Building a trailer - kind of illegal

[paulc2]

Whilst its perfectly possible to build your own trailer legally etc, once you've bought all the bits and put it together, the costs are very close (possibly more than) it would cost for a new one anyway. There's many trailer manufacturers and since these are relatively simple construction and bolted together, lots of options for bits you need etc.

Also if you use a trailer regularly, you'll realise that there's more to trailer design than a simple chassis, load bed and wheels etc. There's little touches like clips, fastening hooks, etc in the right places, well thought out storage for ramps etc which a new trailer will undoubtedly have.

 

[SimonH2]

That is probably true to a large extent. However if you've ever looked at (eg) a car transporter you'll know that they are far from low cost. It also assumes that what you want is in fact something available off the shelf - which generally means taking something that's fairly generic so the manufacturer can just add options to a base design - eg taking a common flat bed and adding ramps for a transporter, sides for carrying materials, and so on. The designs will generally end up being something of a compromise for all uses.

And then there are the custom designs you can't buy off the shelf. On another forum, I know someone who built his own turntable trailer (3 axles total) combining living space with space to haul a diesel engine into for going to shows. A very nice design it was too.
Also, down at the gliding club, most people have trailers for their glider - which AFAIK aren't generally an off the shelf item unless bought with a new glider.