Trailer range guide
Five galvanized trailers.
One question that decides which.
Most trailer comparisons start with the deck size and stop there. The trailers that survive ten winters are decided by four things you cannot see in a product photo — and every series below is built around them.
A trailer is the cheapest part of most equipment packages and the one that fails first. It sits outside, it gets dunked in salt water if it is a boat trailer, it takes a tonne of gravel tipped into it, and it spends its life being loaded, towed and parked in the rain.
That is why the specification that matters is not the deck length. It is what happens to the steel after ten years. This guide covers the five series we build — boat, utility, cage, tipper and plant — and the build decisions behind each one, in the order a buyer actually encounters them.
A note on "galvanized"
Hot-dip galvanizing immerses the finished steel in molten zinc, so the coating forms inside the tube, outside it, and across every weld. Paint and powder coat do neither — they cover what they can reach and leave the inside of a box section bare. On a trailer stored outdoors, that difference is the whole service life. Our collection page says it plainly: it is the difference between a five-year trailer and a twenty-year one.
Four things that decide how long a trailer lasts
Before the series comparison, the shared foundation. All five trailers are built the same way in these four respects, and this is where most of the difference against cheaper alternatives sits.
Those four apply across the range. What changes between the series is the body, the axle arrangement, the braking and the loading method — which is what the rest of this guide covers.
Galvanized utility flatbed trailer
3,100 × 1,600 mm bed · 1,000 kg · single axle
The one most buyers start with, and the one that gets used hardest for the least glamorous work. An open aluminum deck, a rear gate that folds down into a ramp, and nothing else to go wrong.
The deck is anti-slip aluminum plate rather than steel: it keeps the trailer's own weight down, which matters on a 1,000 kg rating because tare weight eats directly into what you can legally carry. Overall length runs to 4,700 mm with a 2,100 mm width, and it sits on 175R14 tubeless tyres behind a 50 mm ball coupler with a safety chain and jockey wheel.
This is the right trailer if you are
- a landscaper or grounds contractor moving mowers, planters, tools and bagged material between jobs;
- a UTV or ATV owner — check your machine's width and weight against the 1,000 kg rating before ordering;
- a builder's merchant or hire shop wanting a simple, repairable open-bed unit for general cargo;
- a dealer looking for one flatbed model to stock in volume with a size that suits local registration limits.
Look at the cage trailer instead if
your loads are loose rather than stacked — cuttings, rubble, sand. An open deck needs everything strapped; mesh sides do the containing for you.
Galvanized cage trailer with loading ramp
3,100 × 1,600 mm body · 1,000 kg · welded mesh sides
The same footprint as the utility trailer, with the deck boxed in. Welded mesh sides and a folding rear ramp turn a flatbed into something that holds loose material while you drive — hedge trimmings, sand, offcuts, bagged soil, a wheelbarrow you could not otherwise secure.
The ramp folds down for loading and folds up to close the rear, so one panel does both jobs. The bed floor and step plates are anti-slip aluminum, and the frame is galvanized square tube, precision welded. Standard cage height is built to your loads; it is one of the four things we confirm before quoting rather than a fixed number on a spec sheet.
Two practical cautions. It is an open-top trailer, so anything that needs to stay dry needs a cover and a strap. And a mesh side is a containment device, not a load restraint — heavy items still get strapped to the deck.
This is the right trailer if you are
- in landscaping or garden maintenance, carrying green waste, paving and equipment in the same run;
- a small builder or site support operation moving formwork, fencing and scaffolding parts, then returning with site waste;
- handling waste and recycling runs where loading from above and seeing the load matters;
- on a farm or rural property hauling fence posts, feed, tools and light bales.
Step up to the tipper if
you are emptying the trailer by shovel at the end of every job. That is the job the hydraulic version exists to remove.
Hydraulic cage tipper trailer
Hydraulic tipping · removable cage · built to your size and payload
This is the series that changes a job rather than just moving it. A fixed box gets the load to site; then somebody empties it by hand. The tipper box lifts on a hydraulic ram and the material slides out in one pass — soil, gravel, mulch, rubble, green waste.
The build is heavier than the other two box trailers, and the numbers show it: a 50 × 100 × 3 mm main beam, a 100 × 50 × 3 mm drawbar at 1,300 mm, a 2.5 mm patterned plate floor, and a 60 mm hot-dip galvanized round-tube high-speed axle on 5-leaf galvanized springs. Braking is by 10-inch electric brake hubs — an upgrade from the mechanical overrun brakes on the lighter trailers, and the right choice once a tipping load is involved. Tyres are 185R14LT.
