Hauling 16 Ft Boards On An 8 Ft Trailer - Easy Peasy!

[DerbyDad03]

I bought some reclaimed Douglas Fir on Craiglist so I can build a bed for my daughter. The seller had three 6/4 x 6 x 16 boards which will be perfect for the bed rails. If I had cut them to length at his house, I could have put them in my van. However, I wanted to take my time choosing the best sections to use, so I needed a way to get them home intact.

I borrowed a friend's utility trailer and came up with a system to get them home safely. I used some wood that I had lying around to build a back wall for the trailer. I then used short pieces of 2 x 4 to "surround" the boards so they couldn't move side-to-side or up-and-down. Ratchet straps fore and aft prevented any forward or backward movement. I used a screw and fender washer at each end of the boards to ensure that the straps couldn't slide off. 30 miles later, the wood was in my garage.

Wood On Trailer:

The 6/4 rough stock above will be surfaced for the rails and the 5/4 S4S stock below will be planed down to make the head boards, legs, etc. The S4S stock came home inside the van.

S4S Stock:

My daughter is looking for something like this.

The Goal:

[Ed Pawlowski]

That is some good looking wood. It should make a good looking bed in that style.

[hubops]

Some bed-rail hardware can be seen here ..

[DerbyDad03]

Thanks. I like the look of it too. It's left over from a Post and Beam house that the seller had built. I called the company that built the house and was told that they have their own acquisition team that actually goes to old buildings and decides what wood they want. In other words, they don't get it from a third party source, so when they say it's reclaimed, it really is.

The head board may end up being more of a random length style because there isn't enough long stock to run single pieces the full length. I haven't worked that out just yet.

[rbowman]

You obviously haven't absorbed the a.h.r culture. You just put the 16 footers on the trailer and have Cousin Bubba sit on the near end to keep everything balanced. What could go wrong?

[DerbyDad03]

Thanks. There's lots of options at that site. I'll check them out.

This will be my 5th bed build. I've built all the beds in my house:

A bunk bed that converts to 2 singles, an L-style bunk bed and a platform bed.

I also built a knockdown platform bed for one daughter's college apartment. About a week before she came home for Thanksgiving she told me wanted something that she could fit in her car and that was also tall enough to store those 18 gallon totes underneath. The challenge had been posed.

After Thanksgiving, she took the following bed back to school with her. 5 pieces for the frame, 2 for the platform, along with a set of instructions a cordless drill, and a box of screws. It's really basic, but with a bed skirt hiding the legs, it's fine.

Frame:

Frame With Platform:

When she graduated and switched to a different college for her Masters, I gave her this as graduation gift. I built it tall enough to match the tall platform bed.

[DerbyDad03]

Re: "What could go wrong?"

Cousin Bubba splattered all over the rear window when I hit the brakes?

Actually, you've reminded me of the time I was at a friend's cabin in central New York. A couple of locals came by inquiring about the old pick-up truck that had been sitting on the access road leading to cabin for a few years. These guys were pure Appalachia.

My buddy told them that they could have it just for hauling it away, but the brakes were frozen so towing it wasn't possible. Well, a few beers and a million laughs later, they tied a few tow straps to the under carriage and dragged it down the road, hooting and hollering, smoke spewing from the tires when they reached the blacktop at the end of the dirt road.

It ranks way up there as one of the funniest events in my life.

[dadiOH]

Rip narrow strips from long boards.

Butt short boards end to end

Glue narrow strips to top & bottom of butted shorts

[Jon Danniken]

That is functional, but it would not be legal, at least here in Oregon, as maximum permitted overhang off of the back of a trailer is 1/3 of the wheelbase (trailer axle to car rear axle).

You would, of course, have to be seen by a law enforcement agent who wanted to deal with it, though.

Jon

[DerbyDad03]

If I understand you correctly, you are suggesting something like one these, correct?

I like the idea. Of course, I'll have to see what my daughter says.

[DerbyDad03]

I opted for "ignorance is bliss" in this endeavor.

I was talking to some guys at work about my plans and one of them ask about the legal limit for stuff hanging off the end of a trailer. I quickly put my hands over my ears and started making "La-La-La-La" noises so I couldn't hear any answers. ;-)

The overhang was about 6', which is probably over the limit for my state.

However, what I found most interesting was the trust that other drivers put in my set-up. More than once I surprised to see drivers that were way closer to the red flag than I would have gotten. They would have had no time to deal with an issue had it occurred.

On the other hand, the one tractor trailer that got behind me maintained a safe distance and eventually moved over to a different lane when he got the chance. Smart guy!

[dpb]

On 06/12/2016 10:05 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote: ...

...

I'd not call it "trust", I'd call it "ignorance" and simply typical.

Try driving a large truck in a major metro area and see how many little girls (amazingly how many are girls as compared to boys) are excessively aggressive and have no compunction whatsoever of darting in front just to get one place ahead at the impending light; simply presuming you've got enough brakes to not run 'em over...

[Stormin Mormon]

What would this country be like if we all did what was safe, instead of what was legal? I mean, we've all got to obey the law to the letter if we want to be free. After all, Frank Burns (eats worms) said that on the TV show MASH.

[Stormin Mormon]

Typical of drivers, now days. The four wheelers have little common sense. The long haul drivers often make much more sense.

One time I had a driver on my tailgate, in a pickup truck. I tried every thing I could to encourage him to allow a safer following distance. Tap the brake lights. Brake to near stop, and then continue on. Nothing helped. When we got to the end of the cloverleaf ramp and onto the highway, he passed and zoomed out in front of me. I followed, at my usual safe distance. He stomped on his brakes (to punish me?). I let off the gas a very little bit, coasted. He then took off at road speeds. With my safe following distance, I was hardly affected by his braking action. Hmm. He sure punished me, right?

[Dean Hoffman]

I didn't see any mention of duck tape in the plan.

[DerbyDad03]

Actually, before I had the idea of the horizontal 2 x 4 to keep the wood from moving up and down, the thought of wrapping gorilla tape around the the boards and the verticals had crossed my mind. In the end, 2 pieces of wood and 4 screws was a much better and faster idea.

[dadiOH]

No, I wasn't suggesting that at all, just showing you how to join short pieces into longer ones.

Of course, doinng so with multiple pieces would allow you to do something similar to your links, the difference being that those also are - appear to be - angled. If they are, I wouldn't have them on a bet, too many horizontal surfaces to accumulate dust.

[DerbyDad03]

I see. Of course, there are multiple ways to join short pieces to make long pieces, such as splines, T&G, M&T, even pocket screws. Figuring that out was not my concern, which is why I thought you were offering a design idea. As it turns out, your "non-design idea" isn't a bad design idea. :-)

There are no (or will be no) angles. I took a picture of one piece of S4S

5/4 x 4.5 x 36" board lying on the floor and copied and reshaped that single image multiple times.

Original image:

The headboards examples I posted are simply 15 or more copies of that same board-image stretched, squished, rotated, and then pieced together. It was all done in PowerPoint, as was this idea.

Angles? You want angles? ;-)

[rbowman]

You put the duct tape over Bubba's mouth so you don't have to listen to him whine about having to ride in the back.