Every year the Flaman Trailer Division gather to enhance our product knowledge and customer processes.

We bring our partner suppliers from across North America to train with us on their products, new technology and industry trends. We focus our team on customer service and set our product line up for the spring. It is a once a year boot camp for the trailer division to get focused and this year did not disappoint!

As a result of this meeting we have a new additions to our line up. In the spring expect the following new and exciting products:

• Hook lift Dump Trailer from Southland Trailers - A powered lift to service multiple job-sites at once

• Blackwood Decking from Diamond C IC - Non slip rubber decking inserts. Great deck grip!

• Quest Car haulers from ATC IC - These Leading edge trailers will now be stocked at multiple locations

• Express Aluminum Enclosed Cargo trailers from High Country - Lighter but just as strong an industry shift is happening and we are leading the charge now stocking in Saskatchewan

• Detachable Gooseneck Equipment Haulers from Behnke, B-B Trailers - Big equipment no problem call us to determine your needs

• Travalum stock trailers - top quality trailers available at all locations

Prior to getting down to work, we like to get the team primed and focused with some teambuilding. So what do you do in the Canadian Rockies? We went Ice Climbing and Dog Sledding (No salesman or dogs were harmed). After a day in the great Canadian outdoors everyone was recharged to learn for the rest of week.

All in all another successful meeting helping Flaman Trailers reach higher, providing new product offering and more focus on our customers.

SW

Over the years I have watched non-snowmobiling recreation power sports creep into these shows (there was a wake boarding boat at the Saskatchewan Snowmobile Show and Sale this year). As the products on display have broadened so too has the versatility of trailers at this show.  Many of the trailers showcased were not just “sled” trailers they were trailers to haul products for all seasons and all sports.  Thus the name all sport. 

So what is an all sport trailer? Its name suggests it is a unit that can transport all power sport equipment.  Fair enough, but the reality is that most of the “all sport” dubbed trailers can only transport a few types of units the name would otherwise imply. So if you are shopping for a true all sport trailer, below are characteristics to look for and reasons why:

1. Extra Height: If you want to just haul sleds and quads height is not an issue. But as soon as you decide to transport a UTV you will need extra height to clear the rear ramp door opening.  I generally recommend an 84” interior height that will allow for 78” in rear ramp door clearance.  With lots of UTV’s having 76” as their overall height that provides the clearance you need.
2. Lowboy or Middeck as opposed to the traditional 8.5 ft wide highboy (deck over trailer):  This type of trailer allows for a lower ramp incline making it easier to load quads, sleds, or UTV’s.  The lower ramp angle makes it easier to back sleds in, which is required for many loading configurations with a lowboy or middeck trailers.  The lowboy trailer also allows you to haul a vehicle, and with that toy hauling capacity, now you have an all sport.
3. 5200 - 6000 lb axles: The machines keep getting bigger and thus heavier.  In the case of mountain sleds 11’ in length is not uncommon and these come with bigger engines every year.  While the manufactures strive to keep the weight down it does continue to creep up. The same trend goes for ATV’s and UTV’s. With the primary cargo getting bigger and heavier more axle capacity makes sense, certainly if you are transporting extra gear along with your snow machines or quads.  The larger axles also provide the payload capacity for a vehicle and can handle some of the rougher roads you may need to travel on to get to your adventure destinations.
4. Extra Length: As mentioned before all the units are getting bigger and longer. A thrity foot long trailer used to be a rare unit, now we try to keep in stock. While it is not the common size (26’ is still 90% of the units sold) it is no longer uncommon.  Twenty foot long (16’ straight wall plus 4’ v-nose)  3 place trailers with extra height are a very popular size; but because they are too short to transport a car they are not considered an all sport trailer.
5. 8.5 wide: While 7’ wide inline units are gaining popularity as a multi-use units (they fill in as a standard cargo trailer in the off season) and are easier to tow, turn, back up and park; they have less capacity and of course cannot haul a car (8.5’ wide is needed for a vehicle).

Several additional points to note:

• These units can be steel frame or aluminum frame. The difference is weight and cost. I use the 1/3 rule: aluminum reduces the curb weight by about 1/3 but adds to the cost by about 1/3 more.
• Escape doors: Many folk insist they need these.  I agree shimming out your window like a Bob and Luke duke is not a fun task in a confined space of an enclosed trailer. I have a few words of caution.  First if your car has very low clearance there is chance you will not be able to use the escape door because the car door will not clear the inside fender of the trailer.  Second, customers have gotten quite excited about the escape door only to discover after loading their car the escape door does not line up their door, so I would suggest taking some measurements first.
• Heaters, cabinets, stereos, benches, fan tails, oh my!  The list of options is vast.  Customers sometimes buy the options instead of the trailer.  Figure out what you need and then what you really want and go from there…

Shopping for an all sport can be an exciting experience.  Have fun, and talk to an expert.

