Leisure 23SL actual weight
- Thread starter AEMD
- Start date
Seajet
...
There are / were RM Trailers, but I'm not experienced with big boat trailing.
The message I do get loud and clear though is that you'll need a serious sort of vehicle to legally tow a L23 !
Good luck in your endeavours,
Andy
The message I do get loud and clear though is that you'll need a serious sort of vehicle to legally tow a L23 !
Good luck in your endeavours,
Andy
VicS
Well-known member
Larger 4x4s will be OK. Discoveries. Ford Rangers even XC90s. Well within the limit for a Defender
Seajet
...
As long as you're sure re quoted towing weight and the plate on the trailer...
Seajet
...
I remember visiting Hayling Trailers quite a few times, I was always kept waiting for ages then treated as a nuisance for asking questions let alone trying to buy anything off the shelf.
When I enquired about a modified trailer with removable keel tray and big hull supports allowing me to let my lift keel down for maintainence, they were happy to do it for an extra £1000.
When I asked ' can you give me any advice if it will fit between our high stone walls? ' I was rather hoping I might get some advice, or maybe even a computer programme - instead all I got was " buy our trailer and try it "
Funnily enough I decided on neither.
When I enquired about a modified trailer with removable keel tray and big hull supports allowing me to let my lift keel down for maintainence, they were happy to do it for an extra £1000.
When I asked ' can you give me any advice if it will fit between our high stone walls? ' I was rather hoping I might get some advice, or maybe even a computer programme - instead all I got was " buy our trailer and try it "
Funnily enough I decided on neither.
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AEMD
Member
I have a 2006 Shogun mk3 3.2, can haul 3300kgs, so should be OK, still got my dear old 2.8 Pajero too, can't bring myself to sell it ...;-)
AEMD
Member
Well, just in case anybody else wants this information, after trawling the internet, I have two figures, one from someone who had written about their adventures with a L23sl in Holland, another from Germany. First if I remember right was 2250kgs ish, the second is 2350kgs ish, so I think my thought of around 2400KGs max should be about right. I've arranged a survey on the boat ... watch this space. 
I've asked for initial quotes for trailer from 4 different firms, 2 in UK, one in France, and one in Germany ... nobody has replied yet.. If i do buy the boat, and the trailer, I will be visiting a weighbridge pretty much as a first port of call, and will then post a definitive, if slightly approximate weight for others in the same 'boat' so to speak. I will also calculate what is in the boat apart from her rig, sails etc, so we have an idea of an empty weight.
I've asked for initial quotes for trailer from 4 different firms, 2 in UK, one in France, and one in Germany ... nobody has replied yet.. If i do buy the boat, and the trailer, I will be visiting a weighbridge pretty much as a first port of call, and will then post a definitive, if slightly approximate weight for others in the same 'boat' so to speak. I will also calculate what is in the boat apart from her rig, sails etc, so we have an idea of an empty weight.
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titian
Member
Don't forget to visit the weighbridge with the empty trailer first to verify the trailers' plated Unladen Weight.
rob2
Active member
Just a technicality, but one which could catch anyone out. The plated maximum weight of the trailer must not exceed the limit of the towing vehicle. So, if you're limit is 3.3 tonnes and you tow an empty trailer which is plated for 3.5 tonnes you are breaking the law! Ridiculous, I know, and hopefully most police officers may not know this, even those manning the weighbridge. It does, unfortunately mean that if you buy a trailer plated for 3.5 tonnes to allow you plenty of scope for the actual displacement of the boat, you could be driving an illegal rig despite it's being safer than one which can just cope with the load.
Have you considered employing a commercial transporter to get the boat home and getting them to weigh the boat en route? Then you can more exactly specify the required trailer for subsequent trips. We used to have sa family who trailed their boat to a new club every coupld of years so as to get a new cruising ground every few seasons. It was a Trapper 500, so close to the limit. They had a short wheelbase, long cab flatbed truck as a tow vehicle and even with this set-up they preferred to remove everything they could from the boat and put it on the flatbed for better handling. Mum and Dad arrived with the boat and slept in the cab overnight ready to launch the next day.
Rob.
Have you considered employing a commercial transporter to get the boat home and getting them to weigh the boat en route? Then you can more exactly specify the required trailer for subsequent trips. We used to have sa family who trailed their boat to a new club every coupld of years so as to get a new cruising ground every few seasons. It was a Trapper 500, so close to the limit. They had a short wheelbase, long cab flatbed truck as a tow vehicle and even with this set-up they preferred to remove everything they could from the boat and put it on the flatbed for better handling. Mum and Dad arrived with the boat and slept in the cab overnight ready to launch the next day.
Rob.
AEMD
Member
Yes, I am aware of that - here in France, and most of Europe boat and other trailers have to be registered in their own right and have their own insurance which is specific to the car, so weights are checked, plates are checked, and a trailer plated to more than the maximum manufacturer's vehicle weight added to the trailers plated maximum would be refused by the insurers. You can however get the plated weight reduced if you ask at the DREAL inspection when you register, or subsequently by special request.
