Trailer for my planned boat trip

Ballistix

Ballistix

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www.cinematreadwell.com
Hi folks,

Started to look around for a trailer to buy for my board, now that I have the car to tow it. The boat is a 24ft Doral, 1800Kilos. Needs to be twin axel for sure. Anyone have any suggestions? Don't really want to spend more than 2K frankly, second hand even better. Tried ebay and boatsandoutboards and appolloduck. Will keep looking, wondering whether any of the vendors have any deals on.

T
 
Which Doral/engine do you have, as some of the published weights are wrong (by a fair amount !). I know from experience when I hired a crane to lift mine - had to send the first crane back and get a bigger one !!!
This could affect your trailer choice.
 
whats the car?. I d guess a reasonable trailer will be 700kg+, then add fuel in the boat, and all the rubbish, and then the fact you then use the boat space as a trailer... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif And dont forget its not just the rig, its also the car/rig max too.
Might be worth asking around a few sportsboat dealers, either to buy or even to rent/borrow, but up at this weight you want to be very sure about the braking system. I used to spend about £500 a year on repairs, but that was with regular dipping into the sea.
Having just been about a few yards, its amazing how many empty trailers there are.
Oh send you a PM...
 
[ QUOTE ]
Mitsi Shogun, has 2800K towing limit hoping that's OK. It tows two horses perfectly.

[/ QUOTE ]
Great vehicle, I towed a 23ft sealine down to the Med many times behind my 2.8 TD Pajero (same as shogun) The gearing is perfect for towing.
However I had many trailor problems due to punctures. I put it down to the wheels being too small and too close to the weight limit and in consequence getting too hot, so my advice is to go for the trailor that provides the largest wheel diameter and the largest margin of safety on weight.
 
Looking at an SBS R4/2600 from 2006, banked version on Friday. That seem about right? Yeah my wifes car is a Pajero 2800TD in fact, short wheel base but I think it should still be fine. The R4/2600 gives me a good enough margin?
 
23 ft Doral with a 5.7V8 weighs 1800KG - surely not!!!!

I would expect that baby to be weighing nearer 2200 - 2500kg surely.

They are a well built boat and that engine with the drive leg must be 400kg on it's own.
 
I would agree, dry weight of a the Doral has got to be over 2000kg. Once you have got some gear on board-fuel, tender, anchor etc its got to be nearer 2500kg. To be safe I would be looking for a 3000kg trailer and if possible a 3500kg model. I dont think The SBS 2600 you mentioned will even be legal with no gear on board.

You could risk it if you want to, but remember if the worst happens all the insurance companies could deny the claim if the rig is over weight.

To balance all that out in the past I regularly towed a 28ft boat that at times was 4500kg on the trailer, covered a lot of miles like that, but I'm not sure I would do it again.
 
Used to have near the setup you are considering.

Once owned a Bayliner 2255ciera, a brand new SBS 2600B twin axle trailer & towed behind a Mitsi Shogun 2.5TD GLS (SWB).

A few things spring to mind;

The trailer was 650kg unladen, boat was quoted as 1850kg which together is 2.5T, once fueled (boat) & packed for the holiday it was very close to the 2800kg towing limit of the car.
If you exceed the Gross train weight you invalidate your insurance so be very carefull.

The car towed without problem but watch those trailer brakes, they have to be 100% as I think the shogun has no ABS so if you brake hard & the trailer goes into overrun (releases brakes for reversing) the car will be pushed by the boat which is quite alarming if you hit a patch of slipery surface.
Brakes & sealed bearings only lasted 3 seasons (approx 1000miles)

My guess is you Doral will be heavier & so the trailer will need to the next model up which inturn will be heavier, the car therefore could do with being rated for 3.5T.

Another word of caution, make sure the trailer is rated for the payload, If I remember right the payload is lower than the 2600kg quoted, but I will check.( it was a long time ago )

EDIT
Just checked, gross is 2600kg (train weight) so capacity is only 2050kg on the SBS R4/2600B, you would need the SBS R4/3000B minimum I would think.

