trailer time

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It's a fact of snowmobiling that few enthusiasts have the luxury to live right on the trail. A solid trailer with the right accessories is becoming as much a necessity to our sport as sleds themselves. Equally important is having the right tools to set-up your tow vehicle for sled hauling and snow adventures.

Here are nine products for your tow vehicle from several manufacturers of enclosed and open trailers, as well as accessories, that we know will make hauling easier.

Enclosed trailers
1.) Charmac - Elite Snow Shuttle: This fully enclosed v-nose above wheel trailer has plenty of snowmobile friendly amenities. Inside, it stands 6½-feet tall and 8½-feet wide, which will fit sleds side by side and is plenty tall for almost any rider to walk around inside without ducking. There's a choice of options with this rig including a forced air furnace, helmet cabinet and hooks and a fuel system. Standard features include a fuel door, driver side door and stainless steel front with 65x67-inch front door opening. The Elite Snow Shuttle comes in 15-, 20-, 25- and 27-foot lengths. More info: www.charmactrailers.com

2.) Rance Aluminum Fabrication - Renegade 7 wide ES: A pioneer in fully enclosed v-nose design, Rance offers this line of sled trailers in 12-, 14-, 18- and 22-foot lengths. These trailers all stand just under 6 feet tall inside, and 7 feet wide. You can order these trailers with plenty of snazzy options including aluminum wheels for 14-inch tires, a diamond plate/checkerboard linoleum/or rubber floor, choice of side access door sizes and even an awning. Those are just a few of the options. These Rance trailers are traditional heavy haulers, not over-the-wheel trailers. More info: www.rancealuminum.com

3.) Pace American - Silver Arrow Snow: These v-nose models are all strongly supported with thick aluminum and sit above the wheels, they also come with a ¾-inch Wolmanized floor. This trailer comes in 18-, 22-, 26-, 28- and 30-foot lengths, which will house 3, 4, 4, 4 and 5 sleds respectively. The inside is cavernous and measures 8-feet, 2-inches wide and 6-feet, 1-inch tall. Pace's 5-year floor and frame warranty and 3-year limited overall warranty is standard as well. More info: www.paceamerican.com

4.) Triton - Prestige LowBoy 24: This sled hauler comes standard with QuickSlide channels for tiedowns with the Sur-lock system, a 12-volt circuit breaker box for power, spring-assisted ramp doors, aluminum anodized trim, stainless steel door latch, ramp flap on loading ramp door, aluminum interior wheel wells with plastic skid covers, skid rollers on the rear frame for protection, aluminum fender skirts and a 2-inch beavertail deck in the rear for added ramp length and low ramp angle. The pictured rig has a 12-volt power tongue jack, aluminum rims, gas doors, sliding window with screen, salem vents and is available in 6-feet, 6-inch, and 7-foot heights. Finished interiors, extra interior light packages, a 110-volt plug-in package and a Combo Wall system are available. More info: www.tritontrailers.com

Two- and three-place trailers
5.) FLOE - 14-foot Versamax: We like the 14-foot version of this ramp loadable trailer for several reasons. First it will tightly hold three standard 121-inch tracked sleds. It's just the right size to be able to easily maneuver in and out of small areas without a problem, and if you've got a pickup that you can put a sled in the back of, you can haul four sleds with truck and trailer. The more buddies you can bring along to chip in for gas, the better! FLOE's patented rear bumper protects the deck and the Versa-Lock tie downs can easily be locked with a padlock. Gull Wing Protektor trailer covers also are an option. More info: www.floeintl.com

6.) Triton - LT 12R-101: This 2-place tilt trailer has a limited lifetime deck warranty, aluminum alloy frame, molded wire harness (no splices), rubber grommeted and sealed lights, four-cord rubber torsion axles, EZ Lube grease system, replaceable rear deck protectors and QuickSlide channel with Sur-lock system for tiedowns. Also available on this one is a 2KF coverall with a large 4x4 front door with lock, aluminum diamond plate stone guard, plastic ski guides, Paddlegrabbers for traction and deck protection, swivel wheel tongue jack, spare tire carriers, watercraft bunk kits, motorcycle wheel chock kits, loading light kit and more. More info: www.tritontrailers.com

Accessories
7.) Shocker Air Ride Trailer Hitch - New this year from Shocker Hitch is an Air Shocker miniature air suspension unit mounted to a 2-inch receiver tube. You can adjust air pressure for a better ride and load control. The hitch comes with options such as a Pintle hook, combination adapter with a 2-inch and a 2 5/16th-inch ball. The hitch also can be raised or lowered depending on your trailer ride height. The Air Shocker cuts down much of the vibration and sharp jolts you feel when you travel over bumps with a normal steel-to-steel receiver set-up. The unique cushioning hitch stalls receiver movement on a pillow of air. We've got one and use it when hauling our larger trailers. More info: www.shockerhitch.com

8.) Ramp Master Snowmobile Ramps - Perfect for loading your machine into your pickup bed, these high-quality aluminum alloy ramps are welded with galvanized solder and they will handle the weight of even the big two-up sleds. We've used our set to get machines into the back of our Chevy pickup, the raised ski rails direct a sled much better than other ramps we've tried. Total weight of all three ramp pieces is less than 30 lbs. This one will save you from throwing your back out trying to lift a sled into your pick-up bed or searching out a bank to back your truck up to! More info: www.ramp-master.com

9.) Amerideck SuperDeck XLTM - A true sled-hauling time-saver, the SuperDeck from Amerideck Powerdecks is a hydraulic lift that can load sleds on the back of a pickup. It isn't a brand new idea, but the new SuperDeck is impressive. The system can move all the way up and off the top of a pickup to lie flat on the ground for loading and then return to the top of the pickup bed with sleds locked on. Two full-size long-track mountain sleds will fit on this rig. The hydraulic loading is designed for installation on any full size pickup. Installation takes 2 hours or less, requires only common hand tools and no modifications to the truck. The 102-inch wide SuperDeck XLTM handles up to 2,000 lbs. from the ground at the touch of a button. More info: www.powerdecks.com