Anyone ever add a hay rack to their trailer?

[ATMKathy]

For camping purposes, I'd like to add a roof top hay rack to my horse trailer. Has anyone ever done this? I went to a few trailer accessory sites but I couldn't find where anyone sells them, even the manufacturer of my trailer.
Any advice?
Kathy

[renegadespiritcat]

A friend bought hers off e-bay and her husband did the installation. another friend of mine made one out of cast off aluminum ladders from the company she worked for. I've also seen them manufactured from diamond mesh steel. I think the most difficult thing would be making sure the roof of your trailer is strong enough to support the load and securing the rack in such a way that your trailer roof would not leak, nor rust.

[LLStar117]

Know a welder? Get some square metal tubing and make a frame for one to fit your trailer. Then weld some sheet metal on the frame or mesh. Whichever kind of base you want. If you took the welder a picture of something you want, and your trailer, they might be able to come up with something really nice.

[ATMKathy]

It's for my '07 trailer, so I want it to look nice. I wondered if the roof would hold weight or if I should consider attaching to the side supports and adding cross bars to actually put the hay on. A visit to a welder would probably be a good idea. I already looked on Ebay and couldn't find anything close.

[LLStar117]

I would do something like a truck rack, that had the longer legs on the side and attach it to the trailer sides, as close to its own frame pieces. If you get a good welder to do it, it will look nice. If you don't know a welder. My old neighbors nephew we loves in the white house next to him does welding. He's really good, but will make it look nice. He's a used to be horse person and has done work on the familys horse trailers.

[paintsnpalos]

Kathy here are pics of my trailer........before and after the hay rack, ladder and water tank were added....

[ATMKathy]

Paints n Palos, where did you get that done? It looks great!!

[Boo]

Putting a hay rack on top of a trailer makes for a big wind drag.

All I have on top of mine is 4 ties like on the side of the trailer to tie horse's to in four corners and then when I put hay on top I put a blue tarp down and then when I'm done it's wrapped up like a Christmas present and strapped down with the smaller ratchet straps.
This way when I don't need it, it's not up there causing a drag cutting my fuel expense's.

Boo

[mattmercier]

There is a salvage yard for trailers near the Indiana border, somewhere near Coldwater. I know it's off US 12. I'll see if I can find the name and number. They have tons of LQ stuff and trailer parts. Might be a good option. I have tons of friends who have redone LQ and trailers using the pull off stuff and it all turned out really nice!

[ATMKathy]

Cool Matt, let me know what you find out.

[starlite9804]

Matt is the place you are thinking of called Bontragers? They would be over by White Pigeon on US 12, west of Coldwater by maybe 30 miles or so? I think they are open Sunday-Friday, closed Saturdays

[mattmercier]

starlite: yeah I'm pretty sure that is the place. RV parts galore. bontragers.com/site/index.php/page/html/1/Welcome-to-Bontragers-Surplus-Inc Worth a call

[ATMKathy]

Thanks guys, I am going to give them a call tomorrow and maybe run out there to see what they have. Will have to get measurements in the morning. :-)
Kathy

[paintsnpalos]

I don't get on this site very often, sorry for the delay in responding........

We didn't want a solid sided hay rack because we too thought it would be a big wind drag....but the open sided aluminum rack lets the air flow through and also between the trailer and the rack. We didn't put the wire mesh bottom on the rack either so that we wouldn't have the messy wet hay bits gathering on it that would have to be cleaned up all the time.

We mounted a half moon shaped water tank at the front of the rack so that the majority of the weight would be situated over the axles and the shape of the water tank also allows for the wind resistance to easily flow over the tank rather than causing a wind drag. The square bales of hay would have been more of a wind drag than the half moon shaped water tank, so the water tank actually serves to help take the air flow up and over the hay bales as well as beneath them. We use the ratchett straps to hold the hay bales & water proof hay bags strapped to the rack cross members.

The aluminum rack and ladder weigh 50 lbs +/- , we added extra welded supports (painted to match the trailer interior) to the roof bows on the inside of the trailer, all connections to the trailer we also put Butyl tape between the rack supports and the trailer for a good seal so that it would not leak. We also added aluminum straps to hold the water tank securely.

We love our hay rack and can not tell any difference in pulling with it than what we did before the rack was added. We haul 48 gallons of water and 4 bales of hay on it when we go camping. The hay rack supports are mounted to the roof of the trailer so that the weight of your cargo is distributed over several of the existing roof bows. We only used a clear water tank for fresh water.......but you can also use the black water tank for a cowboy shower feature. The water hose on the tanks is long enough to fill your water buckets on the ground, or to run the hose inside for your cowboy shower. Each hose has it's own shut off valve at the end where you would be filling your buckets or showering.

The cost of the aluminum hay rack & ladder, 1 water tank complete with hose, shut off valve and aluminum straps, extra roof bow supports and complete installation $1,000.00.....to add the additional water tank for the cowboy shower would be $200.00 added to the cost.

[paintsnpalos]

bumping this up for ATMKathy............