This is why I asked the original question about actual weight of a L23SL. I can buy a trailer plated to 3200kgs, but I now think 3000kgs should be sufficient. I can always remove the outboard, anchor and chain etc. and put that in the car, which is a good idea anyway to bump the weight of the car up a bit for towing.
I now have some prices - I dropped into our local trailer specialist in Bordeaux yesterday, them having ignored the email I sent them ( so what's new in France ?) Their price was 6000 euros ( £ 4200 ish ) for a trailer inferior in several ways to the SBS BK48/3000 ( about £3000 ) that I would probably buy. Harken in Germany quoted me, and that would have been fine, a very similar price, until you add in either driving from near Bordeaux to Germany, or paying 300 euros for it to be delivered to their concession in the South of France, a 12 hour round trip, with the resulting fuel and péage costs to add on. So, if I get the boat, it will be SBS.
I have vaguely considered a transporter, but I will have a new trailer to pick up, perhaps adjust to load the boat onto, so I'd rather be there for that, and I have to visit UK anyway, by air or car, so it's easier to pick it up myself.
We have done the very long trip ( too ) many times, once when we brought out my current boat, ( 2200kgs inc. trailer ) but also in 2002 with it's predecessor for a holiday - a 1600 mile round trip. The last 3 years we've travelled with our 2600kg box trailer. The journey doesn't particularly concern me - I limit our speed to max 55 ish , take my time, and we can sleep in the boat overnight on it's trailer a couple of nights on the way down.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
When I was thinking of buying a new trailer for my last boat, one manufacturer offered to fit it with a plate putting the unladen trailer within the limits of my Micra, and another plate to fit when I got it home ...
I read somewhere that the situation has been sorted out, and that it's now the actual weight of the trailer which counts.
AEMD
Member
Well, here's an update, the survey was good, so I went ahead with an offer and bought the cheapest Leisure 23SL I have seen for quite some time .
I took delivery of a brand spanking new French trailer 3 days ago, then spent a day dismantling keel supports, moving the axles, cutting down the brake rod/cable and re adjusting the brakes, removing one set of side supports as being a bilge keeler she doesn't need the 4 sets the enormous trailer came with. Tomorrow I will fit the two supports for the bilge keels and we will be done and dusted.
The trailer seems enormous because the chassis doesn't have the usual pull out light board on two bits of box section, but is full size chassis right to the back of the trailer, thus nearly 8 metres long by 2.4 metres wide. Backing it into our driveway from the 5 metre wide lane through our 3.5 metre wide gates is not exactly easy, but it's possible which is the main thing, and I can manage to turn it round in the driveway despite the rig being nearly 13 metres long... which is good as there is no way you can drive it out. I decided to get this model of trailer after seeing the same model at our local trailer place in Bordeaux, the guy who owns it has a Dragon. It's cost a bit more than SBS but not all that more, still more than the boat though lol.
So - we set out on our mega adventure next Tuesday, staying at a hotel in Saumur who reckon I can park the rig in their car park LOL then crossing the channel on Wednesday night. I have found the weighbridge nearest to where we pick the boat up, and if we have time we will visit before we head back to France. Best of all, the trailer is already French registered...
Wish us and our Manchester Terrier luck ;-) and if any of you are interested in a very nice Venturer with a genuinely good road trailer, let me know...
.I took delivery of a brand spanking new French trailer 3 days ago, then spent a day dismantling keel supports, moving the axles, cutting down the brake rod/cable and re adjusting the brakes, removing one set of side supports as being a bilge keeler she doesn't need the 4 sets the enormous trailer came with. Tomorrow I will fit the two supports for the bilge keels and we will be done and dusted.
The trailer seems enormous because the chassis doesn't have the usual pull out light board on two bits of box section, but is full size chassis right to the back of the trailer, thus nearly 8 metres long by 2.4 metres wide. Backing it into our driveway from the 5 metre wide lane through our 3.5 metre wide gates is not exactly easy, but it's possible which is the main thing, and I can manage to turn it round in the driveway despite the rig being nearly 13 metres long... which is good as there is no way you can drive it out. I decided to get this model of trailer after seeing the same model at our local trailer place in Bordeaux, the guy who owns it has a Dragon. It's cost a bit more than SBS but not all that more, still more than the boat though lol.
So - we set out on our mega adventure next Tuesday, staying at a hotel in Saumur who reckon I can park the rig in their car park LOL then crossing the channel on Wednesday night. I have found the weighbridge nearest to where we pick the boat up, and if we have time we will visit before we head back to France. Best of all, the trailer is already French registered...
Wish us and our Manchester Terrier luck ;-) and if any of you are interested in a very nice Venturer with a genuinely good road trailer, let me know...
LittleSister
Well-known member
Good luck for the road journey(s), and happy sailing when you get her into her proper element.:encouragement:
AEMD
Member
Thank you
