[Paddlewise] My kayaking lessons (and kayak trailers)

I would like to thank my fellow Paddlewise members for the hints you
gave me on getting the most out of my kayaking lessons. We went out
for a day (9:30am to 3:30pm) and really learned a lot. Tami has now
found her new favorite hobby! (Of course, I had a great time, too.)
She got quite a kick out of doing the self-rescues and felt a great
amount of pride getting herself back in her boat after a capsize.
The lessons were invaluable and taught me far more in a day than all
of the learning I'd been doing reading from various kayaking
books. (Reading is, of course, no substitute for real world
experience.)

Now on to my next question... My car (a Honda del Sol, a very small
convertible with no possibility of roof racks) needs a trailer. I've
read Wes Boyd's page on kayak trailering (see the following URL:
http://www2.dmci.net/users/wesboyd/trailer.htm). Wes makes a very good
case for trailering your kayak instead of putting it on a roof rack;
besides, I don't really want to get a new car anyway. On the other
hand, I don't really want to go through the hassle of modifying a used
trailer---I want something which just works "out of the box". I've
found two companies which make trailers specifically for kayaks and
canoes:

* http://www.slickrydr.com/

  Their trailers seem quite nice, but pretty expensive. They charge
  $903.00 for a trailer which will hold 4 kayaks (the crossbars are
  70"). After you add around $100 for shipping and handling, this gets
  pretty expensive. They also offer a large (86" x 24" x 12") optional
  storage compartment for $630 + ~$50 shipping and handling. (The
  storage compartment does look quite nice, that'd be perfect for
  paddles and other gear which doesn't fit in my already-way-too-
  small car). All said and done, that'd be almost $1,700---quite a lot
  for a trailer, in my opinion.

* http://hdtrailer.fix.net/

  This trailer is quite expensive, too. From the looks of it, you have
  to buy the trailer (about $800) and on top of that, buy a Yakima
  rack to put on top of it to put your kayaks on.

What else is out there? How do you all trailer your kayaks? Should I
just break down and modify a used trailer like Wes recommends, or are
there other kayak-specific trailers to consider?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Regards,
--Eric

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