Association Forum - To buy the trailer or not???

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

To buy the trailer or not???

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Page: of 3

szymek
Navigator

Members Avatar

Canada
209 Posts

Response Posted - 09/18/2013 : 20:53:17

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by GaryB
 While I realize you want to have some cushion below max rated weight, if you go with 5000# axles the ride would be a lot stiffer and I've wondered if there might be more likely-hood of damaging the boat in some way if you hit a pothole?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Very good point. This is really tough call as our boats are at the border line of using 3500# axles vs 5200#. I've done quite a bit of reading and talking to trailer manufacturers and most trailers used for C25 have tandem 3500# axles.

I decided to try something else and went with torsion axles. Biggest disadvantage is that weight is not equalized evenly across the axles as all wheels are independent. But on the plus side apparently they provide a lot smoother ride and lower center of gravity. I towed the trailer home 300km. It was empty, but it pulled really nicely and very stable. I've also read that torsion axles perform best with about 80% of load capacity. With C25 that's should be almost that.... My haul out is Oct 17th. I can report back once I tow the boat to its temporary storage.

Edited by - on

wegman
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
35 Posts

Response Posted - 09/28/2013 : 10:39:36

Two points:

1) Regarding electric v. surge brakes, I have owned boat trailers with both types: two surge and one electric. With both surge brake trailers their wheel bearings tended to over-heat. This did not happen with electric brakes. Also, as noted earlier, with electric brakes you can manually apply trailer braking with the control unit. This would help control fishtailing.

2) A very useful trailering accessory that I acquired is an infrared thermometer. With it, I can easily keep track of the temperature of my wheel bearings. Since I have had problems with over-heated wheel bearings, knowing that they are running cool is very comforting.

Edited by - on

Sam001
Vice Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
441 Posts

Response Posted - 10/05/2013 : 02:29:05

Try sending the companies 7,000 pounds fully loaded boat.

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4304 Posts

Response Posted - 10/06/2013 : 18:40:52

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Sam001
 Try sending the companies 7,000 pounds fully loaded boat.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
???

Edited by - on

shnool
Former Capri-25 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
1032 Posts

Response Posted - 10/07/2013 : 04:16:30

You'll find a lot of disinformation, and misinformation in towing.
It gets worse as you tow more and more weight.
Facts:
Most automotive dealers don't know what configurations are required for a particular vehicle to tow at max rating. Trailer manufacturers will design a trailer for the weight YOU give them... see below about know what you are towing.

Owners tell you what they THINK based upon their own problems/experiences (Example: Electric brakes don't work on boat trailers, well they used them once, and had horse trailer brakes on a boat trailer and they failed under water... but there are perfect E-brakes for boat trailers, but they didn't have them, so they don't work). This is helpful to know what to watch for, but not really empirical data to be used to configure your own towing.

Almost NO ONE actually weighs their rig... THAT is your first step. Once you know what your vehicle weighs, and what you are towing weighs you can make a decent decision on how to rig your trailer/tow vehicle, you SHOULD leave yourself at least 10% extra capacity at your max tow rig weight.

People say crazy things like, you can add air bags to your 1500 and it'll tow like a 3500.. NO, it'll just ride like a 3500, the axles/rig of the truck are STILL only rated at 1500.

You'll see people on both sides of the extremes towing... like your #1500 boat/trailer (beach cat lets say)... needs a F150, or you can tow it with an MG!

SURE you can err on larger tow vehicles, and heavier trailers... and it'll likely be safe, or NOT! Larger axles usually mean larger brakes, and NOT tuning a rig with TOO much trailer brakes is WAY MORE DANGEROUS than one that is RIGHT at capacity, tuned correctly. You MUST tune your brakes! that includes surge brakes (although they ARE easier to tune).

As you get larger and larger in your towing amounts, you get people who tell you about "conditions" for towing. Meaning mountains/ramps/slippery ramps... etc. Traction, and tow capacity are TOTALLY different. ONLY YOU can determine your local conditions... but if a truck is rated to tow #10,000... it'll do it at 10% grade, that's really not an issue, but you must ask yourself is the tranny ALSO rated to #10,000? Don't ask the sales guy, you're lucky if he/she remembered to transfer your plates right. Ramp traction is a REAL problem. 4x4 makes slippery ramps easier to deal with... NOT all ramps are slippery, just because they are wet doesnt' make them slippery (think sand).

I've done some towing... spring and fall for the last 5 years with THIS rig:

And I am towing and launching (and retrieving) myself, my TINY rig at #3500 for the boat, and #1000 for the trailer (I am guessing, its probably more).

I started towing the moment I got my permit, and haven't stopped since... and am NOT a CDL, but I truly do NOT envy those guys.

I have a hard time believing #3500 axles aren't enough for a #4500 boat. But I HAVE heard that Catalina's boat weights are ideal LIGHT build boats... so you may have an empty #4500 boat or you may have an empty #5500 boat (yep the cruisers have been known to be off that much).

Edited by - shnool on 10/07/2013 05:39:49

pastmember
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

2402 Posts

Response Posted - 10/07/2013 : 04:41:07

In the past I have switched surge brakes over to waterproof boat trailer electrics which in my world never go in the water anyway because of our crane launching at our club. That gave me much more control in my situation of 30 mile drives twice a year between my club and my house... across Kansas county road which is flat and paved. I used my Mountaineer for years with no trouble but like the longer wheelbase of my E-150 which I use now. My son-in-law always wants to pull my boats for me with his manly trucks and I will not let him, he will yank and slam the boat around because he thinks it is a trivial load on his manly truck. I am much happier using my capable vehicles at their upper limit with me driving. I just put a hitch on my '04 BMW X3, it is rated at 3500lbs 350 tw. My Starwind is 2500 disp loaded with a Rollco that could double as a TrailRite twin. I will move it around the boat yard with my BMW if I must but will still use my E-150 for the trip to and from the lake. I look forward to converting this trailer to electrics next summer, then I might use the BMW for my short towing needs.

Edited by - pastmember on 10/07/2013 05:12:24

Page: of 3

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.