And when you want to haul plywood home when its raining you get a
> Suburban or Yukon XL - it will easily handle 4x8' sheets of plywood in
> the back with the door closed.
I've got that harbor freight trailer. If you catch it on sale, you can get it for 199.
The "stake" sides are strictly a DIY deal. The trailer comes with 8 little metal doo-dads that you bolt to the frame, and you can insert a 2x4 into it. The design of the sides is entirely up to you. I've got some made of plywood and of twoby. It's rated for 990 pounds (must be a number intended to get around regulations somewhere) and is probably the best two bills I've ever spent. We use it for hauling building materials, my buddy borrows it once in a while for his motorcycle, etc.
Just about every 'Borg-type' store sells them {from the small ones to some really big ones}, and even has assembled models on display. Although they are more prevalent during the warmer months, they usually have big sales as winter approaches, probably because they don't want to store the assembled units. I got mine at a local HD. Came in 2 or 3 boxes. A leisurely afternoon to assemble. Not even a raised eyebrow when I took the obviously Chinese paperwork to have it registered.
My only 'guess' about what happened to you is that there are no 'local' Trailer Dealers, in the area. There 'may' have been one in your 'case'. A 'little whisper' in the ear of a friend in the State Police, and your boss gets a visit. IF there was no 'Cease & Desist' paperwork involved, then it most definitely was 'bogus'.
Of course this was Virginia . . . where you can get as swacked as you want sitting at the bar in a restaurant, but it is illegal for YOU to CARRY your glass of wine from the bar to YOUR table !!
FWIW - I just returned from a 'jaunt' from the Philly suburbs to Havre de Grace, MD, and return. I was towing the 'El Cheapo' trailer I got from HD about 3 years ago. This was the FIRST time I had it on the road since I put it together.
Went down empty and returned with a 16 foot Dory. {not bad for an 8 foot 'bed' trailer}. Those 'little donut' tires were really spinning !! {Your
*advised* to do no more than 50mph, but that '95 Rodeo got up to 70 a time or two . . . easy with people passing you like your standing still !!}.
About all I could see was about 2 inches of the license plate; ALL the time - she tracked like she was on rails!! This is VERY good, since when I got down there {remember, I said this was the FIRST trip}, it was pointed out that I had lost one lug nut and the other three were almost off !! - I THINK I'LL PLAY TOMORROWS LOTTERY !!!
Coming back, it was basically the same thing. She bounced around a bit; the boat was very light and about 6 feet was hanging off the back, so almost no tongue weight. In addition, this same 'lightness' added to the 'bounce' - the trailer is rated for about 1,000 pounds, so with almost no weight they are quite STIFF. {I screwed down a couple of full-width 'cleats' and 'spread' some foam 'pipe insulators' over them to reduce bottom slippage}
All in all a nice trip. Despite MY errors {should have checked & tightened the nuts when I checked the hub temperature - about 30 minutes from start}I STILL think this type of trailer is a GOOD buy. The gentleman who owned the Dory thought so as well. He questioned me about it to some length. He's seen them at HD, and *thinks* there is a Harbor Freight outlet somewhere around Baltimore.
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