Flatbed or enclosed

I'm looking at buying a trailer for the Challenge as I don't see me fitting my tools, spare set of tires, and my 7 year old in the Miata for the drive to Gainesville.

For asking price of $800 I can get a flatbed with ramps but no title or registration which means I have to deal with the bullE36 M3 of weighing and the don't care about anything DMV here in Florida.

For $1100 I can get a 6 x 16 enclosed trailer that could use a paint job but it's titled so just walk in and get my tag. I could also store my spare tires and tools in it at the Challenge far easier than in the back of my pickup.

I do enjoy wheeling and wouldn't be able to put a truck in the enclosed trailer but I wouldn't feel right trailering a truck to go out in the woods anyway.

Got any thoughts or guidance for me?

Sorry put it on the wrong forum the first time.

Biggest downside to an enclosed trailer is the major hit in gas mileage. I get 12-14 pulling a Neon on a flatbed from here to Florida but a motorcycle in a (shorter) enclosed trailer saw me getting 7-8. Putting the van in neutral and coasting down the mountains in TN, it would only get to 45mph unless I put it back in gear and gave it gas.

OK flatbed it is. Now to see how cheap I can get one.

Thanks

I use my enclosed as a garage when it's not being towed. I've used it as a staging area when building a kitchen - all the stuff came home in the trailer, and kept it in the trailer until I needed it. Plus it's really nice knowing that all your stuff is out of sight when you're parked at a sketchy hotel - and an open car doesn't get wet. My enclosed replaced an open trailer and I don't regret it at all.

Yes, you do pay a bit more in fuel. In my experience (two very similar trucks running in convoy towing the same load into a headwind in Kansas), the difference was 10 mpg vs 13.

If you plan on several long-ish trips, the benefits of an enclosed can outweigh the mileage-hit. Depends on how much, and how, you plan to use it.

I'm with Keith,towed for yrs with an open trailer and have had a couple of enclosed now with no regrets.

Nice to know your stuff is locked away from bastards just driving around looking for stuff they never worked for.I put no logos or lettering of anykind to not attact attention to what might be in it.

I also use it as a portable garage and winter storage,much better than leaving a car on the ground in a tent imo.

I vote enclosed. It's also a hard place to camp at the track instead of a tent.

It's a portable shop, garage, storage unit all in one. Definitely go enclosed.

Open has really only one benefit and that'd be mileage. Just the lockable storage alone sells it for me. But being able to bolt in some cheap cabinets, bring a fold-out cot and a camp stove and you're miles ahead of an open trailer already.

Honestly it'll probably be used for the Challenge and not much else. I have this strange love hate relationship with trailers. When I don't have one I really want one but when I have one I never use it. This will be the third in four years. The first one I brought home and never used it. The second I used once. At least I'm a cheap bastard and bought them cheap so that I made money on both when I sold them. I do like the idea of enclosed but I'm not finding a wider one in my price range.

Stampie

You can rent a UHaul tow dolly for $69.

Tow the Miata, put your stuff in the back of the truck.

If you are not gonna use the trailer later, it makes no sense to buy it.

I like open, but then again I tow with a Sequoia (so have plenty of interior room for my valuable gear like tools and wheels and such), and the car is an e30, so it has a ton of room inside of it for a set of wheels and other stuff as well (e.g. everything I want to be locked away is locked away).

But I use my trailer regularly (as do the guys on my Chumpcar team and other friends on occasion). If you're only going to need it once or twice a year, it's more cost-effective to rent a uhaul trailer or find a local who will rent their trailer (or let you borrow it). We used to do both of those things before I got this trailer.

Also, remember that an $800 open trailer (or $1100 enclosed) are cheap for a reason, most likely: either/both will need some money to make them safe and reliable probably.....tires, wheel bearings, lighting, etc.....Even my "nice condition" $1600 trailer required me to drop another $500 on maintenance and improvements before I felt really comfortable towing with it for long distances.

How about one of those $400 HF tiny trailers to tow the tires and tools behind the Miata?

I thought about that but the irrational part of me says I NEED a car hauler. Like that CL find from last year in Tampa that was so cool that I can't remember what it was. But anyway I couldn't get it cause it wasn't running and I didn't have an easy way to get it back to Jax. I know, Uhaul and all that. But damn just a few Uhaul rentals would pay for my own trailer right? Did I mention that I don't have a SWMBO so there is no check and balance to the man thought process.

Here's the check and balance...

If you have a trailer that gets used once per year, you will spend more on flat-spotted tires, wheel bearings, and registration than it will cost you to rent a Uhaul a couple of times per year.

-DWMBO (Dork-Who-Might-Be-Obeyed)

If you must own a trailer, go enclosed.

