Trailering an E25
Tom,
I have extensive experience hauling large trailerable boats. I have an E25 (5400# dry wt.) and a Nor'sea 27 (8,400# dry wt.), both on custom trailers. When we bought our Ericson in Florida, I was actually happy not to have to deal with an old trailer. So, we had a trailer built in Florida to haul our boat and we keep "Sea Horse" covered under a carport on its trailer in Idaho. The nice thing about an E25 is that they do trailer well behind an adequate tow vehicle (crew cab 4X4 Ford Powerstroke in our case) and having a nice trailer adds a lot of benefit for distant sailing opportunities (We have the San Juans, Lake Powell, Flathead, and Baja Mexico, to name a few). If I had a berth, I would go to a bigger Ericson, but hey, E25's are tow-babies, so why not? I would suggest having a trailer built specifically for your boat and don't skimp on size or axle weights - go oversize everywhere! When my trailer was delivered to the boatyard, the bunks had adjustments to fit exactly to the curvatures of the bottom. I think any competent boat trailer company could do this for you satisfactorily and in very little time, say a few hours at most, having a lift or hoist available. A good, new trailer will cost $5-7,000 but you won't have headaches for a long time.
If you just want to get the boat home with minimum expense and decide what to do later, you could likely rent an adequate flatbed tandem trailer and build a wooden cradle for the boat, have it lifted into place, secure everything with big yellow ratchet straps, and haul it home. However, I personally would take this amount of trouble and apply it towards a new trailer. We only had to wait a couple of weeks to have ours built and delivered to the boatyard for sizing and fitting. No big deal.
I could send you pictures of my trailer or the name of the manufacturer in Florida whom I was very happy with. Seahorse's trailer home is aluminum, has electric over hydraulic brakes, tandem 16" 10 ply tires, mounted spare, launch and FW rinse capabilities. I get as many compliments about the trailer as I do the boat! It is my opinion that the extra money for an excellent trailer is smart investment in your safety and your boat's. We haul up over high altitude mountain passes and steep grades, over winter roads, and through deserts, so we feel strongly that good trailers are as important as good boats! You have an Ericson; you're halfway there.
Steve
Boise, ID
