Towbar mounted bike carrier to carry an outboard?

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Minerva

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I’ve had an idea!

My boat lives ona swinging mooring and as such the petrol outboard comes back and forth in the car each weekend. As a result during the summer the car has a perpetual whiff of petrol.

But! I have a swan neck tow bar! Would one of these bike racks;

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/towbar-mounted-bike-carrier/_/R-p-328788

With a plank across the top be a good way to waft up the road? The wee Suzuki is less than 1/2 the rated max weight and could happily hang off the back of the car!
 
I've had a couple of these and carried two bikes quite happily with them. Taking the grease off the ball helps to keep it straight as it can twist slightly. Outboard are very top heavy compared to bikes and I would be a little concerned with so much weight high up. I recon with a bit of modification it could work though.
These guys might have something that could work Products - Bak-Rak Ltd
 
Personally I would use a piece of thick ply bolted to the rack to mount the engine on. A rule of thumb for securing loads is that it should comfortably cope with 1 g deceleration when braking and 1/2 g acceleration in all other directions ( up/ down /each side
1 g is the weight of the item.
You also need to be aware that the system must not vibrate or shake loose
 
I've thought about this everytime I have to drive 3hrs with my outboard in the car. I use black binbags and triple bag it and it still stinks. Let us know how you get on.
 
Minerva said:
I’ve had an idea!

My boat lives ona swinging mooring and as such the petrol outboard comes back and forth in the car each weekend. As a result during the summer the car has a perpetual whiff of petrol.

But! I have a swan neck tow bar! Would one of these bike racks;

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/towbar-mounted-bike-carrier/_/R-p-328788

With a plank across the top be a good way to waft up the road? The wee Suzuki is less than 1/2 the rated max weight and could happily hang off the back of the car!
Click to expand...
The reviews make interesting reading... not sure I'd trust it with a bike never mind an outboard... 🤔
 
Can you mount an outboard bracket on the boot? BigPlumbs designed one on the back of his dinghy so might advise.
Bigplumbs said:
Outboard Mount Now 95 % Complete. Just got to make the slide in Board which will probably be made of 2 Pieces of the 'Plastic' Chopping board sandwiched together. And yes it is all bolted and screwed through to strong points made of the Chopping board stuck with CT 1 to the inside of the Transom. That chopping board is about £2.99 from QD and is good for many things. Very strong, Drills well and takes a screw incredible well. I await all those comments that say it will fail and the world will end cos I used it lol :ROFLMAO: (y)

View attachment 197386View attachment 197387View attachment 197388View attachment 197389View attachment 197391
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You can also get flat platforms that clamp onto towballs. I used to carry an outboard this way. The rack was made by Cruz.
 
I would not trust any rack that attaches to the tow ball. I have one which has a heavy plate that is clamped under the ball and remains there. It has 2 posts one each side onto which the tubular rack fits. Seems strong enough with 2 bikes. It does not have upper level support although that could be arranged with tapes. I have done something similar with my Honda 2.3 on a plank at the back of mobility scooter. Short travel distance somewhat slower. (towing dinghy and with oars quite a sight)
If I wanted another I would try car boot sales. But in any case you will always be checking mirror to make sure O/B is still attached. ol'will
 
People regularly put paramotors onto towball mounted ex-bike racks without issue. Some even run them up while tied/clamped to said rack...

But not all racks are made equal; I have three: Two are expensive branded ones and they work just fine as designed; The cheap Halfords one we bought in Ireland (after an unseen/unmarked speedhump on a 60mph straight road fractured the back wall of the moho) has to be tied to the towbar to stop it rotating about the yaw axis (it is secure in pitch and roll).
 
Fantasie 19 said:
The reviews make interesting reading... not sure I'd trust it with a bike never mind an outboard... 🤔
Click to expand...
I've got a tow ball clamp rack by Thule, arguably "best quality"? It certainly was not cheap.
The VWs concerned all had "swan neck" type removable tow bars, thus had to use the clamp type racks.

Only used for the kids bikes. Personally I wouldn't trust it with an outboard.
As others have said, it's not just a matter of total weight, but weight distribution/centre of gravity too. If that comes loose it could do a lot of damage/injury.

That said, as an Engineer, the smell of small engines doesn't bother me at all. Petrol leaks do!
 
William_H said:
I would not trust any rack that attaches to the tow ball. I have one which has a heavy plate that is clamped under the ball and remains there. It has 2 posts one each side onto which the tubular rack fits. Seems strong enough with 2 bikes. It does not have upper level support although that could be arranged with tapes. I have done something similar with my Honda 2.3 on a plank at the back of mobility scooter. Short travel distance somewhat slower. (towing dinghy and with oars quite a sight)
If I wanted another I would try car boot sales. But in any case you will always be checking mirror to make sure O/B is still attached. ol'will
Click to expand...
Until two years ago, I would have agreed with you that only a flange mount (plate) would be secure enough to attach any sizeable load to a tow ball. When my flange-equipped car was replaced with a tow-ball only mount, I was forced to try the style that just clamps around the tow ball. As LLiade and SeeSimon have commented, the clamp-style racks certainly work. My Thule bike rack supports around 40kg and doesn't not move at all despite the bumpy roads it travels over. My budget Cruz clamp on rack also never flinches as it supports my fold-up RIB.
 
A clamp on rack, came with my electric bike which is much stronger than the one I used to have. It would easily carry a small outboard.

Have you tried cleaning the insides of the outboard and around the motor to reduce the whiff. I let mine live in the car most of the summer and I find it's the petrol can that actually produces the smell.

But I need to be careful not to spill any petrol when topping the engine up.
 
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