Cougar Slide-out Rear cargo tray reinforcement?

[jpaeth]

I have a '13 Cougar H/T 28RBSWE TT with the slide out cargo tray in the rear. I bought it this past fall and took it out once before it was time to winterize. The first trip i used the cargo tray to carry a honda Eu2000i genny and two kids bikes and had no issues. In this off season i bought a honda Eu300is (since i was just borrowing the 2000 and i got the 3000 so i could run the A/C) The larger generator will weigh about 155 lbs with fuel and I would like to be able to carry 5 gallons of gas on the rack. It says it is rated for 200 lbs but looking at it and reading threads on this forum makes that hard to believe.
My question is: Is there a good way to reinforce this rack so it can hold up to the weight? or is it better to just scrap the whole thing and have something custom built.

[Festus2]

If it were me, I'd "just scrap the whole thing and have something custom built". A number of members have done just that for the purpose of carrying a generator and/or bikes. If you were to go the custom route, it might be necessary to remove the slide-out tray but you can get the specifics from any shop that does that kind of fabrication.

If you currently have the rack extended and have loaded a generator, 2 bikes and probably the spare tire, I'd be a bit nervous about the stress on the tray since it extends out a fair distance and with the bounce that goes with it .........

Check out the forum search feature and look for posts/threads on bike racks/....Look in the Modification and Upgrades section of the forum as well for previous threads about this topic.

Welcome to the forum too!!

[LM3929]

I have only carried firewood on my Cougar 24 RKS slide out and the support brackets are already starting to bent.

The support bracket appear to be made of 1/8th inch material, so on my list of many, many things to improve will be two additional brackets made of 3/16th inch material that will be bolted to the originals.

Lorne M.

[jpaeth]

Thank you for the welcome Festus! I have been looking through the forum for a little while to try and find some info like I am looking for. Mostly what I can find is that the slide out rack just doesn't hold up, but not anything I can do about it. I have seen couple of custom hitch/rack setups that have been made but from what I can tell they are on different models and setups than what I am working with. I will check out some local fab shops in town once I can get it pulled out from behind the snow burm in the spring.

I'm looking forward to being able to contribute some more to the forum after I get to know my trailer next summer!