they get tunnels
and contact equipment in the trailer, there is no floor room to move
around at all. The dog walk sections just barely fit into the
overall length of the trailer.

At Valley Trailer Sales, a 7 X 14 trailer, double door back load,
costs about $4400.00. This trailer was 6' high. This particular
trailer had the wheel wells partially on the inside, which means
that we would lose about a 6" X 3' strip on each side of the inside
of the trailer for floor area and floor storage. These are "PACE"
brand trailers and the quality seemed good, frame construction
seemed good. We did inquire about a ramp load and I believe the
price was about $5500, but joni, stu, or carla, if you remember
different, would you please let us know. 2-year warranty on axle,
90 days on trailer. This is about as good a price as the rep could
give us. This trailer was currently on the lot; I don't know if
it's still there and I'm not sure what price we could get on other
trailers.

At Bitterroot Trailer sales, they handle "Charmac" trailers. The
quality of the cargo trailers seemed good, frame construction seemed
sturdy. These trailers are 6'6" high. They have a 7 X 14 ramp load
that would cost $5100. These people are willing to work with us,
but I doubt we could get more than about $200-300 off the price.

Steer Inn Trailer Sales handled 2 brands of trailers. One was a
very economically priced "TNT" trailer. 7 X 14 would be $3795,
upgrade to a ramp load would be about $250 more. I was not
impressed with the quality of these trailers. The frame seemed
really light, and the paint job seemed cheap. As whatever trailer
we purchase would be outside and subject to all sorts of weather, I
would worry about this trailer rusting at the welds and joins.
There is also only a 90 days warranty on all parts of the trailer,
including the axle. They also had "Haulmark" trailers. The 7 X
14 "Transport" model, double door load, would be about $4450, which
is the lower quality model. The "Kodiak" would be about $5050,
which is a higher quality. These are 6'6" high on the inside.
Upgrade to a ramp load on either of these would be about an
additional $400. These trailers come in other colors, so if we did
indeed want an orange trailer, we could order one (just a joke).

Although I don't know a lot about Charmac cargo trailers, the horse
trailers are pretty top of the line. I don't however, know that we
need a top of the line trailer for our club use. It would seem that
we could go with a middle of the line trailer. One thing we do need
to be careful of, is with a lot of weight hanging on a/the side(s),
the trailer sides themselves might lean after time. We had talked
about hanging the dog walk or something on the side, but I think we
should re-think that at the time of equipment purchase and make that
decision depending on the type of rubber and final weight of
equipment. I'll need to confirm the warranty info on the Haulmarks,
but I believe it was 2 years on the axle, 90 days on the trailer.

I also think we need at least a full 7 X 14, wheel wells on the
outside. We did look at a 7 X 16, but there was some question about
the size of the pick up needed to pull that length, especially when
the trailer is full.

Because these trailers don't seem to depreciate much after purchase,
it seems like the club could consider this an investment and I think
we should be careful that we get what we'll need to grow with, as
opposed to buying something now, finding out it's too small or light
weight, having to replace it within 2-5 years.

Please feel free to send me any input or opinions/ideas or questions
that you have. At this point, the club will be discussing what it
needs, how much we should be willing to pay . . . ...... But at
least we have some information on cost, warranty, etc., at this
point.

Joyce will have some information on insurance at the meeting.