How Big would you tow

stelican said:
look what this idiot did
Click to expand...

It's hard to say, but technically there may be nothing wrong here in terms of weights and sizes (which is what this thread is about). The boat looks to be of the sort that would come in under 3,500kg on a trailer, and the car appears to be a model rated to tow it. The reason this situation occurred will almost certainly come down to poor weight distribution on the trailer and/or excessive speed coupled with poor awareness.
 
Only just spotted this thread and wanted to share some legal stuff on car and trailer length that was the cause of some confusion to me a while back.

I wanted to tow a 29ft boat and some trailer firms were telling me point blank that it's illegal as the trailer would be over 7m long. This didn't seem correct as I've often seen much longer trailer/loads being towed so, I started to investigate further and on the advice from DVSA for towing boats (or indeed, any trailered load) it seems it is a little more complex.

Under the C&U Regs 1986 Reg 7 (1) table 1, the max length of a trailer is indeed 7m. However, aside from the overhang rule, there is another major exception to this where you are towing an "indivisible load" (ie a load on the trailer that cannot be chopped up into several pieces). A boat would be classified as an indivisible load. In this case, Regulation 7(5)b. comes into effect.

7(5) Where a motor vehicle is drawing—
(b)one trailer constructed and normally used for the conveyance of indivisible loads of exceptional length then—
(i)the overall length of the motor vehicle shall not exceed 9.2 m; and
(ii)the overall length of the combination of vehicles, calculated in accordance with regulation 81(g) and (h), shall not exceed 25.9 m, unless the conditions specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 12 have been complied with.

So, it seems that in terms of length, the limiting factor for towing a boat is a max combined vehicle length of 25.9m.

In terms of tow vehicle length, I can't think of any car longer than 9.2m (?).

I also can't imagine a 20m-ish boat on a trailer weighing less than 3500kg!

Width limits are still applicable and appear to be a limiting factor but, as long as you use the right markers and inform plod there is scope for towing boats over 3.0m wide.

This of course, being mindful of max weight limits on your licence (which for most of us older drivers will be 12000kg gvw) and a max tow car vehicle towing limit of 3500kg.

In short, don't even worry about length, it's the weight and width to consider.

Hope this rambling helps someone.

PS: My VW Touareg 3.0 handles 3000kg effortlessly!
 
Very helpful now don you hard hat and hide in the corner.
The good thing is it is so complicated I doubt plod koows
 
bobtooke said:
Only just spotted this thread and wanted to share some legal stuff on car and trailer length that was the cause of some confusion to me a while back.

I wanted to tow a 29ft boat and some trailer firms were telling me point blank that it's illegal as the trailer would be over 7m long. This didn't seem correct as I've often seen much longer trailer/loads being towed so, I started to investigate further and on the advice from DVSA for towing boats (or indeed, any trailered load) it seems it is a little more complex.

Under the C&U Regs 1986 Reg 7 (1) table 1, the max length of a trailer is indeed 7m. However, aside from the overhang rule, there is another major exception to this where you are towing an "indivisible load" (ie a load on the trailer that cannot be chopped up into several pieces). A boat would be classified as an indivisible load. In this case, Regulation 7(5)b. comes into effect.

7(5) Where a motor vehicle is drawing—
(b)one trailer constructed and normally used for the conveyance of indivisible loads of exceptional length then—
(i)the overall length of the motor vehicle shall not exceed 9.2 m; and
(ii)the overall length of the combination of vehicles, calculated in accordance with regulation 81(g) and (h), shall not exceed 25.9 m, unless the conditions specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 12 have been complied with.

So, it seems that in terms of length, the limiting factor for towing a boat is a max combined vehicle length of 25.9m.

In terms of tow vehicle length, I can't think of any car longer than 9.2m (?).

I also can't imagine a 20m-ish boat on a trailer weighing less than 3500kg!

Width limits are still applicable and appear to be a limiting factor but, as long as you use the right markers and inform plod there is scope for towing boats over 3.0m wide.

This of course, being mindful of max weight limits on your licence (which for most of us older drivers will be 12000kg gvw) and a max tow car vehicle towing limit of 3500kg.

In short, don't even worry about length, it's the weight and width to consider.

Hope this rambling helps someone.

PS: My VW Touareg 3.0 handles 3000kg effortlessly!
Click to expand...

That's informative. What you have described would be applicable to loads such as a rowing eight. It bares little value to the discussion in that the trailer is still allowed to be only 7m and any boat in the discussion overhanging that would fall foul of all the many other rules such as nose weight. Length is very much the issue and nothing so far shows evidence that you'd legally be able to tow much more than 25 foot as pertains to this discussion.
 
As i read it the A frame is where you gain the length,
Width and length
The maximum trailer width for any towing vehicle is 2.55 metres.
The maximum length for a trailer towed by a vehicle weighing up to 3,500kg is 7 metres. This length does not include the A-frame.
 
andy59 said:
As i read it the A frame is where you gain the length,
Width and length
The maximum trailer width for any towing vehicle is 2.55 metres.
The maximum length for a trailer towed by a vehicle weighing up to 3,500kg is 7 metres. This length does not include the A-frame.
Click to expand...

In context though that is the length between the hitch and the winch pillar, i.e. the draw bar. One can appreciate you'd like to claim the A frame to include the whole trailer, who wouldn't. But you'd be deluding yourself.
 
BruceK said:
In context though that is the length between the hitch and the winch pillar, i.e. the draw bar. One can appreciate you'd like to claim the A frame to include the whole trailer, who wouldn't. But you'd be deluding yourself.
Click to expand...

Can you show your context in writing somewhere, cos I don't agree..
 
andy59 said:
As i read it the A frame is where you gain the length,
Width and length
The maximum trailer width for any towing vehicle is 2.55 metres.
The maximum length for a trailer towed by a vehicle weighing up to 3,500kg is 7 metres. This length does not include the A-frame.
Click to expand...
Regulation 7 says this is not the case if the trailer is specifically designed for an exceptional indivisible load. I believe the DVSA as they are the guys that helped write the regs - it's directly quoted above (well, it was their predecessors but its the same dept!).
As I understand it, the trailer width should still be 2.55m max but there is still scope for significant overhang as a wide load which is why boat widths of 3.0m or more on a 2.55m trailer are fine with respect to overhang rules.
 
bobtooke said:
Regulation 7 says this is not the case if the trailer is specifically designed for an exceptional indivisible load. I believe the DVSA as they are the guys that helped write the regs - it's directly quoted above (well, it was their predecessors but its the same dept!).
As I understand it, the trailer width should still be 2.55m max but there is still scope for significant overhang as a wide load which is why boat widths of 3.0m or more on a 2.55m trailer are fine with respect to overhang rules.
Click to expand...


No Problem Bob

As you brought up the indivisable load and quote it incorrectly here is an attempt by the Association of Chief Police Officers to clarify the Law. Knock yourself out.
 

Attachments

CLB said:
Can you show your context in writing somewhere, cos I don't agree..
Click to expand...

No you are right, it seems worse. On a boat trailer that starts as an A frame. i.e. no drawbar the entire length of the trailer is measured so you should actually get less. However common sense prevails and they measure the load bearing section. i.e. after the winch post
See above doc

There is a ‘grey area’ when considering trailer length. Shown in the sketch is the exact method disregarding the ‘A’ frame (towing device) and measuring the load supporting section.
However in the case of a trailer, such as might be used to transport a sail or power boat, consisting largely of an ‘A’ frame type shape, then the theory of measuring from the end of the tow hitch to the rear would seem sensible. o_O A case for common sense to be applied.?
 
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