Buy a trailer (instead of a pickup truck)

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Sure some safety regulations are worthwhile, but sometimes redneck-engineering is not so bad as it may eventually look. Many of the regulations supposed to increase safety actually have a negative effect on fuel-efficiency.

[bestclimb]

Chill dude, no one said that a home made trailer should not be inspected.

Any numbers on how many home built trailers fail compared to factory built trailers?

A minimum level of inspection insures that the truly stupid are regulated out. From there safety comes from the judgment of operators. After that farther curtailing the ability of a person to use or adapt what he has or can get does little to nothing for public safety at the expense of the individual's right.

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

AFAIK this one was made with fiberglass.

You got my point. They said they're cranking out four per month.

Here's an example of a dangerously underbuilt pile of scrap metal:



Jail bars all around.

[oil pan 4]

In the U.S. and in most states the state police who are not mechanical engineers, welders or builders in any way are the ones who approve home made trailers.
They are only going to catch stuff that is obviously missing, defective or clearly just flat out wrong.

The disastrous trailer accidents I found appear to be caused by people who lack the knowledge to properly attach the trailer to the tow vehicle, load a trailer or attach a wheel or wheel bearings.

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by bestclimb

A minimum level of inspection insures that the truly stupid are regulated out. From there safety comes from the judgment of operators. After that farther curtailing the ability of a person to use or adapt what he has or can get does little to nothing for public safety at the expense of the individual's right.

Yeah me and my buddy bought a pickup truck bed trailer for cheap with "farm use" tags that had a single wire dog chain as the safety chain and did not have functioning lights.
I got the lights working before we left that farm and the first place we went with it was to my house and put 2 proper 3/8'' safety chains on it.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by bestclimb

Any numbers on how many home built trailers fail compared to factory built trailers?

Nope.

Few accidents are caused by the actual design of the trailers though.

Overloading and improper loading, lack of maintenance, sidewinds, driver (in)ability and going faster than you should with the trailer tagging along, are the main issues.

[bestclimb]

So banning of home made or recycled trailers is a solution searching for a question...

[oil pan 4]

As I have stated before recycling in some places is only good as long as the government can make money off it.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Today I saw many subcompact cars towing trailers, including a post-war Renault 4CV.

[damarble]

I've gone both routes and no longer have a small utility trailer because I settled on the truck as better option for me. I've towed overloaded too many times and now would rather have a vehicle that's oversized for a safety factor.

A while back when I owned my Neon I towed a few things with a 1750lb Harbor Freight trailer, the heaviest load about 800lb total (motorcycle). It did fine and still got decent fuel economy. The problem was it was too light duty for my needs.

Today I have a F250 and 13ft car trailer which I've also outgrown and need to move to a 20ft. The truck is only driven a couple thousand miles a year and it's old enough to have stopped depreciating.

One downside for owning a utility trailer is you need a place to put it and that might not be possible if one lives in an apartment as many people do.