“This is a damn fine trailer”  I thought to myself.  So  I took a closer look at the welds and the convenience features on the unit (some installed by us).  I started to really critic the unit looking at the decking for cracks and other imperfections; I looked under the frame at the paint coverage; I followed the wiring harness (note I wrote wiring harness not strand wiring) along the frame paying attention to how it was secured and protected.  Everything on this trailer was perfect. No matter how hard I looked I could not find any problems with the trailer.  Quite honestly, this is not an exception to the rule, it is the rule: Trailtech product has outstanding consistent quality. 

Call me bias (Trailtech is Canadian built, and a brand FGC has a longstanding history with) but I believe the quality that goes into to trailers built in Canada, for Canadian conditions is underappreciated. To address this I decided to give you reasons as a Canadian consumer why you should buy a Canadian built Trailtech.

1)      Quality of Build.  As in many products there are a good, better and best for light industrial trailers. At Flaman Group of Companies  we sell products that fit into all three categories in order to meet the various needs of various customers.  These categories are differentiated by features and quality which ultimately means different pricing.  Trailtech as a brand offers a good, better and best  models for each category. Where I believe they really shine (and customers have been voting this way with their dollars) is in the best category.  The Premier and Industrial series generally have no equal in the market place.  If you need a reliable trailer as a tool for your business, to me it makes sense to invest in a Trailtech that will always do what you need and last the test of time.

2)      Canadian weather and road conditions. They are awful, both our roads and our weather and many trailer brands are built for the warm flat highways of the southern states as opposed to the gravel and pitted frozen highways of the Canadian north.  For these conditions you need paint that can absorb some of the mechanical impact of road rocks at -40 and a RV plug that will not shatter when you fight to plug it into your tow vehicle.   Trailtech based in Gravelburg SK lives in and understands these conditions.  A Trailtech trailer is made to deal with this weather without fuss.

3)      Warranty: We sell thousands of Trailtech products every year.  They get horribly abused by some customers (another story) and yet we rarely hear of any issues. That said no company is perfect.  The product is built by people and people make mistakes (as we all do).  What defines a product and company is what they do when that happens. It has been my experience that between Trailtech and Flaman when a mistake happens that affects the customer,  the Trailtech and Flaman people always make it right.

Lastly Americans market buy American all the time to support American companies and American workers. Let me be shameless and proudly yell the same thing: Buy Canadian!  Yes I am a hypocrite as we sell many American brands across many of our divisions( including the Trailer Division).  Being a leader in retail we need to provide the leading products in their appropriate categories in order to provide the best customer experience to our customers. That said, there are Canadian products that we sell that are the best in their categories (Trailtech is one of them)…Buy Canadian and support Canadians.

 So if you are in the market for your first trailer or are adding one to your fleet. Think about Canadian quality.  Quality comes with a cost but I believe it is worth it.

Five years ago we had three manufacturers to focus on. We now supply fifteen trailer manufacturers to Western Canada eleven of which were at our inside training event. We consumed an entire exhibition hall in Lethbridge to show case the equipment inside from the cold. Ultimately, that is a lot of product choice for you. Now that spring has sprung these trailers are in our lots ready to be viewed.

Many of these fifteen manufactures many are what I consider speciality products: Office Trailers, Concession Trailers, Mobile Restroom trailers, Sprayer Trailers, car dollies, level loading trailers, fuel trailers... the list goes on. But to be fair many are also mainline manufacturers and we have aligned ourselves with the best in the industry to provide our customers pricing and specification choices or simply put their pick of good better or best.

What I was excited about most this year however are products I believe we have be needing to supply for quite some time; Stock and Horse Trailers (which we used to supply), and Semi flat bed trailers. To meet these needs we have aligned ourselves with Corn Pro Trailers for Horse and Stock Trailers and B&B Trailers for Flat Bed Semi Trailers. We have more product information on our website. Both of these brands have been in the industry for a long time and we excited to offer them.

The last new trailer type we had in our training is quite unique. The company Air Tow Trailers are a worldwide industry leader for level loading trailers. When I was first exposed to this trailer I will admit I raised an eyebrow and thought what use are these trailers? The idea is nice but regular trailers can do the job. The fact is they cannot. The bed of these units lowers completely to the ground and when raised for travel the bed self levels depending on weight distribution on the deck. For loading safes, pianos, sky jacks, pallets, etc. this trailer does a job that other units cannot do: painless and safe loading plus smooth transport. So if you have a special moving consideration, this is the trailer. Listen to our podcast to learn more.

