Trailer?

[gerry27]

We had given up boating (thought we were getting too old) But find we miss it too much. Has anyone experience of trailer boats? Ideally we would like something large enough to sleep on, suitable for coastal cruising. This is a new field for us so ant advice would be welcome.

 

[neale]

Trailing a boat big enough to sleep on is harder work than you might think. An alternative that may be worth thinking about is dry stacking.

 

[markcw]

Very recently we decided to try and sale our wellcraft 20.7ft sports cuddy, we wanted something to sleep on, proper toilet, sink and cooking facilities and more space, 25 ft was the minium size that we looked at, and after lots of differnet boats we ended wanting a maxium 2400 sports cruiser at £18.000 but then added up the trailer size required which was 28ft the boat is 5000lbs basic weight not fully loaded. do the maths and we worked it out to be a complete weight of nearly 3.5 to 4 ton, well thats our landrover td5 out, max towing with the disco td5 is 3.8 max minus 10% for total gross axle weight.

Towing a boat the size you and i need requires one very heavy duty tow vehicle, like the americans use big pick ups.

we then looked at dry stacking and butting on a mooring down near torquay area, well the price frightend me behond belief how much

We then looked at a storage somewhere and the cheapest was £60 a week but i would not be allowed to work on it while in storage. and no places available yet name on list thing.

As you can quess, we dropped it like a brick in water, we love the boat we have and it allows us to lots on the water with basic liveing and lots of safe coastal cruising, Vid on forum soon, also being underneath a large car port i can work on it any time in rain-wind-snow.

good luck but do the costing very accuratly, this is a pic of our boat, total full weight inc trailer 2.6 ton

 

[Elza_Skip]

Hi, You can get a trailerable cruiser but you really need a landrover/disco to tow it.

25' is about the maximum length, we had a Sealine S23 that was 2.4 tonne dry with about 600kg for the trailer plus some gear/fuel put it at around the 3.5 Tonne which is the maximum on UK roads until you get air brakes.

I'll tell you though this is a really big rig so you need to be sure you want to tow something this size.

If you go for more like 21' like above then towing is easier and a more regular 4x4 can do the job

 

[oGaryo]

Have a look at this video and the stills at the end of it for the 'fun' you'll have towing a 25ft 4 berth cruiser.... and then think again, far more hassle than it's worth preparing it for towing and 'very' stressful once underway


the video is of our boat, the day we collected her

 

[landlockedpirate]

I have always trailed my boats, for me the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Having said that I agree with everything said above, big trail boats are hard work !

The maximum you can tow legally is about 25ft and 2300kg dry weight, it will be over 30ft on the trailer and will need a big tow car. With this type of boat you will get 4 berths in a forward V and mid cabin crawl in berth, you may also get 2 more berths in the cockpit on a sun pad. You get a small but functional head with shower, tiny galley and fridge.

With planning and organisation you can go on an extended cruise, but its more like camping than the QM2.

Towing a boat this size can be stressful, I always plan routes and slipways in detail (getting stuck down a single track lane in Cornwall with a 60ft rig is not something I want to repeat ).

Trailboating is cheaper than marina boating (IMHO about 50%) of the costs, but its at least 100% more trouble. (Dont forget to factor in the towcar costs, I have found its better to run a dedicated older 3rd towcar).

If you can live with the downsides, the advantages are fantastic. You can choose any cruising ground you want, my record was Scotland, Wales, England, Channel Islands, France, Spain and Balearics in a single year

 

[markcw]

Lovely big trailer boats, great pics, just what i wanted, but for me the cost of having an extra 4ft approx increased my costs greatly. But trailer boating is good and gives your so much choice as to were to go, that is if the slip way can cater for your size of boat, some slips i have rang to go and use could not cater for us and the size of trailer

mark

 

[GrahamHR]

We have an American cuddy boat, just over 8m in length. The trailer+ boat+fuel+ usual stuff weight is just under 3.5 tonnes ( weighbridge data, so not a guess!). We don't tow it around, we pay someone to take it to and from the marina (cheaper than buying/ running a massive 4x4 for the whole year, which would only be needed to tow it). Even the unloaded trailer is loooooooooong, but thankfully only 650kg or so, so easy to tow with a normal family car !

Graham

 

[STEVEDUNSTABLE]

We had given up boating (thought we were getting too old) But find we miss it too much. Has anyone experience of trailer boats? Ideally we would like something large enough to sleep on, suitable for coastal cruising. This is a new field for us so ant advice would be welcome.

HI GERRY.....have a poke n sniff around my website (below)..this is the way we do it and it might give you some food for thought..1 of the vids shows us launching,(but i cant remember which 1 at this time of day)!!!!!!!!......if you want to know ANYTHING, more then just PM me or go through the website..regards steve.......

 

[markcw]

great site Stevedunstable,

that Aura is a beatifull boat, but why have the controlls on the throttle sticks on left side, Audi R8 very nice, all of these comments about trailer big boat makes me what to re think getting the Maxum cruiser, but my main problem is I have no where at home to store a bigger boat, when i looked into storage places, alot of company would not allow you to work on the boat unless you took it away do the work and return it.

Steve you td5 what kind of fuel consumtion do you get with thanks mum on the back, my td5 2001 is doing 30mtg normal and about
22-25 ish with wellcrafty.

mark

 

[STEVEDUNSTABLE]

great site Stevedunstable,

that Aura is a beatifull boat, but why have the controlls on the throttle sticks on left side, Audi R8 very nice, all of these comments about trailer big boat makes me what to re think getting the Maxum cruiser, but my main problem is I have no where at home to store a bigger boat, when i looked into storage places, alot of company would not allow you to work on the boat unless you took it away do the work and return it.

Steve you td5 what kind of fuel consumtion do you get with thanks mum on the back, my td5 2001 is doing 30mtg normal and about
22-25 ish with wellcrafty.

mark

hi mark.........PM SENT.