Yet another first timer (must trailer)

[limecc]

We are currently enjoying a Ranieri open console day boat but am considering a change to something larger with a toilet, cooking and sleeping facilities. Just need to get my wife on-side lol. Been using the search function and keenly following similar threads. Didn't want to hijack one.

We do a lot of caravanning, having a large twin axle which is the maximum towable length allowed. I thought why not combine the two pastimes and get something similar that floats? Currently we tow both caravan and boat to various holiday locations in the UK, which means taking both 4x4's or doing two trips in one car.

I really like the Leader 805 but discovered it's too wide to tow so stopped looking at the Jeanneau. Because of fuel burn I'm not really interested in burning petrol over red diesel (unless someone has a good argument otherwise), would sooner look to get a single engine diesel and spend the extra. My budget is not limited at £40K but obviously would like to spend as little as possible. It's difficult to judge the age where osmosis would start to be a problem and things in general start to become old and knackered through wear and tear.

Being a newcomer it's a little confusing working out a shortlist of trailerable candidates, our Audi can tow a maximum braked trailer weight of 3200kg. Are roller trailers suitable at this weight? Don't fancy dipping the car or using a drawbar extension. 4 berths would be great but not essential. Maybe I should delay any purchase until Covid premiums go away? Can't justify two boats and the Ranieri is a really great boat that isn't depreciating. So much to consider..

 

[Mr Googler]

We are currently enjoying a Ranieri open console day boat but am considering a change to something larger with a toilet, cooking and sleeping facilities. Just need to get my wife on-side lol. Been using the search function and keenly following similar threads. Didn't want to hijack one.

We do a lot of caravanning, having a large twin axle which is the maximum towable length allowed. I thought why not combine the two pastimes and get something similar that floats? Currently we tow both caravan and boat to various holiday locations in the UK, which means taking both 4x4's or doing two trips in one car.

I really like the Leader 805 but discovered it's too wide to tow so stopped looking at the Jeanneau. Because of fuel burn I'm not really interested in burning petrol over red diesel (unless someone has a good argument otherwise), would sooner look to get a single engine diesel and spend the extra. My budget is not limited at £40K but obviously would like to spend as little as possible. It's difficult to judge the age where osmosis would start to be a problem and things in general start to become old and knackered through wear and tear.

Being a newcomer it's a little confusing working out a shortlist of trailerable candidates, our Audi can tow a maximum braked trailer weight of 3200kg. Are roller trailers suitable at this weight? Don't fancy dipping the car or using a drawbar extension. 4 berths would be great but not essential. Maybe I should delay any purchase until Covid premiums go away? Can't justify two boats and the Ranieri is a really great boat that isn't depreciating. So much to consider..

Are you sure?

leader 805 is 2.9m wide.

Trailer has to be 255cm wide but you can over hang up to 2.9m

 

[limecc]

Are you sure?

leader 805 is 2.9m wide.

Trailer has to be 255cm wide but you can over hang up to 2.9m

That's really good info thanks.
Regards the Leader, I'm just going on what Nick Burnham said in his review:

Great news if can trailer it. That's the one and I'm prepared to wait or get it from the EU.

 

[madabouttheboat]

805 is probably too heavy to tow.

 

[limecc]

805 is probably too heavy to tow.

I checked. 2,249kg so only the same as a heavy twin axle caravan but plus trailer weight. Also as said it comes in at 2.9m wide. Great!

 

[QBhoy]

At the risk of being a killjoy…please forgive me…
Although a lovely idea to be able to tow and take your boat where you please…I’d suspect some like me, might afterwards find the reality of it an unpleasant experience, when towing a boat at the very limits of what’s legal. I’d admit…on a motorway it’s perhaps a manageable and bearable notion. But certainly here in Scotland on A roads in summer. I found it one of the most unpleasant things I’ve ever done. The enormity and bulk of even a 24ft cruiser of the 4 berth type shape, is a challenging thing to even the best of tow cars and it’s driver. Perhaps me just getting worried by every noise or passing truck the other way didn’t help. But not a thing I’d care to do often for sure. May not bother some guys I suppose.
Years later again. Even towing my 1500 kg 18ft boat on a roughly 600 kg trailer, making her over 2000 kgs easily dry…with a discovery 3 wasn’t pleasant on some roads. Likely mainly due to the width of that particular boat at around 8ft wide. Certainly wider than the discovery. Manageable though. After a couple of decades towing boats around…always thought that towing anything heavier than the car doing the towing, was not a nice experience.

 

[Jamie Dundee]

I checked. 2,249kg so only the same as a heavy twin axle caravan but plus trailer weight. Also as said it comes in at 2.9m wide. Great!

Be careful with quoted weights. My Antares 760 is given as 2800kg, just towable. Actual weight at lift in with fluids and cruising gear is 3700kg, well above towable weight even without a trailer.

 

[Mr Googler]

Be careful with quoted weights. My Antares 760 is given as 2800kg, just towable. Actual weight at lift in with fluids and cruising gear is 3700kg, well above towable weight even without a trailer.

