Guys,

I am trying to buy an enclosed car hauler for my C4 and for my Harley's.

I have a good friend who owns a 25' Haulmark that he used to haul his drag car around in.

It has a nice floor in it and it is a V-nose trailer which I really like. The problem is that it has some flood damage.

The wall has rotted out near the front passengers side where there is a side door.

The back ramp also has some rot on it where the water has caused some real damage.

He fully disclosed all of this to me and is selling it as a flood damaged trailer. I feel like he is offering it at a very good price (well below $1,000) so part of me is scared to go ahead and purchase as it has potential to turn into more of a headache than I need.

Any advice on how hard/expensive water damage is to repair on these trailers? A job for professinals only or something I could do over the course of a couple of weekends?

Thanks!

Haulmark makes a good trailer. I bought one back in 89 to haul and store a restored 63 Roadster I had. A lot of the trailer was steel back then but had the wood floors and sidewalls with aluminum on the outside. It's impossible to tell how bad it is until you tear it apart and take a look.

One thing about it is you don't want to trust anything that is not 100% when it comes to hauling any kind of load. We pull big loads in our work and I am always fussing about the trailers and tires. The price is cheap but I'm betting you will have several thousand more in it before you are done, once you get started where do you stop. If there is a trailer sales place around there you might ask them what it would take to fix just to get an idea. Plus what kind of damage did the water do to the brakes and the bearings on the axels.....things to consider.

The V-nose is the only way to go. I pulled a friend of mines big V-nose 28 footer with a car in it and it pulled 10 times easier then my old flat nose trailer did.

Bill has done a lot of car hauling with his race cars he may have some input for you also......

My old Haulmark has been retired and it is now where I keep all the mowers and lawn care stuff.....I now want one that has the living quarters up front and the garage in back to take the Hawg and the GS to the mountains or the beach....haven't found what I want just yet.....

Really depends on how bad the damage is and where it extends to.

The liner/interoir walls are not a big deal to repair... but if the damage is from the roof leaking... reapiring the outer skin is a pretty big deal.

Also the frame and spar supports for the floor... if there is water rot on the wood, then there probally is rust damage on the frame. Thats an even bigger deal to fix.

IF you have any wood working and metal fabrication skills and tools you can fix it. Plenty of folks have... Infact a guy on Yellowbullet just had a trailer repair thread a few weeks ago.... damage was pretty bad.

Less than 1G on a 25 ft Halmark is a steal if you can fix it.
Will

Thanks for the tips. I'm supposed to be going saturday to pay for it and pick it up.

I think with some plywood from the hardware store, my table saw, some screws and a little bit of diamond plating, I can get this thing back in good shape.

Yea, what Will and Marcus said.

I've done 3 enclosed trailers that were just open frames inside, walls, insulation, cabinets, winches, electrical,etc.

What Will said about the spars and the roof leaks is the most important. If it was me, I'd take a sabersaw to the rot, get the wood out of there to look for metal damage. I'd also put a hose on the side & rear doors to look for leaks before committing to buy.

And verify the electrical, especially the brakes. The wiring for the lights isn't hard to replace but must be inspected for water damage - short circuit = fire.

And if you do buy it, it needs all new wheel bearings and new brakes, new brakeaway battery,etc.

And depending on what the floor damage looks like, I'd think about replacing the entire floor.

Finally, all new tires (not Goodyear marathons and not light truck tires) plus a spare and a trailer jack. Trailer tires are only good for 2 years.

Big Project. That being said, you can still do well if the frame isn't badly rusted.

A used Hallmark in decent condition runs $4 to $4,500.

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Marine plywood would be better but not totally necessary.

What I would do is brush on a couple coats of polyurethane or Helm Spar varnish(for boats), protects the wood really well and is like $7 a qt, at HomeD.

I did forget to mention the rot damage is exterior not interior. There are no roof leaks, it is being used as storage currently and there is a ton of stuff in there and it is dry and not musty.

It appears the damage is from it sitting in water. I should have been more specific I am concerned about the exterior damage. You can see from the outside where the wall is separating from the rot and it can't support the weight of the side door to open. It pulls the exterior wall out when you open the door.

The back gate is the same way at the bottom. All the water damage is along the bottom where the wall meets the floor on the exterior.

That's a tad scary. Maybe the floor and lower walls are swelling from the water and csusing the problem. Anything can be rebuilt but.....

You need to get inside and pull the plywood interior at these points to look at the inside of the outer wall. If the metal's good, it can be fixed but will take a good bit of work.

And sitting in water, the bearings and brakes are a must.

It's a wild guess but, I'd expect you need an additional $1,500 to just make the trailer safe.

Yeah....what Bill said....can you post some pics of the damage? That may help determine the extent of what you are dealing with. How old is this trailer and how long has it been sitting? Usually when they get turned into garages they have enough problems that the cost to fix is not going to be worth it.....

I could get my old one road worthy again but would put enough into it that I could find another good used one for about as much I'm thinking.....

Yea I know it is hard for you to give much help from what I have told you but I appreciate the knowledge.

I would be happy having only $2500 tied up in this trailer by the time its all over with. That gives me in the neighborhood of $2000 for repairs.

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Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures but there are several people wanting to buy it and I made the offer of getting everything out of it for him (because he is in a wheel chair now) if he would sell it to me.

Looks like I am going to take the gamble and hope I come out on top. Otherwise, I will just salvage what I can and sell it for parts. I"m sure I can get rid of most of it for what I will have invested if it comes to that.

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With that figure, yea, it would be a good deal, just a shitload of work but that's the way you get good deals.

Even at $3-$3.5 , it's still a good deal.

Good Luck

Thanks. I will post pictures when I get it.

I'm late to the party but I wouldn't worry too much.

When I bought mine I replaced the whole front corner and half of the side, it was crunched at the top. The aluminum panels are about $75 each and the interior panels are whatever home depot sells cheap, then I painted them white.

I've been using her for 5 years. The roof is leaking, I need to fix that soon.

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