Towing Advice

[Rogue Wave]

Originally Posted by camelgas

A long rope or extention pole will keep the car dry.

I made a 3mtr pole out of 3x bits of 50mm box, has a hitch on one end and a ball on the other.

Comes to bits to fit in car boot, works a treat and keeps the car on dry land.

Good advice methinks. make sure your tow bar has some sort of eye to use as a brake for the rope. Extension pole is a lovely safe thing to have

as I see it boat is 500kg
Engine is 250kg
Aframes console seats stuff 150kg
fuel 150kg
trailer 400kg

So you should be good and car should do the job fine. keep it away from the slippy stuff on the Slipway

Take your rig to a weighbridge any scrap yard or aggregate yard has one and the operators are usually quite helpful for a fiver and very helpful for a tenner

If you are just over the weight then run the boat empty on the road and fill up at launching point.

One of these is invaluable for refuelling

[Tim M]

Originally Posted by ChrisxsRIB

Thanks for the advice so far.


The trailer is plated to 1500kg. I believe the car has a kerb weight of 1529kg with a towing capacity of 1600kg. I know I'm getting close to the maximum weight for the car (assuming the RIB is anywhere near 1500kg) but as I'm only planning on a short tow of around 25 miles on A roads I'm not too worried.

Hi again Chris

If the car is legal you will be fine. I've launched and recovered my Redbay 7.4 on that slip plenty of times, usually just in 2wd mode.

If you ever need a hand just let me know - I'm down there pretty often with the UEA.

[Tim M]

Originally Posted by Xk59D

Now, this is where a debate can start, if you read any caravan forum you will see that your car is illegal right off the bat IF it is a 2000kg trailer mam and a 1600kg max on the car. Even if the trailer is empty the police can charge you based on that weight plate......some claim.

Others say the above is tosh and you can tow it with a 2000kg plated trailer so long at the actual weight does not exceed the max limit of the car. I have read enough to satisfy myself that this is legal but I have a friend who was fined for towing an empty trailer with a plated weight that exceeded the car. He didn't challenge it though so probably would have got off with it if so.

My vehicle has a maximum towing weight of 1500kg and my trailer has a maximum gross weight of 2000kg. Can I still tow this trailer? » Towing & Towing Laws » Ifor Williams Trailers Ltd - Britain's Leading Trailer Manufacturer

Your buddy should have challenged that!

[Jeff]

Edit >>> deleted a ludicrously long reply with links to Gov websites :-)
Tim is correct
The capability of the towing vehicle
The chassis plate on the vehicle (see table in Section 7) states the maximum weights allowed - the Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) and the Gross Combination Weight (GCW).

The vehicle handbook will either repeat what is on the chassis plate, or for convenience, might directly specify the maximum weight of trailer (eg 750kg) which is allowed to be towed. The V5C registration certificate often shows this too, under sections O1 and O2 (depending on whether trailer has brakes or not). Exceeding any of the above weights is likely to be construed as using a vehicle in a dangerous condition.

Where the sum of the maximum plated weights of the towing vehicle and of the trailer added together exceed the plated GCW of the towing vehicle, this is not a problem as long as the ‘actual’ weights of the vehicle and trailer (which may not be fully laden at the time) do not exceed the plated GCW.

The limit for licences post Jan 1997 is a combined MAM of 3500

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...van-the-basics
https://www.gov.uk/towing-with-car

[John Kennett]

It's plated weight that counts for licensing though. Maybe he was done for not having full towing entitlement on his licence?

[mikew4]

Originally Posted by ChrisxsRIB

Hi

Although I have been boating for years I have only recently purchased my first RIB and could do with some advice.

I have a 6M XS with 150hp Suzuki outboard on a twin axel trailer. I'm wondering if my 2011 Saab 93 2l diesel would be a suitable tow car?

I can tow up to 7.5tonn with my licence so that's not a worry.

Slipway I'd be using is quite shallow and I'm only looking to launch in the spring and drag back out for the winter so I don't really want to go changing the car just yet.

My 6.5 XS with 150 Merc sits on a single axle trailer rated at 1600kg max gross weight and tows beautifully. Not sure why your boat is on a twin axle - that is overkill for sure. You will be fine with your Saab 93. If you get stuck on a slip, get the car on the level and use a rope to bring the boat & trailer up.