Age old debate: Open vs Enclosed Trailer, and other questions...

I used an open trailer for years but bought an 24' enclosed about 4 years ago. 

The enclosed gets worse mileage and needs a bigger parking space.  I suppose it's harder to maneuver but years ago I embraced the challenge of learning how to tow safely and skillfully and I still enjoy that.

On the flip side to prep for a race weekend I roll the toolbox and race car in and strap them down.  That's it.  All my other track stuff including spares and gear live in the trailer.  If I have a good race weekend with the Miata and that's the car I'm racing next I sometimes don't even unload between races.

At the track I have shade, privacy for changing, a place to hang a track map for bench racing and a convenient, organized area with a bench for repairs.

I've spent a bunch of money on race related stuff that I regret but the money that went to the trailer isn't on that list.

I've had a bunch of tag-a-long trailers over the years. Settled on 24' enclosed for several reasons and prefer torsion bar suspension over leaf spring. I found the inexpensive way to own trailers was to buy basic inexpensive no frills ones at the beginning of a model year and pick them up at one of the manufacturers in GA when passing through. (I used to routinely travel CT to FL & back.) Then use the trailer for a year, wash it, and sell for my original purchase price just before the new model year begins in either CT or FL where there's no trailer manufacturer then repeat. The delivery expense of buying a new trailer in say New England can be a substantial part of the purchase price of a new one. Kept a couple trailers at a time for years doing it and always had new trailers. The drawback is if you want to start adding features, you won't get your money back on them. Bought a few from these guys. https://www.prolinetrailersales.com/about

I tow with a F-350 7.3 crew cab Dually that gets 15 MPG (combined) without trailer and 12-13 (combined) with. Have towed with various vehicle/trailer combinations and a crew cab dually is by far more stable than wagons, burbans, regular pick up's, etc.. Rolling on a highway you don't even notice the trailer's there. I'm set up for goose neck but haven't had one, maybe next time I buy a trailer but they're harder to sell used since less people are potential buyers. ALWAYS keep TWO spare tires.

I have a small open trailer that my car ( Lotus 7 Clone) just fits on. I would like an enclosed trailer preferably all aluminum for weather and security reasons but find it hard to justify the cost for the amount it would be used. That is one of the reasons I have considered the vinyl covered trailers. We also have  motorhome we tow the trailer with or at other times just a car used when traveling. Some of my observations whether it be motorhome or truck and car trailer:

When driving you have to be a lot more defensive and aware of vehicles entering the interstate, changing lanes, leaving extra space for stopping or just plain planning ahead not getting into situations where you can’t turn around or backup. The bigger the package the more the problem. You will have reduced braking power, less acceleration reduced maneuverability.

The bigger the trailer doesn’t mean you can just fill it up with stuff you have to pay attention to gross vehicle weight which includes trailer weight and all contents. The car weight is the easy part it is all the extra stuff you load like tools, jacks, spare wheels, canopies, coolers that all add up quickly. As someone mentioned always go with the 5000 lb capacity axles and brakes on all four wheels.

Make sure you vehicle has the towing capacity for the actual gross vehicle weight of what you are towing. Don’t just estimate or guess go to a truck scale so you really know. I’m sure vehicle manufacturers fudge a bit to the safe side for towing capacity but in case of an accident your insurance company might not be so easy to deal with. I’m sure I’m preaching to  the choir but an overloaded motorhome, trailer or towing vehicle past its towing capacity makes for white knuckle handling and is dangerous to everyone.

Unless you live in a cool environment I would think seriously about storing a car and tools/gear in a trailer. I happen to live in the south and temps inside a enclosed trailer can easily approach 140 degrees and 110 in the motorhome. The heat plus humidity will quickly cause rust, mildew, etc unless ventilated. The heat alone is probably not good even if it was dry.

If trailer is going to have an A/C unit it will probably be an RV 12000 to 15000 BTU unit so you will most likely require a 30 amp outlet to plug into where ever you go or need a generator big enough to run A/C plus any other electrical requirements.

Unless you have a lot of space it’s easier to store everything at a storage facility. If it’s a hassle to get out so you can use it you will make excuses not to. 

Re: storing an enclosed and leaving crap in it - I park mine at a large, secured lot. Fencing and barbed wire surround the entire property, and they have both personal and commercial customers. You see a lot of car trailers, boats, food trucks, dump trucks, random old cars (an E30 M3 with tags that expired in 2000, for example) and so on. Everything that can be locked on the trailer is locked, access to the lot is available only via key card, and there's more interesting/desirable stuff in there than my plain white box on wheels.

