[Wallrat]

Looks like some village is missing it’s idiot.

 

[FloatMaBoat]

I think floatmaboat & Barlow are the same person giving us some entertainment as we lament about the heat and not being on a river. Good on ya! Much appreciated.

I legit thought WBarklow was our old friend James shilling for some new rip-off raft trailer company...I was just trying to troll him into revealing himself. Looks like it may have worked?🤣🤣🤣 he gone lol

 

[brasscap]

Hmmmmm......from the above FB page...........

 

[FloatMaBoat]

Hmmmmm......from the above FB page...........

View attachment 68476

Yep, once again, James' ego got the best of him and he outted himself as Wbarklow:

 

[Panama Red]

So I picked up my trailer from Tim (3 Forks, Mt.) and thought I’d give it a review for those of you thinking of getting one;
I wanted the 12’ trailer, (7’x12’ $2300), but I wanted an extra plank wider. Final size is a full 12’x7’9”. Total length is just over 16’. That bumped the cost up to $2550. It pulled beautifully on the way home, at up to 70 mph. The tongue weight is heavy, around 60 lbs.



View attachment 67653 View attachment 67653

The frame and undercarriage are nicely welded and finished. The joints are welded both sides, which didn’t have to be done, but reflects his attention to detail. View attachment 67654

The axle is a 2300# axle, with a five lug hub on 2 5/8” spacing. It has a grease zerk for the hubs, and a nice rubber plug to keep things clean. The tires are 175/80-13”. 2/4 ply, rated to 1300# each View attachment 67653 View attachment 67654 . This leaves the trailer deck sitting at 28” off the ground.
The roller is full width. It’s a simple tube, spinning on a rod at each end. No bearings.

View attachment 67655

There are three things that I can see that I’d point out as flaws, or at least needing to be aware of; the wood on my deck is bad. The 1x10s are planer gouged, bowed and crooked. I’m not too upset about it, since availability has been awful lately, and these were probably the best he could find.
Second, the planks are fastened with 1/4” carriage bolts, lock washers and a simple nut, instead of nylock nuts. Forty nylock nuts would not cost more than about $15. I’ll be changing that out myself. Lastly, Tim sells these without a title, as a homebuilt. The buyer has to go through the bother of the inspection and paperwork, plus the additional expense.

It has a budget winch with a strap that reaches about 3’ beyond the trailer. The tongue jack just barely levels the trailer when fully extended.
View attachment 67662
I had to add a 6” lift hitch for my Tundra to level the deck. All in all it’s a good trailer for hauling a raft. It’s about $2,000 less than an aluminum model, so I’d say it’s worth the money.

I’d add a gusset to the leading edge of the wench before your boat and the before mentioned end up down stream.

 

[Mtmxmom]

Ordered a trailer from Tim a year ago and picked it up last spring. Ordered heavier axle with the need to be able to haul 2 four wheelers when not using it to haul my raft. He confirmed he could build this. Paid $2500 or more can't exactly remember. Anyway used it one time lat 4th of July to haul four wheelers. They bounced all over the deck of that trailer and could not keep them strapped down. Finally had a chance to take a closer look and the main support beams did not run the full length of the trailer, making it act like a trampoline. It flexed so much I am amazed I didn't lose both bikes. The cheap bolts and hardware, 50% of them broke... I had to take the trailer to a fabrication shop and pay another $500.00 to fix the framing and render it useful. Had to replace all the bolts and hardware plus add self tapping screws to the center sections to keep the deck boards from cupping and bouncing! Last but not least of the shoddy workmanship was the wiring that was attached randomly to the bottom of the deck with office grade staples!! After one attempt to haul the four wheelers the wires were hanging off the trailer and one tail light is now not working. I'm sure wires are severed with the nice staple job. I HAVE LITERALLY HAD TO REBUILD THIS TRAILER!! COMPLETELY DISGUSTED!!

 

[Wallrat]

I had to replace the regular nuts with nylocks, add mudflaps, add another set of bolts mid plank, but now it’s working fine. To be fair, we all want labor done for cheap, and that’s not going to happen. The roller still needs a set of bearings to make it quiet, or has to be tied down. That’s a minor problem.

 

[Whitewater Worthy Equip]

It is unacceptable to have a product makes you feel bad about giving your money to someone.

Our trailers are well built and designed but I have more money into materials that you paid.

It’s often said and experienced that if it seem to good to be true it is.

 

[Mtmxmom]

That doesn’t surprise me a bit. I had to rebuild mine right after I got it, and lately I’ve started redoing the cheesy wiring and lights. I’m pretty disgusted with his workmanship.

