What do people think of Malone Trailers

Im looking at trailers, most of my kayaking time spent in the ocean, and I only need room for one Kayak,  Does anyone have an opinion on Malone trailers?

They look nice, but you can get a Harbor Freight boat trailer, or flatbed trailer way cheaper and they are light, like the Malone, if you have a smaller tow vehicle. http://www.harborfreight.com/600-lb-capacity-boat-trailer-with-8-inch-wheels-and-tires-5002.html

You can mount bars on anything if you have a couple tools.  Most of us that use trailers use a version of the Snow Bear Utility trailer.  I like being able to haul crab pots and other gear in the utility trailer rather than stinking up the car.  The Snow Bears are also much cheaper.

For a single kayak,  you might find a JetSki / PWC trailer being sold cheap that just needs a bit of love. 
This one was on Craigslist recently

 

I myself like the idea of the trailer being multi purpose like Craig mentioned with the Snow Bears.   I purchased and converted a boat trailer so haul kayaks or motorcycles.

I've had a Malone trailer for two years rigged to mount two native mariners. Assembly was straightforward and the trailer has proven durable over the miles. I'd like to make the strap down process a bit more seamless, but that's on me.

I just bought a Malone Microsport XT and this weekend finished putting PVC pipe on for my new PA 14.  I haven’t used it yet to haul the PA 14…this weekend I will be out somewhere with it.  When I researched trailers for the PA 14 I decided on the Malone for a few reasons:

  12 inch ties rated at highway speeds.  I go to Montana every year and would like to have a trailer/ties rated to go 85+ mph.  Not a big deal in WA state because trailers legal speed limit is 60 mph…but I will be going over that in areas posted at 70 mph.

  Can go in to water.  I set mine up so that I can load the PA 14 directly in water…or not if the ramp too busy or there isn’t one.

  Size.  I have a small garage and I wanted to make sure the trailer fit with the PA 14 on it which is how I plan on storing the kayak.

  Load rating.  Malone has decent load rating for the trailer given its size, though a boat or PWC trailer would have better load rating.

The store I got my Kayak also started carrying Malone trailers after I talk about why I want one etc.  They put it together, assisted with registration, extra options etc.

I looked at a lot of other trailer options and that is what I settled on for how I expected to use it.  This is my first trailer so time/experience will suggest what I may do differently in the future.  If it matters I am towing the trailer with a Subaru Outback.

Hope this is helpful.

Kevin

Thanks, for all the great information. I really appreciate the help.

I bought a harbor freight heavy duty trailer, mounted a truck rack to it and haul 4 kayaks and gear on it. All for around $500. No issues. Works great. Just need more room in the garage to roll it in.

I think the main advantage with the Malone over the HF is that with the Malone you can dunk the wheels.  If you dont plan on launching directly into the water, then the HF is probably the more economical option. 

Also, with the malone, at least at retail prices, it comes pretty darn close to an equivalent sized EZ loader.  Pretty sure you have to assemble the Malone yourself where the EZ loader comes pre-assembled, plus if you ever decide to sell, the EZ loader would be way easier to off load since the market would be larger.