rafiki_
Well-Known Member
Result. I have colleagues like you, a problem for every solution.
When is a boat treailer illegal
- Thread starter Jim@sea
- Start date
markcw
Well-Known Member
easiest way to rectify all the issues, is to get a second had braked axle, add a brace at mid section of trailer, and use solid rods or cables as the link to the braked hitch,
look around for old scrap caravans., you will have all the componts then to refit to your trailer,this is what i done with my first eagle trailer worked well cost of axle and hitch £250 .
ebay have lots of axles for sale.
look around for old scrap caravans., you will have all the componts then to refit to your trailer,this is what i done with my first eagle trailer worked well cost of axle and hitch £250 .
ebay have lots of axles for sale.
gordmac
Well-Known Member
You might want to consider taking the 1 ton maximum plate off the trailer. I have heard tales of people being done on the basis of the plated gross trailer weight exceeding their car's towing limit irrespective of the actual load on the trailer.
Jim@sea
Well-Known Member
Fortunately I have a Nissan Patrol which weighs about 3 tonnes.
But weight plates are a bit of a "Gray Area" in Europe, as my last boat and Trailer were bought in France and the trailer had no weight plate whatsoever but they give you a Euro Conformity Document with the weight limit on that, aparrently in France you are supposed to take the trailer to a MOT station and they MOT it, they then give you a piece of paper which you take (with your Trailer Documents) to their equivalent of our DVLA and the trailer is then issued with its own Registration Number, and Insured Separately.
And by law you have to carry the documents with you in the car and not having them is an offence with an on the spot fine
And its coming over here and SBS Trailers have just started making them.
Latestarter1
Well-Known Member
Exactly!
Practice, theory and fiction seem to have become intermingled here. No mention of use outside UK so we do not require a solution looking for a problem.
Yes use of your rig is TECHNICALLY illegal. However consider this.........If you are stopped in spot check somebody has to make the call to send you to a weigh bridge. Remember If you are sent off to weigh bridge and your trailer mass turns out to be no greater than 750 Kg THEY PAY, if you are over YOU PAY.
Take the rig, less extra gear to certified weigh bridge and obtain a weight ticket which will be slightly less than 750 Kg. Keep certificate in your car.
We assume your kit is all up together and you get a tug, faced with a weight ticket even the most hard nosed vehicle inspector is facing a dilemma, twist or stick, suspect they will all stick if faced with potential expense at their dime. Some smart cookie might consider a prohibition notice which seem to have become popular with 'lick stick and run brigade' to save cost of sending you to bridge, however faced with evidence of your weight ticket that avenue is also potentially closed.
Worst case you are involved in accident and whole lot get carted off and weighed. You cop an NIP or summons, you play the weight certificate card, not automatic defence in law, however in either circumstance CPS will never run the case (they know weigh bridges are all to heck!), in addition your insurance company will see you as a good guy.
As OP said ex MOT tester, leave the white warehouse coat the loft and enter the grey real world.
Jim@sea
Well-Known Member
Having started this forum discussion I would like to summarise.
I have established that the boat on the trailer at the moment weighs 520 kilos by using a local weighbridge. And not only did the Weighbridge give me a weight
ticket they also wrote out a receipt "Bayliner Boat"
Which when I have had my engine fitted next week and my Windemere Reg Number stuck on the side I will return and have the Trailer,Engine,Outboard, etc weighed again and hopefully they will issue another Weight Ticket showing 700 kilos (or less) and the boats Windemere Registration Number printed on it, as they do with trucks.
Then take a photostat of the Ticket and keep in car.
Latestarter is correct that "weighbridges are all to heck" apparently this is why truck drivers are not normally prosecuted if they are only 7-8% overloaded and I was once told that as weighbridges can weigh anything up to 30 Tonnes with an average of say 20 tonnes, they are set to be the most accurate at 20 tonnes so a small boat weighing less than 600 kilos hardly wakes the Weighbridge up and it is this sort of light weight which gives probably the most inaccurate reading.
I have established that the boat on the trailer at the moment weighs 520 kilos by using a local weighbridge. And not only did the Weighbridge give me a weight
ticket they also wrote out a receipt "Bayliner Boat"
Which when I have had my engine fitted next week and my Windemere Reg Number stuck on the side I will return and have the Trailer,Engine,Outboard, etc weighed again and hopefully they will issue another Weight Ticket showing 700 kilos (or less) and the boats Windemere Registration Number printed on it, as they do with trucks.
Then take a photostat of the Ticket and keep in car.
Latestarter is correct that "weighbridges are all to heck" apparently this is why truck drivers are not normally prosecuted if they are only 7-8% overloaded and I was once told that as weighbridges can weigh anything up to 30 Tonnes with an average of say 20 tonnes, they are set to be the most accurate at 20 tonnes so a small boat weighing less than 600 kilos hardly wakes the Weighbridge up and it is this sort of light weight which gives probably the most inaccurate reading.
