Typical towing weight

[ProDave]

Oh yes. I read that as 100lbs.
With regard to adjustable height couplings, the e-marking situation usually means that only a 4x4 can legally have an adjustable coupling height, unless you particular car has an homologated one available.

As I discussed before, to match the towball height with the trailer height, I had to use a drop plate "upside down" to raise my towball. In fact I regularly drive my car with two towballs of different heights fitted. but then my car IS 4X4 so I have no concerns about that.

Also a lot of older close-coupled trailers only have the brakes on the front pair of wheels which is not legal now. I haven't worked out if that new regulation is backwards enforceable.

My boat trailer is like that, just the front axle braked. But since the trailer is probably as old as the boat, if not older, i.e 1980's I have always assumed if it was legal when it was built, it is still legal to use. In much the same way that my 40 year old Landrover with single circuit brakes, no foglights etc etc is still perfectly legal to use.

Giving another example for the OP, my 18ft boat weighs about 750Kg and the trailer no more than 500Kg so I'm comfortably below the towing limit of my car of 1500Kg

And nose weight is very important. My trailer when I bought the boat was set up completely wrong with no nosewight and it towed like a pig. I had to move the axles back a bit to get some noseweight and now it is stable to tow at 60mph.

My own trailer also had 2 rotten tyres and 2 near failed wheel bearings when I got it. It survived a 25 mile tow home slowly, but had I taken it straight on a long motorway journey I am 100% sure it would have ended in failure. If you are going to collect a boat on a trailer and tow it a long distance you are placing 100% faith in the previous owner setting it up and maintaining it.

 

[savsail]

Towing

I used to have a Dockrell 17 and that had an all up towing weight of 1100kg. The trailer cost me more to maintain than the boat did!
If you are still stuck I have a Vivaro van that is more than capable of towing most trailer sailers.

 

[Lakesailor]

The bizarre thing is that the regulations have been tightened up on a regular basis and the laws are very strictured.
However most towers are oblivious of the regs and strangely most police are as well.

I sold a boat and trailer to a civilian Police Vehicle Inspector.He turned up with a trailer board with a hand-drawn number plate (illegal) and when he put it on the indicators worked on the wrong sides. He said "Oh. It'll be OK", and set off like that!

 

[aquaplane]

I sold a boat and trailer to a civilian Police Vehicle Inspector.He turned up with a trailer board with a hand-drawn number plate (illegal) and when he put it on the indicators worked on the wrong sides. He said "Oh. It'll be OK", and set off like that!

Of course he would be Ok. If he got pulled he would flash his Warrant card and he would carry on home.

It's not legal though.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

The bizarre thing is that the regulations have been tightened up on a regular basis and the laws are very strictured.
However most towers are oblivious of the regs and strangely most police are as well.

I sold a boat and trailer to a civilian Police Vehicle Inspector.He turned up with a trailer board with a hand-drawn number plate (illegal) and when he put it on the indicators worked on the wrong sides. He said "Oh. It'll be OK", and set off like that!

Wouldn't the obvious thing have been to turn the board upside down, and invert the number-plate? It would all have been correct then.

 

[Lakesailor]

It would. Except he had drawn the characters on the board itself.
I offered him a bit of white plastic and some tape, but he wasn't interested.

 

[David2452]

100kg sounds a lot for the nose weight!

Not so sure about that, my car will do up to 135kg trailer nose weight and the more the better for stability, up to the vehicle, tow bar or trailer A frame max of course, whichever is the lowest.

 

[VicS]

Not so sure about that, my car will do up to 135kg trailer nose weight and the more the better for stability, up to the vehicle, tow bar or trailer A frame max of course, whichever is the lowest.

In post #18 I said, "Having expressed my surprise ( I thought it was 100lbs!) I have looked into this a little.
I am finding recommendations of 5 to 7% ( of the laden trailer weight) with the proviso of course that it should not exceed the maximum the manufacturer specifies for the car or the towbar."

 

[AntarcticPilot]

In post #18 I said, "Having expressed my surprise ( I thought it was 100lbs!) I have looked into this a little.
I am finding recommendations of 5 to 7% ( of the laden trailer weight) with the proviso of course that it should not exceed the maximum the manufacturer specifies for the car or the towbar."

I once saw someone lose control of a caravan they were towing; it started snaking, and eventually threw the car (and van) off the road; luckily it didn't throw them into the faster lanes. That was on the A1(M) just north of Hatfield. It looked very much as if the car hadn't enough weight on the tow-bar, and the driver apparently compounded it by braking when the snaking started. Fortunately no other vehicle was involved, though I had a grand-stand view as I was just coming up on him in an outer lane, and could see and anticipate what was happening. The crash was spectacular, but I think (and hope) that it was one they could walk away from it. There wasn't anything I could do to help, because by the time I'd pulled over, I'd have been half a mile down the road, and others were better placed to lend a hand.

So, if I were towing, I'd want to get the towbar weight right; getting it wrong doesn't bear thinking about.

 

[VicS]

So, if I were towing, I'd want to get the towbar weight right; getting it wrong doesn't bear thinking about.

What I want to know is how you set up a twin axle trailer.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

What I want to know is how you set up a twin axle trailer.

Don't ask me - I was relating an incident I saw ehere someone got it wrong. I'm afraid I'm no expert on towing.

 

[ProDave]

What I want to know is how you set up a twin axle trailer.

A twin axle trailer needs the weight distribution correct, just like any other trailer. In the case if a twin axle, you want the centre of mass between the two axles, but a bit nearer to the front one.

In the case of my trailer this was wrong when I got it, so I had to move both axle further back along the spine of the trailer to get it right.

But another important thing with a twin axle trailer is the towbar height of the car. that's MUCH more critical than with a single axle trailer.

Again, in my case the towbar height of the trailer was much higher than that of the trailer. So I fitted my "upside down" drop plate to the car.

With the trailer at rest, it's towbar should sit a little lower than the car's towbar. And as you raise the trailer's towbar, it will meet resistance. At the point it reaches the cars towball height, that is where you measure (with say a spring ballance) what the noseweight will be on the car.

 

[Avocet]

Noseweight on a twin axle trailer, can be a bit of a meaningless concept. The better twin axle trailers have an additional pivot between the axles, so that the trailer body can tilt slightly whilst keeping more or less equal load on each axle. On these, you stand a better chance of getting a reasonably constant noseweight. The other sort typically have a suspension unit between each axle and the trailer chassis, but they're not connected to each other in any way. With these, as has been said, the nose weight is dependent on towball height. Unless you have a car with self-levelling suspension, the trailer's nose weight is going to change a bit even as you drive along and use fuel, and will fluctuate wildly (especially if the trailer is stiffly-sprung) as you go over road undulations.

 

[David2452]

Ap per pro "snaking" when I used to tow a quite heavy fishing boat (Alaska 600 laden with kit and heavy outboards) a lot and for quite large distances I managed to fit one of those friction type anti snake devices and I would certainly do it again as it did make life a little less stressful when being overtaken by coaches and some times trucks on motorways.