Trailer for 26ft 2.5ton long keel yacht

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Scotty_Tradewind said:
Hi guys....

yes we have a Nissan Pathfinder to tow with boat on.

I have a licence to cover towing with the load.

Not sure what vehicle minimum we'll require with trailer minus load if required. ??

S.
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My Nissan Pathfinder is only 3000kgs Towing capacity, if yours is the same you are going to be lucky if you are under that.

As far as I know you'll need the same towing capacity empty or loaded, if the trailer has a maximum gross weight of 3500kgs that is what the vehicle towing it must be rated to tow even if the trailer is empty and only weighs 650kgs.

Not sure what the situation is with an older un-plated trailer (Is it pre-1989?).
 
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As I understand it, plod go by the figures on the trailer plate; so you might have an empty trailer, but if the plate says it can carry 10 tons, you're done for that figure !

Please do check, but that's certainly how it was the last I heard...

For info and an example, at Cadnam which is the main choke point for traffic to and from the New Forest - ie holiday area - the police lay in wait ( naturally it seems to take two flash interceptor cars to do this ) for caravans or anything being trailed, then escort them to a weighbridge nearby...

Sure beats dealing with baddies who might thump them or otherwise spoil the overtime.
 
Nope. That ludicrous situation was changed in April 2014. The gross weight of the trailer, or trailer and load is the important thing now.
 
There are two separate offences being discussed here. One is towing a trailer which your driving licence doesn't cover you for (not so much of a problem for us old gits who past our tests before 199y) and the other is exceeding the Gross Train Weigh of the vehicle. As far as I'm aware, they go on the plated weight of the trailer (even if it's empty), but the second offence has to be what it (and the car) actually weigh at the time the offence is committed.
 
ghostlymoron said:
By that do you mean by gross weight is what it weighs with the load on it if any?
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Yes. The bit that is hanging from your tow-hitch.

Avocet said:
There are two separate offences being discussed here. One is towing a trailer which your driving licence doesn't cover you for (not so much of a problem for us old gits who past our tests before 199y) and the other is exceeding the Gross Train Weigh of the vehicle. As far as I'm aware, they go on the plated weight of the trailer (even if it's empty), but the second offence has to be what it (and the car) actually weigh at the time the offence is committed.
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No. They amended the regs in April this year. I have seen it on the internet, but it, in common with the rest of the the trailer law, is really tricky to find on-line.
 
IMG_20141118_134748.jpgIMG_20141118_144412.jpg

Not sure if these will take...

Boat on trailer. It was a pig to tow more due to width on the welsh roads (8'5"), as for weight I reckon I may have been a little over the 3.5t which would suggest the boat was around 3.3 ish however starting and stopping was fine. I'll get it on the weighbridge soon and report back.
 
Yay, pics worked! Click for larger image.

Fun bit was getting the tractor stuck on the beach... small tyres on the trailer meant it sunk up to it's axles getting through the soft bit before the access road.

On the plus side... 1st proper yacht.
 
Lakesailor said:
No. They amended the regs in April this year. I have seen it on the internet, but it, in common with the rest of the the trailer law, is really tricky to find on-line.
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That's interesting. So what were the regs amended to? Is it now OK to tow (say) a trailer plated at (say) 3 tonnes that weighs (say) 500kg empty (as long as it's empty) if you passed your test after 1997? Or do you mean that they can do you for being overloaded if your car has a Gross Train Weight of (say) 3000kg and the car weighs 2000kg and you're towing an empty trailer weighing 500kg empty but plated at 3000kg?
 
Avocet said:
Just a word of caution. How confident is the OP about the weight of the boat? 2.5 tonnes seems light for a 26 foot long keeler. Avocet is supposed to weigh 6000lbs ready to sail (just under 2 3/4 tons). Imagine my surprise when, with empty fuel and water tanks, stripped of absolutely everything I could (even the rudder), no sails, boom, rigging, anchors, chains etc...

...the crane driver told me there was 3.5 tonnes showing on his load cell!
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The dry weight of the Nordic Folkboat is 1930kg - on a boat in commission I'd expect another 700 - 1100kg, so would probably just scrape in under 3 tonnes.
 
http://www.solopublications.com/sailmarieif.htm#marieif

"Only just inside limits"...... just glad we didn't get hauled over onto a weighbridge. ;)

However, towed nicely with the V6 Shogun...... trailer breaks excellent, no sway at max of 55mph on motorway but most of

journey off the motorway done at very sedate speed with flashy orange lights etc....

S.
 
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Excellent news! That's some trip! Incidentally, I saw a bit of one of these reality TV shows the other day (about traffic police) and they pulled a "Transit-style" dropside full of rocks on suspicion of being overloaded. He was something like 35% over the odds on his 3.5 tonne Gross Vehicle Weight, so he got done, but the copper said to the camera "if he'd only been 10% over, I might have let him off with it", so that's worth knowing (even if it was just one copper on one occasion)!
 
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