27 marine plotters and depth sounders will do that

 

[BartW]

our Karnic 2660 with twin diesel, (8m loa) will soon be for sale, inclusing the harbeck trailer;
have a look here for our adventures with a trailable boat:

Yes! we made it to Scilly's

Diving trip in SOF Cassis (pics)

we have been using her (holliday pics)

 

[limecc]

At the risk of being a killjoy…please forgive me…

No no that's fine. Need to consider this aspect.

We've been to Wales a few times, never Scotland. I suspect the roads are similarly narrow and admittedly present a towing challenge when meeting something large coming from the opposite direction. You pull in and stop, then have the problem of pulling out again because of the overhang. North/South Devon are ok until the final B road access to the site and stress is reduced by getting the timing right. Never happy when hedges are scraping both sides of the caravan.

But this would be somewhat different? Berthing already organised so straight to the slipway and launch? Our favourite haunts of Salcombe, Lymington and Hayling Island shouldn't be too bad to get to with something wider. Looking forward to Anglesey and the Norfolk Broads. We live centrally in England so holidays everywhere a possibility (except Scotland)

 

[Alicatt]

Nick had a video up of him taking delivery of the Leader 805 and it was on a low loader, I don't see the video on his channel any longer though.

 

[madabouttheboat]

Be careful with quoted weights. My Antares 760 is given as 2800kg, just towable. Actual weight at lift in with fluids and cruising gear is 3700kg, well above towable weight even without a trailer.

+1

brochure weight is nearly always on the light side of reality. Most manufacturers quote a light dry weight. This won’t include any optional extras, any fluids (even possibly the engine oil), often batteries and certainly not items such as anchor, chain, fenders, ropes etc. They also usually quote with the smallest, lightest engine option. Add to all this your own bits and bobs and even low fuel and water tanks and you will find, like Jamie, the real weight is significantly more.

The OP is also 300kg down on max permissable tow weight with their chosen car. Add in the 600kg approx weight of a suitable trailer and I would put money on it not being legally possible.

 

[Hot Property]

I towed my Saver 690 on a twin axle trailer behind a 4wd builder style truck.

Not a pleasant experience and i'm a seasoned tower ....

23 ft long, 1700kg " dry" weight, 300 kg outboard, 600 kg trailer so therotically 2600 kg.

Before you commit to buying and towing the Leader 805 you may wish to weigh it

If you are stopped and overweight then your towing of that boat will come to an abrupt end...

 

[Alicatt]

I checked. 2,249kg so only the same as a heavy twin axle caravan but plus trailer weight. Also as said it comes in at 2.9m wide. Great!

Also what type of driving licence have you?
I know the rules in the UK changed recently and I have not kept up with them, being an old bu99er and with my old UK driving licence I could drive and tow up to an all up mass of 12tonnes

 

[Bigplumbs]

I have both a Land Rover Discovery 2 and a Discovery 3 and their capability is incredible to tow. I tow a large Caravan and various Boats from 15 foot Rib to 18 foot Bow Rider and a Fletcher 19 ft Sports Cruiser.

I bought a Sealine S24 Some time ago with a view to towing it just as you are thinking of for the same reasons you are thinking. The truth is that I never have and never want to. I tow the others quite a bit but after a while I decided that even the Fletcher Sports Cruiser was too much stress and sold it.

The main issue is that Boat Trailers will and do fail and the size and weight of a 24ft boat (the smallest to properly be a stay on board boat with a toilet) are incredibly stressful to tow.

Below is a pic of the Fletcher SC19 Stern Drive when I towed it back from Wales to the UK. I would never want to tow even somthing that big again any distance let alone bigger.

People do do it but they must have nerves of steel and ask yourself how many boats do you ever see that size being towed about as you travel around. The answer is the odd one once in a blue moon

 

[Bigplumbs]

Stick to the Renari and the Caravan or a Sib that is a great combination.

Or Having read your initial post and it sounds a lot as though you are thinking along the lines of myself and if you have a budget of circa £40K perhaps think about what we have just done which is bought a small Motor Home with a tow bar and we intend to tow our 4.5 m Rib (on the unbraked trailer) to destinations. Believe me an unbraked trailer is very important if you travel any sort of distance.

 

[Bigplumbs]

If you do tow big stuff deffo join the AA cos they will recover your boat as well if all goes tits up. Bearings and Brakes on braked trailers for Boats are not fun.

 

[gyislander]

On a similar note,,,

 

[Alicatt]

The heaviest I regularly tow is a JCB 8206 mini digger and at 2.8tonnes + a trailer at 600kg that brings me to 3.4tonnes, I use a TDV8 Range Rover Sport which is basically a Discovery 3 in drag, it does have a towing capacity of 3.5tonnes and you do really feel the weight when on the hook.

 

[gyislander]

On a similar note ,,,,,, even a newly serviced trailer can fail if limits are pushed !!