My opinion would be that Cimmaron does not rate up there with the othr 3 brands mentioned. Cimmaron has the fiberglass panel roof system and I have seen several trailers with that style roof have issues with leaks after a few years. I have done LQ's in Cimmaron's and they are a nice built trailer, just not up there with the others mentioned. Now the Cimmaron faithful will brag about the roofs insulating factors, and strength to walk on it yada, yada, yada.........

In the past few years, Bloomer has switched to a flat roof design. With a LQ and its many roof protrusions, the weather sealing is solely dependent on the quality and application of the caulking. The is no natural water run off as is found with a curved roof. Once the caulking weathers and fails, there will be leaking difficulties.

4 Star has an excellent reputation and is greatly admired through out the industry.

Blue Moon!  Hands down the best trailer available at ANY price.

But-- you never did name the brand,did you?

Usually when someone tells me he "heard" about a problem, it is from a non owner of that brand. With the best recollections of his friend's neighbor, who's uncle's nephew, has a relative that once......         

I find that most of these types of statements have little relevance to real world conditions, and dismiss them as being non factual. Very few times have I been in error for doing so.

When someone owns a particular brand and says he's having a problem with such and such, I am most interested, and grateful for having heard of the situation. When several more owners say the same thing, then there may be a problem, and that issue should be known and researched. It's one thing to state a fact, it's another to spread rumours because someone doesn't like a particular brand.

Not only will individuals spread disinformation, but several manufacturers consistently bend the truth about construction details of other builders' equipment. This is especially prevalent when a steel trailer manufacturer bashes an aluminum builder, or vice versa. Steel rots while you're looking at it; aluminum corrodes faster than it can be built. It takes three times as much aluminum to build the same thing in steel.

There's more than enough hype to go round. Fortunately many of the members of this forum know the truth by now, and know when a new poster starts bashing a brand, he is usually more interested in grinding an axe than spreading relevant information.

Fortunately there are many more good trailers of many brands and construction details, than there are bad. We have a wide selection from which to choose, and each one of us should be able to find that, for which he is searching.

Gard

^  "It takes three times as much aluminum to build the same thing in steel."

Are you saying this is true or false?

Bartley Heath
bartley@DoubleDTrailers.com
Buy Factory Direct at DoubleDTrailers.com

If it's a Sooner,then,you done good!I love Sooner,especially the older ones that were the mill finish. We have a 1995 2H slant BP.We almost bought  a 4H  this summer,and would have,except there was no title to it from the seller.We stumbled onto another great deal much like yours,a 2000  4 Star 4H slant for the same money.It's good to find such deals,isn't it? Thanks for solving the mystery! I was just curious.

Having owned a Platinum 3H LQ w/10'SW,Outlaw interior,I can say that Platinum is an excellent trailer.Had it been tall enough on the inside,we would still own it.I don't know exactly where you are in IL,but,there is a large Platinum dealer in Elizabethtown,KY.They may not be too far from you.Also in Farmington,MO,Parkland Trailers.

You wouldn't go wrong,I feel,with any of the 4 brands you have mentioned.Didn't Cimmaron buy out C&C? Or was it CM? Or neither?

Haha, so from your article, these aluminum trailers should weigh 48% of a steel trailer...  I guess you can find any type of junk on the internet.  The first article is from a guy selling boats, not sure of the scientific accuracy of his comments.  Your second article is from a guy that makes portable tradeshow displays, and sells them (the article sounds alot like his sales pitch).  Your third article is from a company selling products.  I question the accuracy of these references.

Gard, I know you are experienced with aluminum but have you ever worked with steel?   

Here is widely available physical properties of both metals.  Since you reference EquiSpirit, I have included gatorshield galvanized tubing.  Depending on how you choose to compare, steel is 2-3 times as strong as aluminum.  Also, when welded, aluminum tensile strength weakens.

From Allied Tubing's website
Tensile strength of alum 30k PSI
Tensile strength of gatorshield tubing 55k PSI
Yield strength of alum 25k
Yield strength of gatorshield 50k
Modulus of Elasticity for alum 10000k PSI
Modulus of Elasticity of gatorshield 30000k PSI

and this article (they are probably selling something too)

Aluminum’s modulus is about 10 million psi.

Steel’s modulus is about 3 times that: 30 million psi.

That means, for a common structural shape used in jib design, (for example, a 2-inch square tube), and for the same limit of bending with the same load, the wall thickness of an aluminum tube would need to be more than 3 times the wall thickness of a steel tube.

Steel is about 3 times heavier than aluminum. (Steel is about .3 pounds per cubic inch, aluminum is about .1 pounds per cubic inch.) So the aluminum tube with the thicker wall ends up weighing the same as the thinner-walled steel tube, for the same length.

This means: For a typical jib arm designed for a certain stiffness, it will not be any lighter if it's made of aluminum than if it's made of steel!

Note that this is regardless of the alloys chosen--the modulus is pretty constant. For steels, it varies from about 28.5 to 30 million psi; for aluminum it ranges from 9.9 to 10.3 million psi. So “high strength alloys” offer no stiffness advantage.

Clearly, the choice of steel or aluminum for a particular application requires engineering scrutiny beyond the misleading "aluminum is lighter" assumption.

Bartley Heath
bartley@DoubleDTrailers.com
Buy Factory Direct at DoubleDTrailers.com (manufacturer of all galvanized and all aluminum trailers  :)

a little about Platinum history, the owners and engineers all came from 4 star and I think might have went into C&C to begin with as did Elite. That is why they have a simular look. No doubt the best trailers in the industry today

I presented the widely accepted physical properties of both metals.  I also presented another article to show the wide disparity of 'information' you could find on the internet.  So is aluminum 1/3 the strength of steel?  I am an engineering graduate, so I don't form random opinions...  I attempt to use real information to form intelligent conclusions.  In my opinion, there is roughly a 1 to 1 weight ratio of steel vs alum, given similar strength.  Do we all agree that there is no significant weight advantage in the most trusted, all aluminum, manufacturers?    

After reading one of those articles you quoted...I wonder why the Double D all aluminum trailer doesn't weigh 1/2 of what the all galvanized trailer weighs.  Haha, you get pretty testy when you have to defend your comments.  

Bartley Heath

Trails02, Prior to purchasing my last trailer, I did check out the Platinums, and they were on my short list along with Elite, 4 Star and C&C.  If money is tight, instead of trading in, you might think about BCB's suggestion of selling your trailer yourself.  You have great trailer for resale and HTW is a great site for selling and purchasing horse trailers.

We searched, well, I did, high and low on the internet for a 4 mule slant with a mid tack....for months!!  Get a mid tack, you will be glad you did!  Funny thing, like someone else, I was just about ready to give up when hubby got on Horse Trailer World and found our dream trailer just 10 minutes from our house!  Private seller, small town, small county.  I had looked at this trailer also, but thought it was out of our price range...We called the seller, within an hour had gone to look at it and shook hands on the deal.  Got financing through First Internet Bank of Indiana and had our trailer at home in 5 days.  We've now had this trailer for a little over a year and have enjoyed many a camping days in it.

The trailer is a 2004 CM Norstar, must be right before CM & Cimmaron split.  Fiberglass roof - love it.  We have not had any problems with this trailer and it has sat outside all its life.  It is not a LQ, but it is carpeted on the walls which gives a pretty good insulation.  A/C will freeze you out.  We have 4 mules but usually only take 2 with us camping, so the 2 extra slots make for great room for all your gear, hay, etc. and all the chairs, tables, Coleman Hot Water on Demand, Camp Chef stove and potty store in the midtack during travel.  Go with as big a trailer as you can.