Trailing a boat to Italy

[bbg]

I may need to trail my boat to Italy. Beam 3 metres.

I understand that, (in addition to my licence) through France, all I need is a "convoy exceptionelle" board and light, but in Italy it might be more difficult.

Does anyone know where I can find the regulations for towing a 3 m trailer in Italy?

Thanks.

 

[Jim@sea]

I am sure that I read somewhere that as long as the trailer is 2.5 meters wide the boat can "overhang" it by a lot more but whether it would allow for an overhang of 250mm on either side you will have to find out. Perhaps the RYA would know.

 

[Stork_III]

I may need to trail my boat to Italy. Beam 3 metres.

I understand that, (in addition to my licence) through France, all I need is a "convoy exceptionelle" board and light, but in Italy it might be more difficult.

Does anyone know where I can find the regulations for towing a 3 m trailer in Italy?

Thanks.

This old thread may be some help. http://www.ybw.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-42039.html Seems to say you can't trail it in the UK without notification to Police.

 

[Neil_Y]

Not sure about the current reg's but we towed a half tonner down to Italy in 1985 she was over 2.5m as you say convoy excep and flashing yellow light for France (but we weren't allowed on the auto routes) but Italy we were supposed to have a police escort.

We kind of knew this and took a gamble, quickest way was auto route and it only just fitted trough the payage booth, the guy in the kiosk just saw the keel as we squeezed the fat hull through with what seemed like a few cm to spare in the mirrors all was Ok until 15 miles from the event, as we turned off the main road there were two Italian Police there to stop us and ask for some drinking vouchers. They knew the rules and knew all the boats going to the event were over the limit. They succeded in getting quite a few competitors to pay up to carry on. We were given a lift to the cash point! did some hard negotiating and made it through with a smaller beer budget to work with.

I have a picture somewhere online of the set up, the huge mast made going round bends interesting in french villages.

I suggest talking to the AA they were very helpful when we went.

 

[bbg]

This old thread may be some help. http://www.ybw.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-42039.html Seems to say you can't trail it in the UK without notification to Police.

I won't be towing in the UK so that's not an issue. Only France and Italy.
For France I can talk to my boatbuilder - he trails boats like mine all the time. But I've heard different things about Italy, and can't find anything on the internet.

 

[haydude]

I may need to trail my boat to Italy. Beam 3 metres.
I understand that, (in addition to my licence) through France, all I need is a "convoy exceptionelle" board and light, but in Italy it might be more difficult.
Does anyone know where I can find the regulations for towing a 3 m trailer in Italy?
Thanks.

Please note first of all that unlike in the UK where the Police checks only for speed, in Italy you can be fined if your vehicle or tow are not 100% compliant with the rules. That applies to the simple non working bulb (a non working breaks bulb attracts an hefty fine), to signals for towing vehicles and overhanging objects. Your overhanging mast for example must carry at the aftmost end a square signal with diagonal red/white strips and yellow reflectors at each corner.

DIMENSIONS:
The maximum towable boat beam is 2.5 (article 61 of the road code or CdS). Exceeding this size requires registration for "trasporto eccezionale". This limit however can be exceeded by the extended mirrors (and only by the mirrors).
Maximum length including vehicle + tow = 18.35m (article 61 CdS).
The height cannot exceed 4 metres. One must be careful if the mast is loaded at an angle that it does not tip above 4m.

WEIGHT:
Your car registration book should indicate the maximum towable weight. In any case it cannot exceed the towing vehicle's weight including accessories and driver. In general the towable weight is always less than the towing vehicle weight, for obvious safety reasons. Of course in the towable weight one must include the trailer's weight too. The total will be boat + trailer.
The towable weight is reduced to 80% of the max if the trailer does not have a continous and automatic breaking system and to 50% if it does not have a breaking system.

I will omit some details around registration, number plates and lights and jump to the driving license. A normal car driving license (Cat. B) allows the driver to carry a maximum load of 3.5T = 3500Kg (that is car + tow). Exceeding that weight one must have a Lorry (Cat. C) driving license.

