I got fed up with my utility trailer this weekend and sold it with the full intention of getting a replacement almost immediately.
I just didn't like the balance of it, it was too light in the tongue weight when empty, it was too high off the ground for its primary task of carrying 3 dirt bikes from home to trail and back, and it is too heavy for the work it was doing. Trailer was probably 1500 pounds empty, it was a beast. And it never really pulled well behind my Jeep.
I'm considering 3 options to replace it.
1. A Kendon 3-rail dirt bike trailer. Extraordinarily light weight, around 500-600 pounds empty, about 8 feet long and just barely big enough to fit 3 bikes on it with them in a staggered triangle formation. New they are about $3100, I've found one down in Tucson available for $1500. Needs new tires and a little attention with a wire wheel and touch up paint, but that's maybe $150 and a weekend afternoon to save $1600 and several weeks of wait.
2. A local company called Primo makes all aluminum utility trailers. Price tag seems to be a bit steep, around $3500 or so for a trailer with a 6' x 12' deck and integrated bi-fold loading ramp. Don't see any used available on Craigslist, but I did find an ad from the manufacturer for some scratch and dent factory seconds for a few hundred $$ off their regular asking price.
3. There are several steel utility trailer brands to choose from, but I really want one with a bi-fold loading ramp rather than a single large one piece ramp. The one piece ramps are sails in the wind. I can save $1000 from an aluminum trailer if I go this route.
By and large my primary use of a trailer is to tote dirt bikes around. My trailer sat in the backyard gathering sunlight and spiderwebs except for the 10-15 times a year it came out to carry bikes. Maybe once a year, or every other year, it gets called on to take lawn waste to the dump or move a large piece of furniture or other truckish things since I don't have a truck bed. It seems smart to me to get a trailer that is designed to fill my primary use case, rather than screwing around with a utility trailer that is larger and heavier than I need, taking up lots more backyard space and so on. If I really need a utility trailer I can go rent one from U-haul or something for $20 a day, and get either enclosed or high walls or whatever works best for my purposes.
What says the hive mind?