Trailers, which is best,2 or 4 wheel?

G

geardownthreegreens

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 Sep 2007
Messages
811
Location
Cheltenham
Visit site
Hi again guys.

I've decided against the Bayliner i spoke of last week which had'nt been serviced in 2years, and so i'm now looking at either,

A Rinker 192 bowrider with no trailer, budget of 10K

or 2 Campion Allante's,both cuddy,both immaculate.
They both come with trailers, one being a 2wheel and the other,well you guessed it, a 4 wheel.

Now both trailers look like they could do with a spruce up and in the past i've only had 2wheel which i've not had a problem with.The only thought ever running through my head whilst towing,is what happens when a tyre blows? doesn't bare thinking about really.

Would a 4wheel trailer use more fuel as its more drag on the road or am i thinking rubbish here,of course there is the added cost of maintance with 4wheels and bearings etc

Any thoughts,what do you tow,those that tow of course.

Once again,thankyou for any comments.

Have a lovely Christmas guys
Simon
 
Dont buy a bowridder for the sea. Others will fill you in.

The trailer you need, depends how heavy the boat is. Nothing else. The ones your looking at, seem a bit marginal, hence one on two wheels, tuther on four. If this the case, go for four. But yes, it will probably take more pulling.
 
We have single, double, and a triple axle trailer on the farm.

Yes single axle ones are a pain when a tyre fails, so go for a double one. The increased rolling resistance of another pair of wheels is to a certain extent offset by the decreased deflection of four tyres rather than two.

The only snag with two axles is the tendency of the trailer to influence the car's suspension and steering functions via the towball, when going over speed humps or small bridges.
 
The most we go up to is about 18 tonnes off the tow hitch of a farm tractor, and that's a double (interlinked) axle placed towards the rear of the trailer. Nowhere near your experience !

I towed a double axle caravan for a friend once, and got the shock of my towing life when the rig's first axle first went UP the speed bump and pushed the nose of the car right down, then as the second axle went DOWN the speed bump, the car nose came right up. It wasn't a LandRover BTW !

A single axle tends to be under the CofG of the load, a double one is spread about two feet either side of the CofG so acts as a lever on the towbar.

Have to be careful with the sheep trailer, otherwise they all end in a fluffy heap at one end of the trailer, and that really makes for an interesting situation, and the RSPCA chap at the market won't like it at all. (They never like anything, even bits of bale cord tied on to handles as it "could flip against the side of the trailer causing the animals distress"). I can understand someone getting twitchy about bits of flying rope knocking off a mad cyclist, but the sheep are going to be thinking about lots of things apart from than flapping string. Like will there be food when we get to the market, praps.
 
I used to tow a 2ton cruiser behind a Ford Transit with 4 wheels, it looked a bit iffy with 4 wheels so put another axle on and it towed really well.the only prob. was when you wanted to manouvre, without the van,the wind up on the tyres was so great I had to take a set off!! Before the days of speed humps.Dont think I would like to tow a boat on a single axle.
 
gillyboy, first choose your boat, don't choose the boat on the specs of the trailer, (unless two boats are really identical but I doubt). Then try to go for a 4wheel trailer, it has a little more resistance on the road, and a lot more resistance when manouvring, BUT much more safer in terms of stability on the road, and security in the unlikely event of a tire explosion.
When you have bought a 2nd hand trailer, have it serviced before use (checking and grease bearings and brakes), and check the age of the tires, replace them if older then 8 years, even if they have never been used !!!
all tires have a number that indicates the manufacturing date
Buying a very old trailer is no problem if you take these precautions.
 
nothing wrong with a bowrider, as long as thats what you want and you are sure you are in the right location. Re trailers.. they are expensive to fix and service. If weight permits- a single axle, its much easier to man handle (weight for one thing) around the trailer park etc.
Allow for £250-500 repairs on the trailer if it hasnt been serviced recently- jammed brakes,knackered bearings,seized cables etc. Of course, if you have four wheels... !!
 
[ QUOTE ]
.Dont think I would like to tow a boat on a single axle.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed.

I used to tow on two wheels and there are two problems

1) the tyres need to be bigger (to cope with the weight issue) so you need deeper water to float off

2) The cost and difficulty of sourcing tyres with adequate spec to carry weight is almost impossible, so much better to double tyres and so halve weight on each tyre and then easy to find tyres that will carry the load.
 
We towed a double-axle trailer when I was racing karts. It was fine but when we wanted to move it by hand we had to wind down the jockey wheel to lift the front set of wheels off the ground or it wouldn't steer.

We also had a car battery powered trailer mover to move if around which worked very well.
 
Having towed a fair bit some of the advice seems the wrong way round....

First thing, as mentioned above, is pick the boat and then worry about the trailer.

What should then determine what you use is the weight of the thing. If it's heavy then go for the twin axle set up, if not then stick to single as it's a lot easier to move around.

As for tyres, fit van tyres which have good load carrying capability and tend to be a bit stiffer than car type ones.

Agree with hlb about bow riders as well /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
Thankyou all very much guys for your inputs.

A bit of a mixed bag of thoughts but i was expecting it :-)

I owned 3 Bayliner cuddy's now and all with single axles,and i have to say not been a problem yet,easy to tow,i know a 4 wheel will be heavier,but 2 wheels do make me a little nervous.

The ideal situation would to be able to store the boat and trailer on a farm/campsite somewhere near Torquay so would'nt really be much of an issue then whether i had 2or4wheel but its unlikely unless someone knows of a good cheap site, anyone :-)

Appreciate your comments as always guys, if you dont ask, you dont find anything out and i still have a lot to learn about boating.

Regards and merry christmas
Simon
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top