Is my driveway to steep

nigels

Seaman
Joined
Oct 2, 2011
Messages
54
Hi guys, bought a new house and the only place to put my boat is to reverse it down the side of the house onto a flat bit of garden. The previous owners concreted the access to this garden but it is very steep, I did a rough measurement and its 20-25 deg or 1 in 3 more or less, it looks scary. My boat is a Trophy 2052 with Tandem Escort trailer +- 4000lbs with gear, kicker and fuel and my truck is a Ram 3500 4x4 6.7 Cummins. Trouble is going down in reverse the trailer surge brakes will not work so all the braking is by the truck, I will use low ratio and will only try this on dry concrete........am I asking for trouble?

Oh I will double up on strapping the boat to the trailer.

Any thoughts?
 

Thalasso

Commander
Joined
Jan 18, 2011
Messages
2,876
:facepalm:
If that truck can't brake that load going backwards, get rid of it. It is absolutely capable of stopping that. No diff. then backing down a steep launch. I think your over thinking this.
:D
 
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theBrownskull

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jun 23, 2012
Messages
625
That big Ram will handle that just fine. Now if the driveway was gravel you might be skidding a little.
 

ihearth2o

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Aug 18, 2014
Messages
187
This reminds me of the week that we rented a lakefront house this summer with a pretty steep driveway, much steeper than any boat ramp we had ever launched from. The house came with a dock so we just had the empty trailer to deal with. I chocked the wheels on all four tires and lowered the trailer jack as low as it went. Never had a problem the whole week. Might want to look into what to do after you uncouple from your tow vehicle.
 

smokeonthewater

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
9,838
While that truck should be absolutely fine you might look into the tongue weight of the trailer... make sure it's around 10% as when pulling up or backing down a steep hill whatever tongue weight you have is greatly reduced...

FWIW
My 1 ton ford has absolutely no problem with 12,000 lbs of boat and trailer on a VERY steep wet boat ramp.
 

midcarolina

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 16, 2013
Messages
631
We love pictures......... can you post a few of the area.................Sounds like you are worried the boat is going to drag the truck down the grade, as others have said I highly doubt that............
 

ssobol

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Messages
503
Need to be sure that the trailer/boat won't ground when going over the top or leveling out at the bottom.
 

nigels

Seaman
Joined
Oct 2, 2011
Messages
54
Well its done. I had to fill in the steps with scrap lumber, these will have to go, any one know a good concrete guy in Cowichan valley? I need to fill in the steps, relpace some lawn with driveway and a slab for the boat to sit on.

DSC_1085.JPG DSC_1087.JPG
 

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,454
1 in 3 is a 33% slope! That would be illegal with most building codes!
 

nigels

Seaman
Joined
Oct 2, 2011
Messages
54
1 in 3 is a 33% slope! That would be illegal with most building codes!

It's more like 25deg so closer to 1 in 4 so not sure if it met code here, and was put in by the previous owners to access the lower parts of the yard I guess to get the mower down there or park something...not sure. I don't think the secret bylaw police know about it. Its amazing what folks have done in this neighborhood once their house has been built and approved!
 

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,454
25 degrees is not 1 in 4. Your slope looks less than that.

Way easier backing down a driveway and then pulling it up than the opposite scenario assuming you have no traction issues.
 
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bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,454
Or you can just use some high school math and use the tangent function on a calculator. :)
 

nigels

Seaman
Joined
Oct 2, 2011
Messages
54
Sorry..was just poking smokeonthewater! :):fish:
Yup I know, I was just poking you LOL I really thought that the square root of the tangent multiplied by the angle of my dangle and divided by the sine of the hypoteneuse was the right answer!

Getting an estimate for the concrete work tomorrow!
 

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,454
I really thought that the square root of the tangent multiplied by the angle of my dangle and divided by the sine of the hypoteneuse was the right answer!
i will work that out tonight and get you the answer in the morning.
 

smokeonthewater

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
9,838
personally I wouldn't NEED a calculator... I have a digital angle finder for angle or a tape measure and an 8' level for rise over run... LOL

BTW Yall can poke each other if'n ya want,but I'm spoken for.......




BAWHAHAHAHAHAHA!



Hope the 'concrete guy does ya proud! ... what about sinking some wiring and LED lights in before it get's filled in.
 
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