I recommend to look into the full details, but from what I understand you would be already non compliant by far.

Since the Italian road code complies with and is aligned to the EU road code, the same rules apply to the countries who are normally aligned with the EU regulations (hence all of those that you will cross getting from the UK to Italy).

I am afraid rules around vehicles and tows in Italy and the EU are not as slack as in the UK and again, the police will stop you and check.
Just as a story of how picky they can be, I witnessed a Swiss car stopped at the border and not allowed into Italy because it was lacking the front number plate (in Switzerland the front number plate is not mandatory).

Good luck!

 

[haydude]

to pay up to carry on. We were given a lift to the cash point! did some hard negotiating and made it through with a smaller beer budget to work with.

I am disappointed to hear that. You should not have complied with their demands, but then you were at fault and if they applied the rules they should have impounded your car, trailer and boat, and you would have hardly ever seen them again. Overall consider yourself lucky.

 

[bbg]

I recommend to look into the full details, but from what I understand you would be already non compliant by far.

The only non-compliance seems to be beam. Surely there must be a way around this, as there are undoubtedly wide loads transported in Italy from time to time.

 

[haydude]

The only non-compliance seems to be beam. Surely there must be a way around this, as there are undoubtedly wide loads transported in Italy from time to time.

I googled for some guidance, but it looks like an administrative nightmare, hard to achieve without the help of a commercial agency. So far I found only application forms to individual Provinces, but it looks like these are for local businesses having to move about their loads. I am sure there must be something applicable to an incoming international transit, but not on the Internet. Rules and regulations are so complicated in Italy that for anything out of the norm one must always engage a specialized private agency to sort out the admin work.

Try and google for "domanda trasporto eccezionale", see if you can make more sense of it.

 

[DownWest]

I talked to a guy who trailed a cat boat from Germany to Rochefort. Only 6.5mt long, but 3.1mt wide. They had to have an escort car out front with the lights and wide load sign. Italy sounds like a nightmare.

 

[Ru88ell]

In Italy just rename the boat 'Ruby', and if challenged just say Berlusconi said it would be OK.

 

[Monique]

At 3.0 meters, the boat should be fairly consequent; why not stop in Nice or Monaco, put it in the water and sail it from there?? No trailering in Italy...

But if you have to take the boat to Venice or Bari.....

 

[bbg]

At 3.0 meters, the boat should be fairly consequent; why not stop in Nice or Monaco, put it in the water and sail it from there?? No trailering in Italy...

But if you have to take the boat to Venice or Bari.....

Boat is only 21 feet long and weighs about a tonne. A bit more with gear, but I was planning to put heavy stuff in the tow vehicle.

I'm going for a race in Genoa, so want to be able to take it direct to the race start. Yes, I could stop in Nice, launch, rig and deliver but that would add days to the itinerary, in each direction.

This is what it looks like on the trailer.

 

[SilverBreeze]

Ask the experts: http://www.minitransat650.com/

I am sure LeoV and his readers, most from FRA and ITA will have answers.

 

[bbg]

Ask the experts: http://www.minitransat650.com/

I am sure LeoV and his readers, most from FRA and ITA will have answers.

Already tried there. Answer was more or less - "it's illegal. Drive at night and hope for the best." Not very reassuring.

 

[BrianH]

Already tried there. Answer was more or less - "it's illegal. Drive at night and hope for the best." Not very reassuring.

Italian bureaucracy makes it a nightmare to obtain permission for road transport of large loads. Every province to be passed through must provide that permission and police departments must approve your route and, if a wide load, provide an escorting vehicle both in front and behind. Everything needs to be paid for.

The one transport company that did agree to bring my boat to the northern Adriatic (they must have needed the money - all others refused) did so illegally. The driver waited in Austria until the early morning hours before crossing the border, arriving at the marina at 06:30. On being asked why, he informed me about the above - it was all news to me - and said that the traffic police were not usually active during those hours and he could risk it. For a longer journey than to northern Italy it would not have been possible.