See, that's the tough thing about sizing up. I can legally haul 5500 lbs. of wood within the 7000 lbs. gvwr of my standard flatbed trailer, which weighs 1500 lbs. I can use plywood to make the sides higher for brush, and chain the load to haul it off at the destination. My dw sk650 mini takes full advantage of the low rail height when loading. If I change out the axles to a beefier rating (the bottom supports are already reinforced with square steel tubing), I can haul 8500+. I see how you've engineered that trailer for a single trip but is it worth losing arguably 4700 lbs. of payload capacity?
Also, I'm concerned about those hinges. Over time, trailers tend to get a bit bendy because of the big wood sliding, settling, being dumped, etc. What's the plan for when the gates don't close up?
I know I'm kind of a buzzkill, so apologies. I'm just really curious about solving these intrinsic design problems.
For instance, I've thought of using the best of two design approaches. Standard flatbed derive strength from the use of two rails with cross pieces and low-gauge angle iron, while car-hauler-type frames derive strength from larger gauge iron, which has less strength per unit of weight. The larger gauge could be used selectively for a 4ft. wide loader-wide access point at the front of a flatbed, then just use the high-efficiency design for the rest. Put a crossing slot in for plywood to separate the loader from the wood. Cheap, no moving parts, gvwr goes towards hauling wood.
My biggest problem with these mini-forward trailer designs is that I can't sustain the tongue weight, but I'm hauling with a just a blazer.