I hope he is no longer in business and continuing to rape people!!

 

[missiongravity]

I've been steering people clear of these trailers since the first one I have seen. The problem being that people buy them and get so excited about the great deal they got that they run their mouth about them and before you know two or three of their friends have grabbed them up. I have FOUR friends that own these piles of scrap lumber and steel.
He cuts corners, that is why they are priced so low. As WhiteWater Worthy said, you get what you pay for.

Unfortunately I don't have anyone to recommend you buy a trailer from as I usually build my own. But DO NOT BUY from that hack in Three Forks.

WallRat...You should update the original post to reflect the poor nature of these trailers. That way someone doesn't read the first few posts and think they are a good idea.

 

[Wallrat]

That’s a good idea. Consider it done.

 

[OMGitsCasey]

I left my career as a Industrial Construction Superintendent last November and have started my own light fabrication company. I mostly do architectural railings and such but recently I've done a few repairs and upgrades on some raft trailers (whose builders shall remain nameless.) Seeing these problems and hearing about the dissatisfaction of several trailer brands I'm considering building a few new trailers. In ya'll's opinion would you say there's a decent demand for a well built raft trailer company in the Billings/Bozeman area?

 

[Pinchecharlie]

Problem is like alot of things. Guys want an "afoardable " trailer but that mostly means it's "afoardably built". I've known Tim for decades. Hes s crazy good fabricator when he wants to be. I've seen him personally build beautiful stuff for luxury Homes here. I had a shop near one he worked in and they built amazing stuff. So if your going to build a good trailer and you want to make money I'd guess alot of people would buy and alot of people could not afford a "good" one. I've had a free trailer a home made trailer a car trailer and now I have a snowmobile trailer. I bought it for 1200bucks used and it works fine. So the 4-6k dollar trailers a hard sell to me. When he first sold those he charged 1200 new and it was just a cheap trailer to get your b oat to the Madison. If your like other expert fabricators than your trailers may price out alot of people. Of course not all but maybe see what one would cost you and how much you'd want to profit and see. Mike has 15-20 decent trailers at his shop under 3k new. Hard to have good and cheap in same the thing.

 

[Wallrat]

I left my career as a Industrial Construction Superintendent last November and have started my own light fabrication company. I mostly do architectural railings and such but recently I've done a few repairs and upgrades on some raft trailers (whose builders shall remain nameless.) Seeing these problems and hearing about the dissatisfaction of several trailer brands I'm considering building a few new trailers. In ya'll's opinion would you say there's a decent demand for a well built raft trailer company in the Billings/Bozeman area?

There’s definitely a demand for a decent trailer in Bozeman. There should be a discussion about what you will provide, and options with pricing for each. So if someone wants a cheap Chinese winch, it’s a certain cost, or a solid 2-speed Fulton winch is this much. Give the customer an option. Then, if they choose cheap, it’s on them, not you.

 

[MNichols]

I built rafting specific trailers for years, it's not hard to do, but to do it at a price people want to pay is another thing. Steel these days is thru the roof, where aluminum was 15 years ago, it's crazy. Axles are now north of 450.00 wholesale for a torsional one with the ez-lube option. Tires and rims are north of 120$, back in the day, I was hard pressed to turn a product out for less than 2300.00 and make anything at all on it. Given that there's every bit of 8 hours of labor to cut, square and weld it together, and then sandblasting it, paint, installing decking and wiring / lights I'm not surprised to see them selling north of 4K$.

 

[Wallrat]

2year update: I toned down my criticisms in the updates…after talking to Tim. He’s seen the thread, and no doubt, is aware of the problems people have had. He offered to fix what was wrong, and that’s fair enough. I’m satisfied with what I have, though that wasn’t true a year ago. I spent roughly two days replacing nuts, adding another row of bolts, and a set of mudflaps. It’s held up fine after those mods. I gave it a pretty good beating last year in Idaho.

 

[Montet202]

I look at these cheap trailers and can’t fathom how they make any money on them. I bought a 20’ car hauler new in Tennessee a few years ago for $2,300. Picked it up on the way to NC to bring a piece of woodworking machinery back to Idaho.

I wouldn’t call it a POS, but it’s certainly not quality. I knew what I was buying, though, and it’s more than paid for itself.

