Malone MicroSport Sports Trailer for Kayaks, Canoes and Bikes

1. Amazon delivered in less than a week, no damage at all. 2. Directions are clear. READ them start to finish in advance, then read them a second time. It will eliminate silly mistakes as you execute the build. 3. I built the trailer in a garage in one day, roughly 8 hrs. If you can change the oil/filter on your car, you can do this. 4. I looked at the Rack-n-roll trailer as well. The Malone is significantly heavier. That may be a drawback when moving it around your yard or parking lot, but it tracks like an arrow on the highway, and I've loaded it up with items a lot heavier and less aerodynamic than 2 17' sea kayaks. It is tough and stable. Before you lament the cost, I have noticed dozens of places this trailer COULD have been made cheaper. The hardware is excellent quality, the frame is solid as a rock. No twisting, no rusting no stripped bolts. 5. Company support was stellar. I laid out the parts prior to start, and could not find 2 large structural members. OK, this is not my proudest moment; the Malone contact informed me that the missing parts were tucked inside other larger parts. 6. I added large 6" wheels from Home Depot on the rear cross member so that I can tip the trailer up on end and roll it into a storage location. I also added, and recommend adding; a spare tire, the Malone box (perfect fit), and I added a plyboard shelf in front of the box. 7. I recommend two modifications that I will be doing this winter; change the tail lights to LED, and enclose the wiring harness in either light hose or flexible plastic tubing. 8. I've been using this trailer primarily to haul sea kayaks on weekly trips to the coast for 2 summers. I hose down the trailer after each trip. No signs of rust yet. I have the aluminum wheels and love them. 9. One build/maintenance suggestion: There are a few nuts/bolts that are tough to access with either a standard socket or an adjustable wrench. I am looking for a thin walled extended socket (same idea as a spark plug socket) to easily reach those items. You should also recheck those fasteners at the beginning of each season. I had to retighten several of them this spring, and was very surprised that was needed. Satisfying build experience, extremely useful, good quality, excellent customer support.

After looking for several options to carry my kayaks, I ended up purchasing this nice little trailer. There are many great things about this trailer, but here are a few highlights: - Built solid. This is not a flimsy thing at all. - Rides very well. No bouncing around even when it's empty, and trails straight as an arrow. - Handles highway speeds well - Impeccable assembly instructions. It's the best written assembly manual, period! - Packaging is great as well and there are no surprises (see the images I shared). It took me about 2 evenings to put it all together; about 2-2.5 hours each. We turned it into a fun project for the whole family, so you can probably put it together in 3 hours easily. There's not much heavy lifting, so one person can do it on his own, but an extra set of hands is never a bad idea. When you're putting it together, follow the instructions. They are very well written and all the hardware for each section is packaged separately. Don't jump ahead, because you will end up having to backtrack. Just follow the sequence in the manual. If you have purchased the kick stand or the storage trunk, make sure you insert these into your assembly process to save time. The kick stand needs to be installed while you're putting together the coupler. The plates for the storage trunk need to be installed when you're assembling the axle springs. For the assembly, you really need a deep socket wrench. I had a standard one and it was a tad difficult at times. The hardest part of the assembly was positioning the bars and the kayak carriers. When positioning the kayak carriers, I mounted one flush against the hardware that connects the load bar to the U-shaped load bar support, on the outside. Mounted the second one inside with a 12" gap between the two. Did the same on the other side and it worked fine. A few irritations about this trailer: - The white ground wire is a tad too short. If the connection on your vehicle is right on your hitch receiver, or if you have it dangling out, it might not be a problem. However, my car had a factory-installed socket and it was too far to the left. I had to use a 12" 4-pin trailer extension to make it work. - The coupler is a bit difficult to attach. I think this is not really a problem if I adjust the nut a bit, but so far I've been lazy. - The rear load bar is not as stable as the front one for some reason. It's fine for carrying kayaks, bikes etc, but I wouldn't put too much weight on it when/if carrying cargo. - 17' kayaks seem to be the longest you can carry with this. Probably 18' wouldn't be an issue either. However, if you own/plan to own anything longer, you'll need to get some sort of tongue extension kit for it. Overall, I'm very happy with this purchase and have been quite impressed with the build quality of this trailer. I highly recommend it. It's also flexible enough thanks to the load bars. You can essentially remove the kayak carriers and put ski, canoe or bike carriers or even cargo boxes. It's a cheaper alternative to Yakima's rack-n-roll trailer. UPDATE: I've been using this trailer for a month now. Took several drives. Handles excellent on highway speeds and is very easy to handle. I had to redo the electrical connection for the ground because I had not crimped the o-ring tight enough when I assembled it and it came loose. Not a hard repair, but it's still a hassle. I had put pictures of the product, but they seem to have disappeared for whatever reason. It has made kayaking with 4-kayaks a lot simpler. It gets a lot of attention too.

We bought this malone trailer because we love the malone line of products. However, this should say that it is a KIT! It is not assembled. The instructions were poor (in many areas they did not tell you which size nuts or bolts to use. The black and white picture were hard to see and I had to go to the website often to see the brochure in color to view it better. Instructions were also weak in the area of telling you if the nut should be on the inside or outside. Some of the pictures showed a close up of the area but did not show a overview shot so you would know where it goes. If you purchase the storage trunk make sure you assemble with it or else you will have to take apart the entire wheel frame to fit it in. Even then the holes did not line up due to the frame of the trailer. It took over 15 hours for 2 people to assemble. There are no Malone Videos for assembly which would have helped. If you are handy with tools and have more then a wrench and a screwdriver This is a Great trailer. Too expensive for a kit! Storage trunk is very small just fits 2 life vests and 2 dog life vests not even long enough for folding camping chairs. Have not put our two Kayaks on it yet. With the amount of assembly, I thought they should have paid us to buy it.