Towed boat and vehicle dilema solved

wal1809 · November 05, 2009, 08:43:53 AM

http://www.rvtowbehind.com/about/about.htm

wal1809 · November 05, 2009, 08:44:45 AM

There is a video at the bottom. Pretty dern near to being slick if you ask me.

Jeremy · November 05, 2009, 09:30:26 AM

It's a common enough design but usually the two verticals are linked together by beams or struts. In this case they are using the boat trailer itself to form this link, which seems a little unsatisfactory. I'm surprised they think they can charge $100 for a set of plans for one of these frankly.

Incidentally, I know someone who crushed his hand badly on this type of trailer - once the weight has been pulled up by the winch it settles into place by going 'over centre', so the last couple of inches of travel are by means of the weight of the boat and gravity. Having your hand in the wrong place at this point can be painful.

Jeremy

wal1809 · November 05, 2009, 09:34:54 AM

I am not going to give them $100 for their plans. I can build it myself make it strong enough to hold a bull elephant. We had a discussion some time back about this very issue of getting a boat and a vehicle down the road and figured some might want to see this.

I need to make it long enough to put on a vehicle, 2 4 wheelers and a 20 foot boat and then a cage in the front for decoys and what nots.

John316 · November 05, 2009, 12:47:27 PM

Make sure that the vehicle that you have on there, can pull the trailer. Most states have a 65 foot length restriction. I would hate to have to drop a trailer, and leave it (or get a tow for it). That way if you get stopped, you can use your vehicle to tow the trailer.

God bless,

John

philiptompkjns · November 05, 2009, 01:05:56 PM

I would get a shorter (height wise) car. The CG there looks fairly unfavorable, plus you could fit a taller boat.

Lonnie time to go · November 05, 2009, 03:01:00 PM

I have seen these before and yes I want to make one.

rv_safetyman · November 05, 2009, 03:16:03 PM

A friend just sent me a picture of Cecil McClure's Eagle with quite a load on the back.

Jim

luvrbus · November 05, 2009, 03:35:03 PM

Jim, that looks like the load Dick and Di haul if not full Dick will stop and buy some old car to haul back home LOL if you want to see a train look at Doyles Eagle 75 ft long with the trailer and he goes all over the US

good luck

Jeremy · November 05, 2009, 04:21:05 PM

Quote from: rv_safetyman on November 05, 2009, 03:16:03 PM
A friend just sent me a picture of Cecil McClure's Eagle with quite a load on the back.

Jim

That's very impressive. At a guess I would say that's probably a folding catamaran as well, which is pretty neat in itself. It isn't obvious how the boat is unloaded, unless it is floated off. Just getting the boat's mast safely down from the bus's roof will be an exercise.

I remember once as a child watching people arrive at a steam rally with their traction engines on their own low-loaders - I always admired people who's hobbies require heavy duty equipment and heavy duty logistics.

Given the bustle on the back of this guy's bus and the big radiators I guess there's something special going on in there too.

Jeremy

kd5kfl · November 05, 2009, 05:53:23 PM

I would do this with a Dolphin or Sunfish or other small sailboat. Not with an outboard. CG too high for my tastes.

John316 · November 05, 2009, 07:37:46 PM

Quote from: luvrbus on November 05, 2009, 03:35:03 PM
Jim, that looks like the load Dick and Di haul if not full Dick will stop and buy some old car to haul back home LOL if you want to see a train look at Doyles Eagle 75 ft long with the trailer and he goes all over the US

good luck

You talking about Dick Cahill (Star Junk)?

God bless,

John

luvrbus · November 05, 2009, 07:54:59 PM

Not Cahill ,John but a member of our club that has one of those type trailers most of the time he has a Harley on top and a Pickup on the bottom but that changes when he sees a old car to buy

good luck

rv_safetyman · November 05, 2009, 08:13:27 PM

I gather that Cecil was moving his equipment to a location in Texas. Another photo that I got showed Cecil on the roof of the bus loading something with a large forklift. I would suspect that that he used the same forklift to load the boat.

I think this is a one time load. Just kind of interesting.

I probably should do my soapbox thing about the tongue load on the bus. Cecil extended the rear of the bus so that he could get the Series 60 in and clear the bed slide out. Knowing Cecil, I would guess that he reinforced the engine mount structure (trailer hitch hangs off of that structure). However, it is still a heck of a load on a pretty complicated structure that was not designed for that kind of loading.

I have not had a chance to talk to Dick J, but I was told that he had a hitch mounting failure on his Eagle. As I understand it, it did not separate, but he had to have it repaired and reinforced.

Jim

wrench · November 06, 2009, 04:39:16 AM

This one is not bad!!
wrench