So what do you tow your Boat Trailer with?

Julz · July 27, 2013

I know a fair few of our members have had experiance towing Boat trailers and some, including ourselves, are experianced Caravan towers, so what kind of Tug have you got, are you happy with it, or do you wish you had bought a different Make or model?

Do you use any kind of stabilizer device when towing, or suffer any stability problems?

What would your dream towcar be and why?

All good food for thought as the saying goes, and hopefully resulting in some good hints and tips for all the fellow towers on here.

Julz

quo vadis · July 27, 2013

Cant comment on towing boat trailers, but I cannot tow my boat using the orange mooring line with a plug on one end and a socket the other :norty:

ranworthbreeze · July 27, 2013

Hello Julz,

I have never towed any boats but over the years have towed various towavans. I have towed with a Cortina estate, Astra estate and a Scorpio.

My business partner tows his speed boat and when on the trailer it is 25 foot in length from the hitch, he tows this a Chrysler Grand Voyager which he finds ideal.

A friend of mine used to tow his tourer with a Discovery which he found ideal, since then he has bought a static on the site at Bakewell.

Do you have one of those electric gismo's to park up the caravan?

Regards

Alan

Julz · July 27, 2013

Yes indeed, the motormover is the best invention for trailer shifting since sliced bread!

It can be quite comical watching the expressions on some peoples faces when a detached caravan suddenly starts moving to command all by itself, for those not in the know about such things, they are often facinated and stop and watch as this big white box on wheels turns and inches itself with prescision accuracy through tight gateposts and onto its pitch or parking space,

l even had a bit of fun a few days ago with some junior school kids, they really believed that me shouting out commands and saying 'well done fiddo' was steering the caravan, as fiddo was actually inside with a steering wheel!

We have towed with various vehicles over the years, mainly fairly beefy engined cars, but a couple of 4x4s as well. We are towing with a 1.8 Honda at the moment, but thinking of upgrading to another 4x4 for next year, not just for towing reasons, but because sometimes we need to get out into the sticks in bad weather, to take care of my elderly Dads needs.

Julia

sprintst · August 21, 2013

I'm not allowed a trailer anymore .... after I managed to reverse into my own while it was still attached and badly dented my own car .... :wacko:

ranworthbreeze · August 22, 2013

My worse experience whilst towing was when we hired tow-a-vans to pick up or move jukeboxes.

I had hired a box type trailer (Tow-a -Van) from Sheffield Autohire (no longer trading) the normal ones we hired were all out so they let me have this larger one.

For what ever reason I let then hitch it up. So off I went down the MI towards junction 28, within a few miles I could feel that something was not right, so I started slowing down and went onto the hard shoulder the trailer was all over the place and slowing down was not helping. I tried speeding up to try and correct the lurching of the trailer but this did not help.

I ended up with the bonnet of the car 6 inches from the barrier and the hitch all the way across all three lanes of the motorway, I did not hit anything and everyone stopped before running into me.

I reversed up and parked on the hard shoulder it inspect the damage, all the wires had been pulled out of trailer socket and of course now I found out the problem, the runaway cable was quite long so they wrapped a couple of turns round the where the automatic brake is fitted onto the hitch. What in effect was happening was every time I applied the brakes the auto brake was applied and tightened these loops in the runaway cable, this in turn was also applying the brakes.

I sorted it out on the hard shoulder and continued my way, shook up but intact.

I see many the results of caravans and cars that that have not been so lucky. :roll:

So what's your story.

Regards

Alan

MauriceMynah · August 22, 2013

I have moved several boats of different sizes with different cars, Starting with the most recent and going back...

Dinghys (various), Caravan, various trailers using a Landrover Discovery. (Noooo not all at the same time)

As above but also a wooden 21ft sailing cruiser weighing about one and a half tons... Landrover 110 Defender.

17ft fishing dinghy (quite heavy and loaded up with stuff) Citroen 19BX.

Dinghies.. Renault 4!!!

The same 17ft fishing dinghy (quite heavy and loaded up with stuff) Renault 16.

Have been towing boats trailers and caravans for 30 years now! Obviously the two landies were the best I've towed with, but even the Renault 4 did well, towing a laden 10ft dinghy from Harlow to Paignton.

None of the vehicles were 'bad' at the task but the Renault 16 was probably the least good on a power to weight ratio.

petersjoy · August 22, 2013

What about one of these?

http://www.uralmotorbikes.info/images/CCC_006_WEB.jpg

ranworthbreeze · August 22, 2013

Hi Paul & Lorna,

I love them, a great picture to boot!

Regards

Alan

petersjoy · August 22, 2013

Hi Alan,

I can't take credit for the photo as it's off their web site.

If you are interested...

http://www.uralmotorbikes.info/

andyfish · August 22, 2013

This is mine,does it count

DaveS · August 22, 2013

Spent something like 20+ years towing caravans, including around most of Europe.

In the early days, with 2.0L petrol engine cars (mainly Mondeos), before moving over to a 2.0L diesel a diesel engine Mondeo in 2003.

The difference between the petrol engine and diesel engine vehicles for towing, was like 'chalk & cheese, with the diesel being far superior in terms of both pulling power (Torque) and fuel economy.

In 2006 ( the year we eventually gave up caravanning and bought a boat), I bought a 2.2L diesel Nissan X-Trail, which without any shadow of doubt, was the best vehicle that I'd ever towed with.

Even though I had given up towing caravans, I was so impressed with the X-Trail, that I bought another one in 2009, except the new model had the later 2.0L 175bhp diesel engine. With 175bhp it used go like 's*** off a shovel', and still return an average of 45mpg.