Boat Accident On The A12 Causes Delays

[ScrumpyCheddar]

I've lost count how many times I've seen this...... Due to inexperienced drivers..  pulling trailers... and wobble boxs (caravans)..... most of the time it's speed... it starts to fish tale they hit the brake and bang... jack knife... just lift your foot off the gas ..... and slow down with out touching the brake... the fish tale will stop... then foot back on the gas.... simples.... 

 

 

 

[dnks34]

Regarding licencing and towing weights

I have looked into this a number of times in the past and this is how I have interpreted the official information available.

I passed my test in 1998 so do not have automatic right to a B + E (car and trailer) however,

It reads that aslong as the MAMs of vehicle and trailer do not exceed a combined weight of 3500kg and the MAM weight of trailer does not exceed MAM of towing vehicle then on my B licence I can tow within those limits.

This then means that in most cases a car for instance a Volvo V70 and a single axle 4/5berth caravan can easily be towed within those limits on a B licence.  

Work that out!  

Furthermore, I have a bus licence (D) yet cannot drive a 7.5ton box lorry/van.  A standard 49 or 57 seater coach is roughly 12.5ton empty, loaded with pax and lugguage it might come in just under/over 20ton.  Yet I cant drive a 7.5ton box van......stupid much??! (And that 7.5ton is MAM maximum authorised mass) 

 

[Viking23]

My grandfather bought his driving licence by walking into the post office, like buying a fishing licence today. ( I think it came with a free red flag for the passenger to walk in front lol..,)

To the day he died he was still entitled to drive any vehicle. They didn't have artics in those days, so not sure of the MAM he could drive.

When I passed my motorbike test in the 70's, I am still entitled to legally ride any size bike. I had a 125 cc bike at the time. 

My driving test for a car, taken in the 70's entitles me to drive a coach, provided it is not for fair paying passengers, frightening really when you could be driving for the school taking 40 kids to Alton Towers, with no seat belts. I am also entitled to drive 7.5 tonners too. Oh not forgetting mopeds and lawn mowers.

 

I will add though, that there are people driving trailers at speed of 80 mph sometimes in the third lane of the motorway, totally oblivious to the law and regulations. How can they be experienced trailer drivers, they ignore the rules, so probably ignore any advice too. 

I am still not convinced that the boat was correctly tied down, if it was, it would still be attached to the trailer.

Some people use the bow winch to bring the boat onto the trailer and that's it. There are plenty of boats falling off trailers on YouTube, usually from the US, of course there are more of them over there. Did you know, that trailers in the USA have a seperate registration number to the car, and have regular servicing like an mot. In the UK, no trailer or caravan needs to  inspected ever again, well until it's involved in a crash. 

There are also many hand built trailers built with no calculations, from odd pieces of angle iron, tack welded together by someone who may have bought an arc welder from Aldi the week before, then there are even timber ones.  Cheap trailers with no brakes with loads often exceeding  750 kg.

For home built, braked trailers, it is now illegal to use old axles from cars, they have to have automatic reversing unlocking. 

Maybe when you see that "Meccano"  built trailer on it's way to the tip, you might want to give it more room.

[Bound2Please]

18 minutes ago, Viking23 said:

they have to have automatic reversing unlocking. 

Maybe when you see that "Meccano"  built trailer on it's way to the tip, you might want to give it more room.

The reverse lock is on the TOW hitch not the axle. You are correct no MOT testing for trailers, but we did many inspections for insurance companies when we had TRS Colchester (Trailer Service Repair). It was alarming the amount of breakaway cables that were as Alan said further up in the thread twisted round the jockey wheel and had never been attached to the towing vehicle in years. (A breakaway cable is not for braking except in the event of an un hitching while in motion, it then applies the brakes and locks them on) Most of the trailers we inspected admittedly  were horse trailers and over 50% had defects that would adversely effect the safe towing. I have no reason even now that boat trailers could be far worse, as how many people think of dunking the trailers wheels and brakes in the water, and leave it for months on end. We used to service a rescue rib's trailer for a sailing club and it needed new brakes every other year due to corrosion.  I could go on but wont

Charlie

[TheQ]

Funnily enough I'm rebuilding my trailer now, it was a professional build back in the early 70's.

 No weight plate needed back then, (it came in in 1982) the brakes are rather small and on only 2 of the 4 wheels. and rod operated brakes. I reckon it probably was capable of 1.3 tons going by what the tyres say. but was never anywhere near that, nor will it be after modification.

 The old boat was 385kg so maybe 500Kg with the usual collection of bit on board. The New boat is 500kg

I've towed with it from the Hebridies to here in Norfolk and several places in between, I've never had a problem with towing it with a variety of cars

Over the years I've  replaced the bearings many times, and the shoes. The problem now is the brake springs are no longer available, I've had to have some made as the rust was worrying me.

Once the brakes are back together, It'll be off for some welding, repairs and some changes to take a different boat

[Viking23]

1 hour ago, Bound2Please said:

The reverse lock is on the TOW hitch not the axle...

 

Sorry I don't like correcting anyone on this forum, but the overide mechanism is part of the brake drum assembly, well it is on my trailer anyway. It works when the vehicle pushes against the trailer, the brakes are locked on, and as the vehicle tries to push the wheels backwards, there is a cam in each drum that overides the mechanism and the brakes release. When you go forward again, the mechanism is supposed to reset and the brakes work in over run mode again.

However, constant immersion in water, especially salt water corrodes everything in the drum, and maybe the over ride may not work, or not reset, resulting in reduced braking, or no braking at all.

I always stripped each wheel bearing set on each drum after every launch/ recovery I got it down to 1/2 hour each drum. Undo hub, remove wheel and hub as one assembly, extract bearings, clean with solvent, reapply marine waterproof axle grease, re-assemble. No special tools required.

The axles are made by Peak, so maybe others could be different.

The modern hitch has a device with stored energy, this is activated when the break away cable snaps if the trailer becomes seperated. Of course it is critical that the breakaway cable is fitted and routed correctly and secured to the vehicle but not looped around the 50mm hitch. If the hitch bolts or 50 mm ball shears, then you loose the break away cable before it activates. 

 

Hope it helps.

Richard

[Poppy]

35 minutes ago, Jonzo said:

I think newer trailers have the auto-reverse in the hub - Older caravans used to have a lever on the hitch that you pushed back manually if you wanted to override the brakes.

They were a pain in the <bottom> as it took an assistant to release the brakes when manoeuvring the van (I have been that person many times).

I remember it well ! However, there was a device consisting of a bracket and a spring which we used to fit on the lever. The spring kept the lever held back to disable the brakes.

It was a good idea to take the spring off after the manoeuvring had been completed........