Picking an Enclosed Sled Trailer:  You decided you did not want to clean off your sleds every time you reach your destination. Or you need somewhere to store your machines in the summer, or you want to work on your sleds out of the wind in the staging area.  Whatever your reasons, you’re going to buy an enclosed trailer; now which type? Your options are many.

 To help you understand your options here are how they’re generally classified:

The first way enclosed sled trailers are classified is by how many sleds they carry: 2 place, 3 place or 4 place. 

The second way they are classified is by deck height: lowboy (deck is as low to the ground as possible) mid-deck (the deck is raised for some clearance but not too high, keeping the ramp angle down) and highboy (the deck is above the wheels so the platform is a full 8’ wide).

The third way the trailers are classified by is width, which tends to fall into two broad categories 7’ or 8’ wide (which is really 8’6” wide).

Lastly, the frames will either be steel or aluminum.  

 When it comes to deciding which class of trailer is right for you, it really comes down to your specific needs, but I will give you some things to consider with the most popular classes that may help your decision making.

 2 place, highboy, 8’ 6” wide:  This class of enclosed sled trailer tends to be the most economical.  It is usually single axle without brakes, so a half tonne truck can pull it with no problem.  They are often aluminum so they are quite light, which makes them even easier to move around.   It is a great starter enclosed trailer. The down side of this trailer is that unless you bump up to tandem axles you do not have a drive off front ramp, and if you add another axle and a front ramp your costs sky rocket.  That said, with a reverse option on today’s sleds, is the front drive-off ramp really needed?

 2 or 3 place, lowboy, 7 wide:  This trailer with a steel frame is also very economical.  Being 7’ wide and lower to the ground means they pull well behind a truck. Plus, they are tandem axles so their ride is smoother than a bouncy single axle trailer.  They also have a front ramp so you can drive your sleds in and out with ease.  Beyond those points this trailer is also being used year round as a traditional cargo trailer because it is just the right size – not too big, not too small. Contractors love the access to the trailer with two ramps.  The downside of these trailers is that the loading of three sleds can be difficult, but once you figure out the configuration needed it is not an issue.  As well, being only 7’ wide there is not a lot of room on the inside for cabinets and racking.

 3 or 4 place, lowboy, 8 wide:  These enclosed units have become more popular as a multi-use unit or toy haulers.  Instead of just sled trailers the ramp can be reinforced and you can haul a car or side by side MUV if you make the rear door opening high enough.  If you have a lot of different toys this becomes a really economical option. Instead of two trailers you can get one built for all your toys.  The down side is that you have full size fender boxes inside the trailer to maneuver around when loading your sleds, but trust me that is not a difficult issue, and if it is, are you sure you want to chase powder  between the trees?  The other issue with the lowboys is adding a heater. Generally the propane tanks will have to go on an extended hitch so your trailer gets a little longer overall.

 3 or 4 place, mid-deck, 8 wide: These units are another popular class of toy hauler, but with a little bit more clearance.  The extra clearance comes in handy for added features such an underbelly mounted fuel tank and propane tanks.  The fender boxes inside the units are not as high and can be easily driven over. The disadvantage of these units is the extra clearance; if it is going to be a toy hauler trailer a lot of cars will not be able to make it up the higher angled ramp.

 3 or 4 place, highboy, 8 wide: If there is a traditional enclosed sled trailer, this is it. It is still the most popular option for an enclosed sled trailer. They have a full width deck so it is very easy to drive and position your sleds for travel. The full width provides lots of room for cabinets and racking on the walls.  They have lots of clearance, they track well behind a vehicle on snowy roads, plus with all the deck clearance there are no problems adding options such as on board fueling stations or under deck mounted propane tanks.  Quite simply, they are specifically designed to load sleds and all their accessories the easiest out of all the trailers on the market and as a result, people buy them the most.  The downside of the units is the fact that they are specifically designed for hauling sleds, being so high up you have a hard time loading cargo or recreational power sport vehicles.  Lastly, again being so high up in a cross wind they act as a big sail and they push the tow vehicle around a lot.

 There many other options to consider when buying a sled trailer such as adding heat or cabinets, the type of interior walls, little features such as kick plates and floor drains...the list is endless.  I was talking to a manufacturer about his enclosed sled trailer production run this year and he estimated that 90% of the trailers will be unique coming down the line. The point is, there are a lot of choices in the market place. Make sure that when you are looking for a trailer you talk with someone that can educate you and provide you with all the options so you can get your trailer, your way.

• 20’ enclosed steel-framed Summit Series sled trailer with heat
• 26’ all aluminum enclosed NashCar Rage snowmobile trailers
• 20’ two-tone XR Series enclosed sled trailer
• 12’ single axle two-place enclosed all aluminum NashCar Rage snowmobile trailer
• Plus 12’ aluminum and steel open deck sled trailers and 10’ steel and aluminum tilt sled trailers