Carrying Spares: The FrankenTrailer

We’re all taught to carry spares to regattas. But a spare TRAILER?

When I left Rhode Island in January to drive my boat to Florida, I was towing a borrowed boat trailer. When I arrived in Orlando for a family reunion, I realized that its aging frame now also had half-bald tires that would not survive a trip back north.

Needless to say, it wasn’t very impressive to the in-laws.

So two days later, I drove with clenched knuckles to Fort Lauderdale, home of Peter and Connie Commette, thinking: I only have one spare tire, so hopefully they don’t both go at the same time. And then another, more positive thought: maybe there’s a used Snipe trailer here in Florida for sale.

Sure enough, I got to Peter and Connie’s house with both bald tires still intact. And when I asked Peter, “Do you know of any used Snipe trailers for sale?” He pointed across his yard and asked a question of his own.

“How about that one?”

Turns out, Peter was ready to part with his double trailer. And that meant I had a way to get the original trailer back home to RI.

A few days later, after several hours at a local trailer place loading old trailer onto new with a forklift, I stood back and laughed at what my teammate Kim Couranz would eventually dub “The FrankenTrailer.” One boat. Two trailers. Two masts.

And for the drive from the Midwinters to DonQ, when this photo was taken, we even had two dollies. 

You can imagine the looks we got when we drove into the baseball stadium where Kim’s favorite team, the Nationals, were playing—conveniently scheduled for us halfway from Clearwater to Miami.  

What can I say? It’s always good to have a spare.