So, worth a discussion and worthy of concern in many cases. I'm taking my chances and it's been okay so far (used to keep my open trailer at the same lot). I do want to add trailer GPS to it for peace of mind, both parked and on the road.

In reply to Brake_L8 :

So you've left notes on the E30 M3 offering to buy it right?

From anecdotal evidence, most of the race car trailer thefts I hear about are when it's parked outside a race shop overnight, so yeah, leaving it in a fenced/locked facility is probably reasonably secure.

As far as size goes, IMHO 24 foot is about the right size for a race car.  Let's assume your basic track car is 13-15 feet long (Miata on the short end, BMW on the long end), add a couple feet behind it so that you have room for the tiedown straps, 2-3 feet of cabinets at the front of the trailer, and another few feet of space so that you can open the cabinets while the car is loaded.   That's 20-24 feet, you can go less but you're giving a lot of the benefits of being enclosed, IMHO.

I'm also a fan of three-axle trailers for the stability and redundancy in the face of tire blowouts.

In reply to APEowner : I started a trailer building company and still have the molds. 

I built them modular in 4 foot segments.  A 12 footer was my shortest and 28 footer the longest.  

 There are still a few around.  However they take up a lot of space  and are all too tall to fit in an ordinary garage 

I’d like to make one last one but if I do it I will cut the height in a third  from 6 foot to 2 foot  and make it only 12 foot long with a single axle.  The goal is a less than 500 pound weight of carbon fiber and aluminum. 

I’ve had more than enough of living with big bulky trailers. The ease of moving a single axle  around is their appeal and a properly balanced and aligned single axle will tow at really high Speed, smooth and straight. 

docwyte said:

In reply to Brake_L8 :

So you've left notes on the E30 M3 offering to buy it right?

Ugh, I have and so has everyone else. There's some other cool stuff in there from maybe the 1940s onward. All of it is sunburnt, flat tires, etc and what amazes me is someone is paying monthly to keep a car like that parked at the lot. We could collectively save about 20 cool cars.

codrus said:

As far as size goes, IMHO 24 foot is about the right size for a race car.  Let's assume your basic track car is 13-15 feet long (Miata on the short end, BMW on the long end), add a couple feet behind it so that you have room for the tiedown straps, 2-3 feet of cabinets at the front of the trailer, and another few feet of space so that you can open the cabinets while the car is loaded.   That's 20-24 feet, you can go less but you're giving a lot of the benefits of being enclosed, IMHO.

Mine is about the perfect length for my racecar (E36 M3 sedan, which is about 14.5' long). I load it as far back as possible, which actually works for weight distribution. There's a tire rack on the one side wall, and cabinets in the V-nose. My rolling tool chest is strapped to the wall underneath the tires. I can keep all of my spares and random crap (camp chairs, portable light bar, extra tie-down straps, etc) in the cabinets. A third set of wheels (one on the car, one on the wall) can lay flat in front of the car, and I lay my bicycle on top of them for the sake of paddock transport.

I have a 8.5’ x 24’ 10K with AC I will be selling soon.  $3800

I have both. 

I have an 18’ open car hauler, and a 24’ enclosed. 

I have also had 12’, 16’, and 20’ in both open and closed varieties. 

Open trailers are far easier to tow, and much less wear and tear in the tow vehicle. Enclosed ones offer the advantage of not having to pack and unpack, plus a level of security (out of sight, weather, etc). 

Of course, the advantage is also the disadvantage. When you don’t have to unpack, you also don’t have to purge. Enclosed trailers tend to keep accumulating stuff to the point where you can’t find things anymore, which adds weight, and makes them even harder to tow. 

SVreX said:

I have a 8.5’ x 24’ 10K with AC I will be selling soon.  $3800

That is a good deal IMHO. Where are you and what's your timeline? I have a friend looking possibly I am probably going with the 20ft

SVreX said:

I have a 8.5’ x 24’ 10K with AC I will be selling soon.  $3800

I may be interested depending on timeline as well. 

In reply to Jaynen :

I am in Columbia SC. I probably need to keep it for a couple more months. 

Ah cool I was looking at a tow rig over that way think its about 4hrs from Raleigh NC IIRC. Anyway it sounds like you will have plenty of GRM attention when you decide you do :)