I charge $125/hr for shop time. So if something costs $500 in materials, takes an 8 hour day to build, it has to go for $1500, or it’s not worth getting out of bed for. One off work is so time consuming and expensive. I think it’s awesome Tim is standing by his product. That says a lot. Good on him. I pretty much refuse, anymore, to do cost friendly work, and if I do, it’s ‘as is’. That’s a tough way to pay your mortgage.

 

[Wallrat]

There’s (guessing here) probably minimum $1000 in materials, and it would take me three days to do one, probably more, although Tim does batch cut some things. Painting, wiring, laying the planks…there’s a lot to do.
OTOH, if margins are that thin, then he should raise the price. Nobody else is shy about charging more, and we all get it that inflation is real.
My trailer has served me well since I got it finished…but there were some definite flaws. The nuts and lock washers are an obvious one. Nylocks are the only thing that should be used. The cost difference would be made up in time saved not having to mess with the damnable washers. The planks were originally fastened only at the ends, nothing in the middle. So that had to be added on. They rattled going down bumpy roads, being free-range in the center.

The roller still needs a set of bearings. It has to be strapped down or it rattles a lot.
The wracking in the frame is another obvious mistake. It can be fixed, but I’ll live with it.
I still need to add gussets at the winch tower.
Mudflaps are another must-do, if you don’t want to keep replacing tail lights. I lost two lenses the first year on gravel roads.

I give him props for calling me back after reading this thread…hopefully he can make some minor upgrades in materials, etc. I’d rather pay $3000, and do no repairs, than the $2250 (maybe $2500 now?) and have to upgrade. That left a sour taste.

I should also mention that he never asked me to delete or change the posts. That was my doing. I’d posted that the deck was 1x10, instead of 2x10. That was wrong. It seemed fair to moderate the tone of the rest of the posts.

 

[Trouter]

ONE YEAR UPDATE So I picked up my trailer from Tim (3 Forks, Mt.) and thought I’d give it a review for those of you thinking of getting one; I wanted the 12’ trailer, (7’x12’ $2300), but I wanted an extra plank wider. Final size is a full 12’x7’9”. Total length is just over 16’. That bumped the cost up to $2550. It pulled beautifully on the way home, at up to 70 mph. The tongue weight is heavy, around 60 lbs. View attachment 67653 View attachment 67653 The frame and undercarriage are nicely welded and finished. The joints are welded both sides, which didn’t have to be done, but reflects his attention to detail. View attachment 67654 The axle is a 2300# axle, with a five lug hub on 2 5/8” spacing. It has a grease zerk for the hubs, and a nice rubber plug to keep things clean. The tires are 175/80-13”. 2/4 ply, rated to 1300# each View attachment 67653 View attachment 67654 . This leaves the trailer deck sitting at 28” off the ground. The roller is full width. It’s a simple tube, spinning on a rod at each end. No bearings. Which means that on a gravel road it makes an ungodly amount of noise, and must be strapped down. View attachment 67655 There are three things that I can see that I’d point out as flaws, or at least needing to be aware of; the wood on my deck is bad. The 2”x10”s are planer gouged, bowed and crooked. I’m not too upset about it, since availability has been awful lately, and these were probably the best he could find. Not his fault. Second, the planks are fastened with 1/4” carriage bolts, lock washers and a simple nut, instead of nylock nuts. Forty nylock nuts would not cost more than about $15. I’ll be changing that out myself. Lastly, Tim sells these without a title, as a homebuilt. The buyer has to go through the bother of the inspection and paperwork, plus the additional expense. It has a budget winch with a strap that reaches about 3’ beyond the trailer. The tongue jack just barely levels the trailer when fully extended. . View attachment 67662 I had to add a 6” lift hitch for my Tundra to level the deck. All in all it’s a good trailer for hauling a raft. It’s about $2,000 less than an aluminum model, so I’d say it’s worth the money.

Just came across this post. I'm an outfitter not only here in Montana but also Idaho and Colorado. We've been buying trailers from Tim for many seasons now. Alot of my client's request his contact info as their very impressed with our setups. The guy is top notch. Stands behind his work and is very knowledgeable. We've even used him in a few guide trips. Heck of a fisherman! Tim builds a great trailer at the best price around. His ability to customize sizes or build multi day-camp-raft combos has really helped us out. A+ and will continue to work with and forward business to in the near future.

 

[AMSkayak]

I'm a boater in Montana. I bought my trailer (7'x14') from Tim last Fall in October 2022. I think the quality of the trailers Tim builds are fine and my initial impressions were good. It towed great, was sturdy and well put together. The paint did not hold up and I am having to re-paint. Tim offered to re-paint but I am willing to do it myself.