Boat Buying

  • 25 Sep 2018 01:19
    Reply # 6690833 on 6689314
    Anonymous wrote:

    To maximise the ability of a front wheel drive vehicle to haul a trailer up the slip, isn't the answer to fit a second towing hitch to the front of the vehicle, and reverse up the slip, to put more weight over the front wheels? Isn't it more about traction than power? I've seen front hitches on some Land Rovers. I guess it's easier if you can see what you're doing, and steering the trailer is easier, too?

    I am trying to picture myself with a junk rigged sailboat and a hitch on the 'wrong' end of the van driving forward into the water.

    I might even get more attention than the guy with the aqua car who is usually there.


    Last modified: 25 Sep 2018 01:19 | Anonymous member
  • 24 Sep 2018 22:51
    Reply # 6690687 on 6677159

    Hi Scott,

    check the manufacturers rating for towing. For your vehicle  it will probably be no more than one and a half tons. You can burn out an automatic transmission quite easily by overloading it as in getting a boat and trailer up a launching ramp.

    Since you are so close to the ramp what about a left field alternative? Look at buying an old tractor specifically for taking the boat to the ramp and launching it. This is quite a common practice in New Zealand and if it works in one country I dont see why it should not work in another. One advantage of this is that the tractor's large wheels allow it to go much further into the water and could allow you to launch a deeper draft boat with no problem. No trailer modifications would be needed and the cost could be less than you think.

    Something to think about?

    David.

  • 24 Sep 2018 16:57
    Reply # 6689921 on 6677159

    If anyone is still interested -- I am talking about moving the boat a total of 2.2 miles  (3.54 km) from my house to the boat launch over mostly flat ground and never more than 35 miles per hour (56 kph). I really have to think my 3.5L engine can do that. It is only retrieving the boat that gives me any sort of concern. I do not have much boat launching experience. 

    I just called about a ComPac 19/III very close by -- "Sold this last weekend."

    Arne -- As you said I have an automatic transmission. I can put it in a position so that it will never shift out of the lowest gear. I think this will be the best way to attempt retrieving a boat.

    Scott.


    Last modified: 24 Sep 2018 17:00 | Anonymous member
  • 24 Sep 2018 10:31
    Reply # 6689403 on 6677159
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    The little experience I have from launching and retrieving a boat on a ramp, stems from the way I handled my 740 kg Frøken Sørensen. I made a cradle for her and fitted it with wheels, just good enough for moving slowly inside the flat harbour area.

    The boat and cradle summed up to some 850-900kg so first time I was to haul Ms Sørensen up, I wondered if my little Suzuki Jimny would cope, at just 1050kg and with a 1.3litre motor. I needed not have worried. Thanks to the 4WD, and even more, the low-series gear, the car never struggled at all. Moreover, the low gearing let me do all handling of the primitive ‘harbour trailer’ at a nice and slow pace without burning the clutch.

    I therefore think that a low-series gear does more than a big engine to make handling on a ramp safe and easy.

    Arne

    Afterthought: It dawns to me that most cars in the US have automatic gear. I have no idea how good they are at towing at walking speed, so maybe my suggested low-gear series is irrelevant.

     

  • 24 Sep 2018 09:11
    Reply # 6689314 on 6677159

    To maximise the ability of a front wheel drive vehicle to haul a trailer up the slip, isn't the answer to fit a second towing hitch to the front of the vehicle, and reverse up the slip, to put more weight over the front wheels? Isn't it more about traction than power? I've seen front hitches on some Land Rovers. I guess it's easier if you can see what you're doing, and steering the trailer is easier, too?

    Last modified: 24 Sep 2018 10:00 | Anonymous member
  • 24 Sep 2018 05:53
    Reply # 6689179 on 6688975
    Deleted user
    Anonymous wrote:

    Hmm. Things seem worse than I thought. Our van has a 3.5L V6 gas (petrol) engine. I thought this would be enough to pull 3000 lbs up the ramp.

    So ... hm.

    I guess the answer is the same even for an S2 6.7 or a Compac 19? Minivan means none of these are an option?

    Scott. 

