Many partners, new and old, are full of questions about trailers, specifically the debate of open vs enclosed. Below you will find a roundtable discussion with many opinions from different partners on the issue.
Dana Valentino 16Ft trailer: Open or enclosed? Pros v. Cons… Go!
Danielle Mills Marden We prefer open. Ours has high sides on the front so we can stand units up. Wet can drain, damp can air out, we can reach things, no issue with height or getting things thru the “door”.
Jonathan Todd My thoughts on them – I hate the extra weight of the enclosed trailers as well as extra cost. I’d rather unload them when day is done. I also like to be able to take units off of the trailer by flipping it over the side, something i cant do with enclosed. I hate trying to squeeze it through a small door or trying to make everything fit in an enclosed (but I did not have a 7 ft wide or a high ceiling). The open trailers also make it easy to flip units from trailer into the back of the truck. I also like how the floors on open trailers hold up way better.
Kelvin McGill Dana enclosed is the way to go. I hate my units getting wet and I hate having to unload when I get in late. The best part about the enclosed trailer is the wrapping. It is a huge rolling billboard. I can tell you the number of rentals it has gotten for us. It drives kids crazy. It’s fun watching them in the side view mirrors as you drive by. Lol
Dave Mason Dana, We have both in addition to a box truck. The closed trailer is a 7′ wide by 12′ long. The thing I like about it is that we don’t have to unload it right away after a long day or if we already have a large number of dirty units in the warehouse we can store them until it is time to clean them. The downside is that when you are doing a lot of water units in the summer they drain on the plywood floor and shorten it’s life span and ours usually doesn’t have time to dry out before the next delivery. Our open trailer is a 7 X 12 with 4 ft sides, it is great for water slides but is doesn’t look as professional as the closed trailer because it is not wrapped. You also have to unload it at the end of the day. We have a 16′ flatbed with 1 ft sides we only use it when we have big multi unit events and everything won’t fit in the box truck or for days like Halloween where we are going in several directions with large rentals. Our box truck is 16′ and it is used every weekend. For a first trailer I would suggest a 12′ or 14′ open trailer with4 ft sides and 2-3500 lb axles with brakes. They are pretty easy to maneuver and will hold the weight during water slide season. They are also less expensive.