I wonder what kind of tow vech you would need

[3788sam]

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/boa/1105014588.html

That will cut into your gas mileage:shock:

[SomeSailor]

It oughta be illegal to even THINK about putting that boat on THAT trailer. :)

Holy cow!

[3788sam]

Yea thats what I thought as well when I saw the picture:shock:

I'm sure hope they just used it to move it around the lot but?

[sunnydude2]

You would think a double axel trailer wouldn't be enough.

[Play N Hookie II]

WOW! Imagine seeing that cruising down the freeway!

[SomeSailor]

You would think a double axel trailer wouldn't be enough.

It can't be...

Even a 16.5" tire (Load Range E, 10-ply) has a max capacity of 3195 each. Figure a max of 12,780 pounds of cold load (3195 X4).

That's a boat that has a DRY WEIGHT of 21,000-21,500 pounds. :)

[Kuredu]

Nice boat though - always liked the 3988 ...

[johnnydeep]

Welcome to the Des Moines yacht club!:shock: We have 42 tollys on trailers, Yes custom built, and engineered by one of our long time members. We have our own ramp in front of the clubhouse and a dry storage yard out back.
By the way thats a beautiful low hour boat!

And your only adding up half the tires Mike,Wayne makes most with short axles so there is a tire on each side of the frame rail, which makes it a four axle trailer. But then again I think three of 'em were flat when he took that pic!
I always get a kick out the reaction people have to our set ups. Most of our bigger boats use old airport tugs to move and launch!
Actually the problem is not the weight on the highway, its the size. Anything over 15'tallx16'wide gets pretty hard and expensive to move.

[oh_wells]

And to think I freak out towing the 2858.

[kwb]

Johnny pretty much covered it-- there are six axle trailers (mobile home tires) down there as well but the latest incaration is a tandem that uses axles from something like a lowboy trailer. The new design seems to turn a bit better.

The bigger boats (~35'+) do generally wait for the tide a bit to ease the load on the tugs because the ramp is fairly steep.

Keep in mind these trailers don't see anything resembling road speeds to introduce heavy dynamic loads but it has taught me enough that what makes a lot of people worry about point loads on hulls for the most part is a bunch of crap.

My contessa is one of the small boats in the yard and lucky for me I do have a street legal trailer so for the winters I bring the boat home to live in the shop. Prettymuch any boat that I can forsee on my horizon will be stored as shown. My dad has kept his boat there for 30+yrs. Costs are reasonable (once you get past the tug and trailer buy-in), minimal corrosion issues, easy DIY maintenance, no worrys about broken docklines during winter storms, and for the most part a good group of people to hang out with.

Ken

[SomeSailor]

I didn't notice the tandem tires. That makes better sense, that'd be 8 on the ground. (25,560#).

I was thinking that was a plain old tandem trailer :)

[kwb]

Keep in mind the published capacity of the tires is for highway speeds in all sorts of temperatures. You can get away with overloading to a degree at yard speeds and low temperatures.

That boat is a great deal with the 370's in it..... I wish I could figure out a way to swing it.

When the bigger boats are coming out or going in it does tend to draw a crowd at the fence next to Anthony's.

[Sundancer]

There are some local dealers over here that move some big boats. From the side, they look overloaded. When you get behind them, you see that they have 8 tires on short axles underneath the boat. Usually they are very adjustable with hydraulics to conform to just about any hull. They usually use a light duty truck which is more than capable of pulling up to the 25,000 lbs that some of these weigh. They do use some kind of special low boy type tire. Most of the time they are a fifth wheel type hitch too.

[SomeSailor]

Yeah.. I was just talking with BoatDR about his and he has towed his 3988. They brought it down from Idaho he was explaining. Pretty beefy trailer, but that would still be a loooong haul. :)

[Randygh]

Johnny--Do I understand correctly that an airport tractor backs those big-assed boats down a launch ramp? Are the tractor's brakes and tires sufficient to prevent the skidding on the launch ramp? After being parked on the hard is there anyway to flush the manifolds and heat exchangers with fresh water? Seems to me it would be worthwhile to have an adaptor on the cooling system that can be used to flush the system.

[kwb]

I can answer most of those questions:
Brakes on Tugs - It depends on the tug and the size of boat. Many also use engine compression via deep reduction gearing to control going down the ramp.

Nobody I know of with straight inboards flushes that I am aware of. Some guys with I/O's do flush the system. I have seen where guys while doing some troubleshooting will run the garden hose into top of the sea strainer.

Many are diesels with FWC on the exhaust manifold and cans/risers are basically self draining (especially after going up a 17% grade)

[johnnydeep]

With my fesh water cooling I seldom flush.
With the tugs its just weight distribution. Most boats arent than heavy and it does not take nearly as much as you would think.
there are tugs that are set up wrong and get stuck...but put enough tounge weight on the hitch and weight equals traction!
I use to pull the boat I have now with my explorer, granted within limits and I have way more experience than most.
Its a pretty sweet setup we have and it works well...

Sorry if this is kind of fragmented still having issues from the brain thing...

[voyager]

Do people share the tugs or does everyone have one of their own? This sounds interesting is the moorage included with the yacht club membership?

[kwb]

Tugs are generally owned by groups of people but there may be a couple out there that are one owner only. The groups then decide how to split up maintaining them.

Moorage is in addition to monthly YC dues but is reasonable after you factor in the costs of buying/building a trailer and tractor if you just look at the stall rental it is cheap but trailers, tugs, and upkeep on those aren't free. You can store up to 14' beam (some might be a few inches over 14') in the largest stalls.

Ken