    3.5L is getting to be a reasonable size engine. Probably a lot depends on how effectively the front wheel drive vehicle can pull the boat and trailer out of the water and up the boat ramp, and how far you need to tow the boat. Most vehicles have a specified towing weight for both braked, and unbraked trailers. That should serve as a guide as to what your vehicle is capable of.
  • 24 Sep 2018 01:12
    Reply # 6688975 on 6677159

    Hmm. Things seem worse than I thought. Our van has a 3.5L V6 gas (petrol) engine. I thought this would be enough to pull 3000 lbs up the ramp.

    So ... hm.

    I guess the answer is the same even for an S2 6.7 or a Compac 19? Minivan means none of these are an option?

    Scott. 

  • 24 Sep 2018 00:50
    Reply # 6688964 on 6677159

    A interesting sideline to this boat debate can be found by google "the coastal passage"  if you scroll down the home page you will find a article for a 21K cameraman. This might appeal to some. The coastal passage is a free online magazine based in Australia. 

  • 23 Sep 2018 23:54
    Reply # 6688910 on 6677159

    Hi Scott,

    the best way to extend a trailer hitch is to have a telescoping draw bar. This is quite easy to do if you can get square  tube that is a reasonable fit for the next larger size. A short length of the larger size is welded below the draw bar and a much longer length of the smaller size is slid into it. It can be as long as the trailer so can extend up to 20 ft on a trailer the size you are talking of. A stop is welded to the back end of the inner tube and the hitch is attached at the forward end. Holes are drilled through the assembly so that they align when the draw bar is in the closed position for towing on the road, and when it is in an intermediate position for steep ramps and the fully extended position for shallow ramps. A locking tractor pin is inserted through the holes to hold the assembly together in any of the positions. Normal over run trailer brakes are difficult to incorporate into this system so electric brakes become almost essential.

    The advantage of the telescoping draw bar is that you can steer the trailer. With an extension draw bar that bridges the gap between the trailer hitch and the tow vehicle ball hitch  you have two universal joints and completely lose control of steering the trailer.

    As David Thatcher says, you need something a bit more gutsy than a Honda Odyssey to tow a boat of that size. Four wheel drive and at least a four liter  petrol engine or three liter diesel engine would be my minimum pick.

    Best of luck with the project, David.

    Last modified: 23 Sep 2018 23:57 | Anonymous member
  • 23 Sep 2018 23:17
    Reply # 6688869 on 6688819
    Deleted user
    Anonymous wrote:

    Hello,

    I went down to the boat launch and put on a show again today. But this time I was using my big dip stick at the launch instead of amusing people by rolling my puddle duck across the parking lot on dollies. I am trying to determine if I can launch the Halman 21' shown earlier in this thread with our Honda Odyssey.

    I am guessing that to launch a 3' draft sailing boat I will need at least 5' of water due to the trailer. The ramp does not get this deep until there is only about 5' of pier/dock left. I did not measure the actual distance from the start of the water but I believe this dock is just about 30 feet long. I am wondering if a 10' extension on the trailer would make this possible. Unfortunately the exhaust on the van is just about the same height as the receiver for the hitch. I have a couple inches rise before the ball but generally I need to keep the ball out of the water to keep my muffler dry.

    I am thinking that the middle of the boat needs to be in 5' of water. This means 25 feet to the dry ramp. I take off 10 feet for half the boat length, 5' for the existing trailer tongue. This leaves me with 10' that I hope to cover with an extension.

    Is anyone interested in giving an opinion on if this is a workable situation?

    Scott.

    Boat ramps can provide quite a lot of entertainment, and marriages can be made or broken during the boat launching/retrieving exercise!

    I have done a lot of launching and retrieving, and towing with a combined boat and trailer weight of 2 tonnes, this was for a 7 meter aluminium pontoon work boat. We always used a diesel powered 4wd utility vehicle, and even then we sometimes had to use low ratio to pull the boat and trailer up a steep boat ramp. I wonder if a front wheel drive Honda Odyssey would have the grunt to handle the retrieval of heavy boat. Often when launching and retrieving a deeper draft boat a tow line is used between the trailer and towing vehicle. This can work well to keep the towing vehicle away from the water, but does require some planning ahead to ensure it is of little entertainment value to boat ramp watchers.  

    Last modified: 23 Sep 2018 23:34 | Deleted user
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