The body is fully welded — not stitched — which matters here more than anywhere else in the range, because a partly welded box flexes when the ram lifts and flexing is what cracks welds. The 40 × 40 mm tube mesh cage lifts off entirely when you want a low-sided trailer, and the front and rear doors drop down and can be removed for hand loading.
One detail worth noting for export buyers: the plug is selectable at order between EU 7-pin, US 7-pin and Australian flat 7-pin. It sounds trivial until a container of trailers arrives in a market where the tow vehicle harness does not match.
This is the right trailer if you are
- a landscaper moving soil, mulch, sand and pavers and unloading at the other end all day;
- a builder or renovation contractor clearing rubble and site debris rather than stacking it;
- a property or small farm operation handling firewood, fencing material and general loads;
- running tip transfers where speed of unloading decides how many runs you fit into a day;
- a dealer or rental fleet — tipping capability is a feature customers will pay a daily premium for.
You do not need it if
everything you carry is hand-unloaded anyway — pallets, tools, equipment. The cage trailer does that job for less money and less weight.
Galvanized roller boat trailer, single axle
Multi-roller hull support · 1,000 kg standard · built to your hull
A boat trailer is a different engineering problem from a cargo trailer, because the trailer goes into the water. That is the whole argument for galvanizing on this series — a painted trailer used from a slipway has its coating worn off at exactly the points that then sit in salt water.
Hull support is by blue rollers along both sides and keel rollers along the centre, so the hull rolls on and off rather than being dragged over bunks. Roller quantity and layout are customised to your hull shape, as are boat length, beam and load rating. A bow winch stand with a bow roller pulls the boat into position; winch type and rating are specified at order.
The running gear is deliberately shared with the rest of the range — 175R14 tubeless tyres, high-speed bearings packed with Mobil grease, anti-loosening lock nuts — with mudguards that carry anti-slip aluminum step plates so you have somewhere safe to stand while winching.
This is the right trailer if you are
- a boat dealer or marina needing a launch-and-recover trailer that will live outdoors and in salt water;
- a boatyard or rental operator wanting one hull-support design that adjusts across several hulls;
- a private owner keeping a trailer on a slipway or coastal hardstanding;
- sourcing for a market where the trailer must be road-registered — our boat and cage trailers are available with CE certification for EU destinations.
Send us this before ordering
Boat make, model and length, or the hull's beam and weight if you know them. Roller layout is set from that, and it is the one specification that cannot sensibly be guessed.
Galvanized tandem axle excavator trailer
2,700 × 1,500 mm deck · 2,500 kg · twin ramps · tandem axle
The heavy end of the range, and the one we build with the most specification behind it, because it is the trailer that has to carry a machine worth many times its own price.
It is a centre-axle tandem trailer on two 60 mm hot-dip galvanized high-speed concentric axles, coupled through a galvanized high-strength multi-leaf spring set so the two axles work together rather than independently. Braking is an export-pattern mechanical overrun system with a 50 mm ball coupler and parking brake; electric brakes are available as an option. The coupler is the international standard ball-and-socket type — or a ring type if your market uses it — with an anti-detach safety chain.
The chassis is 3–5 mm welded steel tube with prefabricated plate assemblies, and the deck is galvanized anti-slip checker plate. Rather than one wide ramp, it uses two split ramps on a hinged design that open and detach separately — which is what you want when a tracked machine's track centres do not match a single ramp's width. Overall dimensions run to roughly 4,050 × 2,100 × 2,200 mm with a 2,700 × 1,500 mm deck, a deck height of about 0.5 m unloaded, and a tare of around 750 kg against a 2,500 kg payload (±5%).
It carries more than excavators. If a machine tracks or rolls onto the deck and sits inside the rating, it fits: mini excavators, spider cranes, scissor lifts, compact boom lifts, small forklifts, skid steers and rollers. For buyers already sourcing lifting equipment from us, this is the trailer that pairs with a 1–16 ton spider crane — and the two can ship consolidated in one container.
This is the right trailer if you are
- a plant hire or rental company moving mini excavators between sites weekly;
- a contractor with a mixed fleet — one trailer for the excavator, the scissor lift and the spider crane;
- a dealer or importer ordering several machines at once who needs matching transport;
- a groundworks, utility or landscaping business whose machine is the business.
Before you order, send us
Your machine's model, operating weight, overall width, track width and wheelbase. Deck size and load rating are built to that; we will check ramp width and deck length against the machine rather than leaving you to compare two spec sheets.
