Examples of vehicles to tow 1.7t?

[Lakesailor]

[ QUOTE ]
but bu-gger it - I will carry on using the courier to move the unloaded trailer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. I was telling you the law as described to me by Indespension and various other trailer manufacturers. Whether the cop in his patrol car knows the regulations inside out is another matter. I doubt that they have a complete picture of it, just that old Cavaliers struggling to tow 25ft sportboats boats look like a good 'pull'

 

[oldharry]

[quoteWhether the cop in his patrol car knows the regulations inside out is another matter.

[/ QUOTE ]

Try asking the Police whether any particular towing combination is legal - and they will not commit themselves. Only when confronted on the road with a potentially illegal or dangerous set up will they suddenly find they do know trailer regs inside out.... or at least well enough to be able to find something they can pull you on.

Overloading is the favourite - whether boats, caravans or open trailers. They can insist you go to a weighing station - which may be many miles off your route. If they are reasonably certain your load is illegal or unsafe, or want to be awkward with you, they can put an immediate 'stop' order on the outfit - which means you cannot go any further, and must bring in either another towing vehicle powerful enough to take the trailer on legally, or if they decide your trailer is not 'safe', they can insist on the whole outfit being loaded on to another vehicle for removal from the highway. Expensive!

The Police have absolute power in this scenario. If they are unhappy with your outfit - or you make them unhappy - they can make life extremely difficult (and expensive) for you. And that is before you think about possible fines for having an unsafe load etc... /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Having said all that I have never once been stopped while towing anything in 40 years - but I know a man who has! Several, in fact.

 

[DaveS]

I can't disagree with others' points re. legalities and I can imagine that in Germany they are more likely to stick rigidly to these, but from personal experience...

I bought my Etap 22 from Clapson's boatyard on Humberside. Extremely helpful people who, when I was a bit worried about weight concentration on the back pads, even made up for me free of charge a thick piece of padded plywood shaped to match the hull profile to spread the load while being towed. I would recommend this. I towed the boat to Pt. Edgar (c. 250 miles) using a 1600cc Talbot Alpine (this wasn't yesterday!) It was, admittedly, a company car and, as is well known, all company cars can go faster, with bigger loads and over rougher terrain than privately owned ones... Towing was in fact quite a struggle and took much more time and petrol than budgeted for.

The following year I bought a 2.3 litre Volvo 240 estate which easily coped with the boat. Over the next few years it was used for a number of tows to the West Highlands, including horrors like prolonged gradients in slow tourist traffic, with very little difficulty. My trailer was a 4 wheeled model with over-run brakes. So, from purely practical (as opposed to legal or "official") viewpoints I would have no hesitation in suggesting a heavy, reasonably big engined conventional car as a suitable tow vehicle.

 

[Guest]

Simple answer really .... Land-Rover.

Being in Germany - there must be quite a few of the Left-hand drive ex Brit Army ones available ??

Having had both petrol and Diesel versions ...... the strange thing is fuel consumption little changes between pulling a loaded trailer and having nothing on back !! They are not the most comfortable ....... but they are the best in all ways ... slipways, tracks, towing etc. etc.

I wouldn't buy a relatively late model either ....... honestly - the old ones are still great work-horses ... my first was a 1953, then later I had a 1975 .... the '53 was as good as the '75 in condition and engine performance ....

Go for it .....

 

[neale]

Normal Cars typically go up to around 1800kgs if you look at the bigger stuff such as Ford Scorpio or large BMW etc. Big 4x4's tend to have a tow limit between 2500kgs and 3500kgs. In between there are a few choices in the smaller 4x4 market such as the Frontera 2000kgs. You could find a big saloon that will legally tow your 1700kgs but it will be a thirst car to run all year for occasional tows. You could buy a 4x4 but it won't be the best car for either comfort (old Landrovers) or economy (range rovers etc) for the 99% of the time you are not towing. I have been down this route and ended up with two cars. I have a Range rover which is a superb tow vehicle but expensive to run and any other car I fancy for normal use. I have done the sums and this is cheaper than driving the RR around all year at 15mpg. The tow vehicle can off course just be taxed and insured for 6 months if that is what is required and with 15 year old range rovers costing about a grand it really is worth considering. Assuming you have somewhere to keep two cars with one off road iof it is not fully documented all year round.

Neale

 

[Guest]

Original post is from Germany ....

I asume that location Germany - means that towing / boating is Germany based ....

So tax / insurance laws as we have are not applicable ....

 

[black mercury]

It will all be stamped on the chassis plate.

 

[pvb]

For the sake of others that'll come to this thread, you don't require only large cars to tow a 1.7 ton boat. There are equally small cars that can tow and you're sure to save cost on gas since weight contributes to faster fuel burning.

Welcome to the forums!

You've just replied to a 15 year old thread which everyone had forgotten about. This isn't a great idea, always best to check the date of the last post (in the thick black bar above the post) before deciding whether to reply.

Ah! I've just seen that the link you posted is to your own website! That's rather naughty!

 

[Pump-Out]

For the sake of others that'll come to this thread, you don't require only large cars to tow a 1.7 ton boat. There are equally small cars that can tow and you're sure to save cost on gas since weight contributes to faster fuel burning.

US figures are totally different from UK C&U Regs, I am afraid the link you identified might be (on an old thread anyway) a little misleading.

ETA: Beaten to it by @pvb

 

[FruitsdeMer30]

I have a Mitsubishi L200 (its an old model but sound). Will I be able to pull a Sadler 26 (bilge keel version) on the road. I'll use a crane to get the yacht onto the road trailer. As I have somewhere at home to store this set up over the winter I'm thinking this could be a good set up to get some single handed sailing in the summer and an easy way to work on the yacht through the winter.

 

[Medway Mudlark]

Nissan X Trail T30/31 series. Had one for 13 years until I bought a bigger boat. Boat was 1700Kg,and 20 ft, Nissan rated it at 2000Kg. Had the 2.5 ltr petrol one and averaged around 23 - 25/ gall towing up to the Broads from Kent, and on Cruise control on the motorway!
Forgot to add 4 WD was very useful on loose ground, top of some slipways, and it's also electronically switchable.

 

[black mercury]

Ah! I've just seen that the link you posted is to your own website! That's rather naughty!

His post has disappeared. ?

 

[pvb]

His post has disappeared. ?

That's what happens to spam!

 

[ProDave]

I have a Subaru Legacy estate, 4WD 2.5L. Prolly as big as standard estate cars go, towing weight about 1.1 tonnes. So looking at that you must be looking at Range Rovers or the like.

Prolly cheaper to hire if it s only a few trips per year. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Why is it so low? I have towed a lot more with a 2.0 Legacy estate before, and my present 2.0 Forester is rated to to 1.5t

If I needed to tow more, my 1972 Landrover is rated to tow 2t, but I know in reality, the Forrester would tow 2t better than the landy (the Landy I feel would be somewhat under powered with 2t on the hook)

 

[pvb]

Why is it so low? I have towed a lot more with a 2.0 Legacy estate before, and my present 2.0 Forester is rated to to 1.5t

If I needed to tow more, my 1972 Landrover is rated to tow 2t, but I know in reality, the Forrester would tow 2t better than the landy (the Landy I feel would be somewhat under powered with 2t on the hook)

ShipsWoofy posted that more than 15 years ago. He was last on here in 2009. This is a dead thread.