Launching towball

[mister p]

Have been looking and pondering. Is there a temporary towball fitting that one can use on any car not fitted with a towbar but merely for launch and recovery, not towing further than 100 yds for craft up to 5.5 ish meters?
Would mean we don't need the guzzlers with us when launching.

[Leapy]

Originally Posted by mister p

Have been looking and pondering. Is there a temporary towball fitting that one can use on any car not fitted with a towbar but merely for launch and recovery, not towing further than 100 yds for craft up to 5.5 ish meters?
Would mean we don't need the guzzlers with us when launching.

So the ball end goes on the boat trailer. What does the other end attach to?

[Into The Blue]

Towing eye? Most modern cars have one??

[mister p]

Originally Posted by Leapy

So the ball end goes on the boat trailer. What does the other end attach to?

That's the thing, don't know. Goes around the spare wheel well? Under the spare wheel? Strapping eye? The thing is this, it needs to be collapsible, temporary, failsafe and noninvasive.
Example, for one reason or another ended up taking Mercedes 240 miles to Cornwall where the SR4 is now ( on her trailer). Merc doesn't have a towbar. Neither does my 1972 Rover 2000 or missy's MGB. Disco does, Freelander does and funnily XJ6 does. But the cars with bars guzzle and sometimes don't fit the plan.
So there we were without a towbar and wanting to launch, not tow, just soft launch off an easy slip in easy water.
Short of Heath Robinson straps across rear seats and a bouncing drawbar I'm looking for a sensible temporary and safe system of doing this.
Ideas?

[mister p]

Originally Posted by Into The Blue

Towing eye? Most modern cars have one??

Indeed most do. Is there a system in existence that can mate a towing eye to a hitch?

[Landlockedpirate]

How about getting a local engineer to make you a screw in mount for a towball that fits into your tow point on the Merc ? You could then bolt a standard towball to it.

[mister p]

Are all tow points standard thread? Because if yes then we're cooking.

[Into The Blue]

A couple of caravan websites have links to them but none of the links appear to work.
They were also raised on here in what looks like a discussion in 2004.
Issue seems to be that the towing eye is often left handed thread and is not a uniform thread across different car manufacturers.

[Tim M]

I've considered this before. I reckon one of these screwed into a screw-in towing eye would work:
50mm 500KG Threaded Towball 19mm Diameter for Quad, Tractor, Bumper, 4X4 | eBay

[Dry_Doc]

Originally Posted by mister p

Indeed most do. Is there a system in existence that can mate a towing eye to a hitch?

I doubt you'll find a commercially available system as the liability implications would be huge! I think you're into a DIY solution.

I can't see that mounting a towball from a single point would ever be rigid enough. If it's a braked trailer, couldn't you use the jockey wheel to support the drawbar and use a rope through the towing eye of the car?

[Leapy]

[QUOTE="mister p;549711"]Are all tow points standard thread? Because if yes then we're cooking.[/

Across all the one's I'm familiar with they are.

Interesting concept. Got me thinking ...

[mister p]

Indeed, what it means is that if your trailer's got a home from home, a soft and easy launch and recovery, effectively any car will do.

[captnjack]

Originally Posted by mister p

Indeed, what it means is that if your trailer's got a home from home, a soft and easy launch and recovery, effectively any car will do.

Except the getting up or down a slippery ramp is 1/2 the battle.

[mister p]

Originally Posted by captnjack

Except the getting up or down a slippery ramp is 1/2 the battle.

That's what I meant by "soft launch and recovery". If that battle's already dealt with then there's no problem.

[captnjack]

I suppose if the ramp is always the perfect angle at all heights of tide, clean, weed, and sand free. Sounds dreamy, let me know where it is

[mister p]

Well, the angle stays the same at all states of tide. :-)Actually softer than the ferry ramp next door!!!! And it's not wet steel.

[Chris Caton]

Originally Posted by Landlockedpirate

How about getting a local engineer to make you a screw in mount for a towball that fits into your tow point on the Merc ? You could then bolt a standard towball to it.

+1 I would go for same solution, find you thread, get a substantial flat plate welded on to take a tow ball and away you go, any good engineer will make that up for you. I guess your biggest issue is how long a threaded bar you need to protrude far enough from the front or rear of the car to be able to get the tow ball fitted? maybe worth a good flat washer n nut to tighten upto tow point to help keep it rigid? if it works great, if it don't you ain't lost a lot

[willk]

Originally Posted by mister p

Are all tow points standard thread? Because if yes then we're cooking.

You should have a towing eye in your spare wheel kit somewhere. They are L/H thread. I've used them to extract cars from hedges (with my 110 ) so I guess they'd tow an SR4. Illegal of course, but hey!

[paddlers]

Shouldn't be too hard to find a towing eye for any model at a breakers yard for a few pounds & alter to attatch a towball. Totally illegal for road use but ideal for an easy launch site. It's got to be a strong point on the car as it's where you tow the weight of the car & I've never ripped one out when extricating with the Landy !!

[Chris Caton]

Originally Posted by paddlers

Shouldn't be too hard to find a towing eye for any model at a breakers yard for a few pounds & alter to attatch a towball. Totally illegal for road use but ideal for an easy launch site. It's got to be a strong point on the car as it's where you tow the weight of the car & I've never ripped one out when extricating with the Landy !!

you ain't been trying hard enough then, I well remember recovering a rally car from a stage on the Pirelli Rally a few years ago, the tow point came off and I can still see it sailing through the air with my tow rope still attached, heading straight for the windscreen of my 110, lucky enough it missed the screen and put a nice dent in the vent just below the screen. I never repaired the vent, it stayed there to remind me never to trust a manufacturers tow point again, and before anyone says was it a rusty old rally car, no it wasn't, it was a top ex WRC car, probably worth more than our house given up recovery now, ribs are much more fun n no hassle