SVreX wrote: Here's the check and balance... If you have a trailer that gets used once per year, you will spend more on flat-spotted tires, wheel bearings, and registration than it will cost you to rent a Uhaul a couple of times per year. -DWMBO (Dork-Who-Might-Be-Obeyed)

Here's the counter-argument:

U-haul trailers suck. They're heavy, they are intended for cars with "normal" amounts of ground clearance, and they have surge brakes instead of electric ones. The other major problem with them is that U-haul doesn't keep many of them in stock, so even if you reserve one there's a decent chance that when you show up it won't be there and then you're SOL.

Trailer registration is typically cheap, and flatspotting tires hasn't been a problem for me even when the trailer was parked for six months. The real question is whether or not you have room to park it, because paying to store a trailer can get expensive quickly.

Enclosed vs open -- I have an open but am strongly considering buying an enclosed, mainly for security and convenience reasons.

Aside from cost, weight, and fuel efficiency, the other benefit to an open trailer is that it can serve to transport large, heavy things that don't have wheels, things that get loaded with a forklift.

i still can't decide which to bring, have both. probably open and build a wood locking box in front of the car to hold stuff securely. i'm thinking it's better to pull a car on open trailer 950 miles one way than pull a shed on wheels.

codrus wrote:

SVreX wrote: Here's the check and balance... If you have a trailer that gets used once per year, you will spend more on flat-spotted tires, wheel bearings, and registration than it will cost you to rent a Uhaul a couple of times per year. -DWMBO (Dork-Who-Might-Be-Obeyed)

Here's the counter-argument: U-haul trailers suck. They're heavy, they are intended for cars with "normal" amounts of ground clearance, and they have surge brakes instead of electric ones. The other major problem with them is that U-haul doesn't keep many of them in stock, so even if you reserve one there's a decent chance that when you show up it won't be there and then you're SOL. Trailer registration is typically cheap, and flatspotting tires hasn't been a problem for me even when the trailer was parked for six months. The real question is whether or not you have room to park it, because paying to store a trailer can get expensive quickly. Enclosed vs open -- I have an open but am strongly considering buying an enclosed, mainly for security and convenience reasons. Aside from cost, weight, and fuel efficiency, the other benefit to an open trailer is that it can serve to transport large, heavy things that don't have wheels, things that get loaded with a forklift.

Ditto. I haven't had any flatspotting problems, though my trailer is rarely sitting in place for more than a month or two at a time. That said I have radials on it, which I hear are less prone to flatspotting than bias-ply tires. YMMV.

Also ditto on the utility. I'm moving a car shell for a buddy next week and picking up an engine at the same time. Both would be very difficult for two of us to load into an enclosed trailer (we'll just hoist them up onto mine via an engine lift). I've also carried big loads of mulch on mine (loaded via front-loader) and other bulky things that would be a PITA if it was an enclosed.

Then again, the cars I haul around are mostly old beaters or rallycross cars.....so I'm not worried about anyone stealing them while I sleep at a hotel or something, lol.

My open trailer with the car on it fits in my garage. Barely, but it does. Couldn't do that with an enclosed model and the law around here frowns on trailers parked in front of houses for extended periods.

Every time it rains I wish I had an enclosed trailer. Every time the humidity goes up I wish I had an enclosed trailer with an a/c unit.

Every time I talk to a guy who sold his enclosed and went back to an open (and this happens with surprising frequency) I pat myself on the back for not getting the enclosed and having to tow and back the thing up.

Out of curiosity how is the open trailer with a car on it easier to back up vs an enclosed?

If you have the space, get both.

I had a 8' X 20' enclosed for a lot of years. It's nice to be able to keep things out of the weather. It's nice to turn on the AC on a hot day at the track. It's nice to roll into the yard late on a Sunday evening and just leave everything where it it. It's nice to be able to leave the car in the trailer and not tie up a slot in the garage. After I stopped racing it turned into a storage shed on wheels. If I was still towing a car to events 10 times a year, I'd still have it.

They do burn more gas to tow, but that's really the only downfall to owning one.

Open trailers are more versatile. I have one with a wooden bed. Its great for hauling off junk cars that don't roll. You can build plywood boxes on it and use it as a dumpster for roofing jobs, demo, etc. I've hauled 3 tons of stone for the driveway, 5 yards of mulch, two pallets of shingles, and once built a wooden lean to and hauled a 6 foot sliding glass door standing up. When your done, take out the screws and you have your trailer back. I also mount my tubing bender to the bed and use it as an area for building roll cages so I don't have to keep moving stuff around my garage. Makes building and repairing cages off site a dream.

kevlarcorolla wrote: Out of curiosity how is the open trailer with a car on it easier to back up vs an enclosed?

I'm not sure either.

Maybe if you visually check things by looking through the rear window? I wouldn't know, because none of my tow vehicles have rear windows, so I have to do it entirely with my side mirrors, regardless of what I am towing.

I find it a little easier to back enclosed- more surface area to align in the mirrors.