Covered trailers are what you need when you want to protect what you are hauling from the elements, or even just from blowing away. Whether you are hauling vehicles, horses or other animals, hay, produce, or anything else you’d prefer not to be exposed, covered trailers are your best bet.
What to look for in Covered Trailers
The most important consideration before buying a trailer is what you are going to be hauling in it. This will help you in deciding how much space you need inside the trailer, and how much weight you need the trailer to be able to support.
When shopping for covered trailers, make sure you ask about the payload capacity of the trailer. It’s best to get a trailer able to support more weight than you think you will need. For smaller trailers, you are going to be looking at single axle and tandem axle covered trailers.
Depending on how well you’ll be securing what you are hauling, the strength of the trailer walls can also be very important. This varies widely as many manufacturers use fairly thin walls, while some will use walls almost double the thickness for their covered trailers.
Materials for Covered trailers
It’s also important to consider materials when choosing a covered trailer, just what is it made of? The most popular material in use in the industry is aluminum, and for good reason. They are lightweight, affordable, and do not sacrifice much strength as long as you buy a well made trailer.
Steel is another choice, and is suitable when you really need the extra strength. Be aware that steel trailers are very much heavier than aluminum or other lower weight materials. This is important if you will be towing the trailer with a lower power vehicle.
Aluminum covered trailers
- Pro: Lightweight, easy to haul with less powerful vehicles.
- Pro: Affordable
- Pro: Selection. Since aluminum is the most commonly used material, the number of choices you’ll have when looking at aluminum covered trailers is very large.
- Con: While not fragile by any means, aluminum covered trailers are not very puncture resistant. Especially those that use thinner walls.
Steel covered trailers
- Pro: Strong! no need to worry about poking a hole in the wall of steel covered trailers.
- Con: Usually significantly more expensive than aluminum as a covered trailer material.
- Con: Heavy. With the same vehicle, you will be able to haul a much larger trailer if it uses aluminum walls versus steel walls.
Final thoughts on covered trailers
Whatever your choice, there are companies online that you can buy covered trailers from directly, where you can be sure of what you are getting, and can even order a custom made trailer! However for the best deals you will likely be looking locally for used covered trailers, and you can use the tips here to keep a checklist of what to look for. Have fun hauling!