The five series, side by side
Standard configurations. Every figure below can be changed — size, payload, axle count, fittings — but this is the starting point for a first comparison.
| Series | Payload | Axles | Body | Loading | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utility flatbed | 1,000 kg | Single | 3,100 × 1,600 mm | Folding rear gate | General cargo, UTV, tools |
| Cage | 1,000 kg | Custom | 3,100 × 1,600 mm | Folding ramp | Loose and bulky loads |
| Cage tipper | Custom | Custom | Any size | Hydraulic tip | Soil, gravel, green waste |
| Boat roller | 1,000 kg std. | Single | Built to hull | Roller + winch | Launch and recover |
| Plant tandem | 2,500 kg | Tandem | 2,700 × 1,500 mm | Two split ramps | Excavators, cranes, lifts |
Buying from China: what actually goes wrong
Most of the complaints about Chinese trailers are not about the steel. They are about specification mismatches that were never checked before the container loaded, and that only surface once the trailer is in the buyer's yard.
Four of them account for most of it. The brake type — electric, mechanical overrun or none — has to match what your market accepts and what your tow vehicle can operate. The coupler has to match your local hitch standard, not the one the factory defaults to. The lighting plug has to match, which is why we offer EU 7-pin, US 7-pin, Australian flat 7-pin and can supply 12V LED waterproof tail lights to ADR specification. And the registration and compliance rules differ by country and by state, so a trailer that is road-legal in one market may not be in the next one along.
None of those are difficult to solve. They are difficult to solve after shipment. That is why our process starts with four questions — use, size, load and configuration — and ends with a written specification you approve before the quote, not a catalogue number.
Send us the destination country or state, your vehicle or cargo width, length and weight, and the quantity. We confirm the fittings and the destination-specific requirements in the quote.
Which one would we put you in?
A short version, by buyer type. If you recognise yourself here, this is the series to start from.
Questions we get asked
Is hot-dip galvanizing actually better than a painted finish?
For anything stored outdoors, yes — and mostly for a reason that is invisible. Dipping coats the inside of every box section and every weld, which no paint process reaches. Paint protects the surfaces it can touch; once it chips at a weld or a stone strike, corrosion starts underneath it and you cannot see it happening.
Can you build a trailer to my own dimensions?
Yes, across all five series. Body size, payload, axle count, cage height, ramp length and width, jockey wheel, coupler, lighting and plug type are all specified at order. We confirm the specification in writing before quoting, so there is no ambiguity at the point of manufacture.
What is the difference between the cage trailer and the cage tipper?
The cage trailer carries loose material with a folding ramp for loading. The cage tipper carries the same kind of material but empties it hydraulically, with a removable cage and drop-down front and rear doors. The tipper has the heavier chassis — a 50 × 100 × 3 mm main beam, 10-inch electric brakes and 185R14LT tyres — because tipping puts load through the frame that a fixed box never sees.
Which trailer suits a mini excavator?
The tandem axle plant trailer, with a 2,700 × 1,500 mm deck and a 2,500 kg payload in standard form. Send us the machine's model, operating weight and track width and we will confirm the deck size, ramp width and load rating against it rather than leaving you to compare numbers on your own.
Can I get a trailer road-legal for my country?
Braking, lighting and registration requirements vary by country and by state, so tell us the destination and we will confirm what applies. Our boat and cage trailers are available with CE certification for EU destinations, and tail lights can be supplied to ADR specification with a matching wiring harness.
Can trailers ship in the same container as machinery?
Often, yes — and it is usually the cheapest way to buy both. Consolidated loading from Qingdao Port is part of how we work; several trailers, or a trailer alongside a spider crane or a scissor lift, share one container and one freight cost.
What is the lead time?
25 to 45 days for the build, depending on series and specification, then sea freight from Qingdao. Custom sizes and non-standard fittings sit at the longer end of that range.
The part that saves money
Almost every trailer problem we are asked to solve after the fact was a specification question that could have been answered before the order — the wrong plug, a deck 100 mm too narrow, a payload rating that was never checked against the machine's operating weight.
So the useful next step is not a price. It is a written specification: the series, the deck size, the axle arrangement, the payload, the brakes and the fittings, matched to what you will actually carry and where it will be registered. We will put that together from four answers, and you can compare it against any other quote line by line.
Tell us what you need to tow
Cargo or machine, destination country, quantity. We reply with the series that fits, the specification and the delivery terms.
