lease-on deal I was looking at

This would just be hauling general flatbed freight, probably very similar to how you do it, and hopefully being able to stay within a 500-600 mile radius normally so home is never more than a day away. I talked to him again about it yesterday since I had the day off and some free time and he said yeah, that would be cool with him and he'd give me the same deal (a much more reasonable one) that I got when I hauled RV's for him.

The trailer disappeared I noticed and I asked about it. He told me the other guy returned it because it wasn't really his, so he must have just been leasing it too. Basically if I was serious about this I would have to go fish for a trailer to either buy or finance sometime within the next 6 months so that will require a lot of homework figure that out. No payments would be nice but also leaving the money in the bank would be nice so I'll have to see

 

None. Their main business is power only RV trailer delivery from factory to dealerships, like many of the other companies around here that do the same thing. He has had guys in the past with Shipshe trailers or haul and tow trucks that can move 2 or 3 small units doing "multi-haul" but has never done a flatbed truck. It would be a first time/trial run thing and I would basically have to figure the business end of it out from scratch, but without the headaches or big risk of starting my own DOT/MC and insurance policy. He's been around awhile and is pretty sharp with the regulatory and compliance stuff and the people down in Oklahoma who actually own the company handle the money stuff. He basically runs the day to day operations though and sounded intrigued by the idea. Had working relations with him/them since mid 2019 and have never had an issue. I think it's the most realistic idea yet if I can find a trailer that works that I can afford. That was the main problem with the Shipshe trailer idea is how expensive they are and then it's designed for a very niche market type of hauling...RV's can be very cyclical and so can cars, so that might not be the smartest avenue to start out on.

 

What kind of trailer to buy is kind of the next immediate problem if I want this to go anywhere. Lots of brands, options, and opinions there. I have heard sticking with a bigger name brand rig like Load Trail, Gatormade or Diamond C is the way to go, rather than a smaller local or regional trailer maker, but I don't know. Lengths...not too many goosenecks have a wood deck section smaller than 20 ft, and can go all the way up to 44 ft. The guy I was considering leasing to uses 30 footers. Not sure if that was a "25+5" or a true 30 foot straight deck or what. Axles it seems like 7k with 16" rubber or 8k with 17.5" are the two main choices. 10k with dual 16" I assume would be overkill for a non-CDL setup. Actually it would be fine as a CDL setup (since I have one) so I would not need to worry about the trailer GVWR being too high, but the truck itself is only plated for 26k and lighter is my preference. Older truck with modest power and don't want to kill it.