You will be close to the 2800kg dry so might be worth finding a cheap Discovery just for the purpose. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Doral 230CC from the original brochure, with the 7.4Mpi which is a heavier block than mine and the Bravo 3, which is the same as mine is 3979Lbs which is 1804 Kilos. Ad a bit for crap but I'm going to have to travel light is my guess.

I can't really go and buy another car for this, so I'll have to look into very precise detail into the points above. Many thanks for the input. But unless anyone can prove the original 2001 brochure from Doral wrong I'm going with 4000Lbs.

On this basis the SBS 2600 OK?
Thanks
T
 
If its US measures of weight then your right, I somehow imagined you had a 250se.

The SBS 2600B is a good trailer, it served us well over 5 years & other than 1 change of bearings & brakes then it needed no further maintenance. (salt diped approx 30 times & 1000 motorway miles)

The sealed bearings are on hub exchange so can be pricey but if you can find a friendly garage with a bearing press then its a fraction of the exchange price if you just buy the bearing.
Hub nut torque you will need a truck torque wrench for the tightening if I remember.

The setup is very close to what we had & we towed without problem many, many times untill I towed the rig home for the winter, it was in autumn & the leaves were off the trees, someone pulled out infront of us not wanting to wait, having to brake heavy I was put into a slide (which is why I changed the brakes), being pushed for quite some distance untill the car infront picked up speed.

After the event we sold the car & bought a shogun sport which had ABS & a larger towing capacity.

My advice if you do go for this setup is to load your car & not the boat, leave fueling the boat untill you get to your destination as the trailer will only have capacity for another 250kg above the dry weight of the boat, which once a spare wheel & jack etc is added will be less.
 
Enterprise, many thanks for that, yes I'm thinking keeping the boat as light as possible. I've just found out the SBS trailer is a slightly older R4/2500? Much difference?

The Doral 250 is a MUCH heavier boat, mine is just a cuddy.
Cheers
T
 
Give SBS a call, they were full of very usefull advice, I would think the 2500B is the much the same trailer.

Iv'e just looked at the prices & from memory they couldn't be beaten on new, the price now is the same as we payed for ours (over 10yrs ago).

I remember there were a few deals to be had back then so might be worth trying to haggle a bit.
 
OK - mine is a 250SE and was well over the published weight. Yours is smaller and like you say 'a cuddy', but you may still be underestimating weight. I would think the UK importers (Simco Marine - Totnes) will probably be able to give you a better idea of weight. They also sometimes know of trailers for sale.
Good luck.
 
Thanks Mike. I know David at Simco, will double check, I've also put in an email with Doral in Canada. They actually provided me with the brochure from 2001 and it has it all in there, but I will check.

T
 
I can highly recommend this trailer company, speak to Arthur.... I've had 2 superb trailers from them. Small company, build from scratch, are very local to me but far cheaper than some other larger companies who's trailers are much poorer in construction!

I have NO connection with De-Graaff, just a very happy customer!

De Graaff Trailers

tn_Windy%2025.jpg
 
I can only confirm that there is a huge difference between the documented or calculated weight and the real weight, as there are so many extra's that are not counted, such as:
- battery's
- anker and chain
- oil in the engine and the drive
- cooling water in the engine
- remaining fuel in the tank, even when it is almost empty..
- electronics
- deck stuff...

my first boat :
21ft, with 2500 trailer
documented (calculated) weight inclusive trailer: 2400kg
real weight: 2800kg

the next one:
23ft with 2800 trailer
documented weight on the trailer: 2600kg
real weight: 3000kg

my actual boat
28ft with 3500 trailer
documented weight: 3400 kg
real weight: 3800kg
and with some extra's fo hollyday, or more remaining fuel: 4T
This trailer is an alluminium model,
The alu version weights 200kg less then steel, for the same max load capacity.
Alu might be a solution for you, but far more expensive, and very rare second hand

last year I drove 12000 km'ers with this setup
my advice,
make sure that the boat is very well ballanced on the trailer,
the right weight on the hook (100..120 kg)
make sure the brakes and the bearings are in tip top shape, give them a "good" maintenance every season.
 
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