How Times Have Changed.

[2005bay]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

I think the truth lies someplace in the middle. Technology has advanced in the last 30 years and now cars are safer.

That said, I bet of the number of traffic accidents per year between now and 30 years AgO, probably the same proportion are due to folks trailering... and I will bet its not many.

Its hard to argue agasint safety... I Dont think any of us are. But I think just because something is packaged as a policy for "safety" doesn't mean it wasn't some crackpot idea cooked up by somebody who wanted another avenue to sue or further his own financial agenda through increased tow/safety standards.

Yes, we all have to abide by the rules. That doesn't mean a lot of them aren't nonsense.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

the O/P is as wrong as could be.... I am one of the first to tell someone if their tow rig is too small for the load and I have a 10,000 lb diesel dually with a class V 18,000 lb hitch on the back but I also have a 1,500 lb rated hitch on the back of my 2 door car for towing jetski's n such..... People died a LOT 20 years ago but it was only in the local papers instead of all over the WWW.

The right vehicle for the right load.... 'nuff said

 

[lokonn]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

There are many things that have changed over the years and one of the is the amount of common sense a person has. No longer is it your responsibility to make sure you know what you are doing. Yes cars have gotten safer and lives have been spared,but there are still people out there doing stupid things. I would rather be alongside someone in a 72 nova towing a boat that understands their limitations as opposed to some knucklehead who went out and bought his new suv or pickup to tow his new boat and thinks that all the work has been done for him and doesn't need to worry about anything. Responsibility for your actions can not be given away when you sign on the dotted line. You are still responsible for knowing what you are doing and what your limitations are, not just knowing the tow capacity for your vehicle.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

I'd rather be beside someone who has the right tow rig for their load be it a 72 nova OR a peterbilt AND also understands their limitations.


It isn't either or... it's BOTH do it right all the way around... If you want to tow 8,000 lbs with a car rated for 2000 lbs that's totally fine.... just do it on your own private road.

 

[ricohman]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

It's not the power itself, it's where the power occours and where the torque is, and gearing is a factor

Old logging/ heavy duty trucks from the 50's- back often had 85-100hp out of straight 6's and flathead v8's but hauled huge loads of wood that we now see hauled with 4-500hp Semi trucks. The old trucks just did it much slower, most had either 2 transmissions or a creeper gear and a 2spd rear end to keep the gearing right

Even the 4 barrel 5.2 only had 170hp, in Canada anyways. And I've never seen a 4 barrel on a 5th Avenue.
All I worked on had the 2 barrel and weezed out 140hp.
These cars had tall economy gearing not suited for towing. The 8 1/4's I worked on were mostly 3.21's but I have seen some 2.24's and lots of 2.45's. I would say the lack of power, torque and gearing is the big problem here.
Like I said, I'm surprised the op's 140hp 3800lb car with 2.42 gears could tow anything.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: How Times Have Changed.

I've been on the water and in boats all my 55 years.

I agree that there are more trailered boats now, bigger trailered boats now, and different thinking on tow vehicles, due to those changes and changes to vehicles. So you can't judge and compare then to now, but you can be smart and understand the differences.

Cars had big engines, low gears (option) and solid frames, so the family stawag or sedan up into the mid 70's worked where the newer ones won't. My neighbor bought a $500 cadillac to use for towing--made sense in 1975. Not today with a $1000 taurus.

I remember a friend buying the brand-new biggest outboard made--Johnson 135 HP. How crazy is an engine that big, we thought! that was around 1972. Look at a list of when motors were made and the HP to see the increase.

Big boats stayed in the water. Big was over 20'. It was a rare day someone moved a small cabin cruiser on a trailer. But the big thing was you didn't trailer it every time you used it.

As to boats over about 16': If you were a boater, you kept the boat in or near the water. If you couldn't keep it in the water, you didn't have a boat. Now we have much more disposable income for leisure stuff like a car for every member of the family--and a pleasure boat.

Growing up on the water, as a teenager, you were in a 14' whaler with maybe up to a 35, a 16' starcraft bowrider with a 55, maybe a center console with an 80. Now I see tiny teenage girls running 21' Grady's with 175 HP. The 15-17' family boat is now 21-23. Everything is biggie sized. Put them on the road (trailer boaters who have to launch every time they go out) and you have more big boats on trailers.

With the demise of wooden boats, replaced with lighter and more durable tin and glass, trailering becomes more convenient.

be clear I am not criticizing or complaining about anyone who trailers the boat all the time; it's merely a difference. More people get to enjoy boating and that's good. However, from my perspective, I have a hard time seeing the pleasure in doing the ramp thing with a 27' cabin cruiser every boat ride. From an earlier thread, the older set's complaints about boating were all about the ramp and not about the water.

 

[agallant80]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

I have a hard time seeing the pleasure in doing the ramp thing with a 27' cabin cruiser every boat ride.

I do it in a 25 foot cruiser and its not that big of a deal. It took a bit to get farmiliar with the larger boat (was trailiring a 21 foot before). But then again I am 32, so perhaps in another 20 years the idea of cranking an 8K boat on to a trailer will be a bit more than I want to deal with.

 

[Bronlonius]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

I am just shy of 60 and have been around boats just about my whole life so far, from tinnys on lakes to cabin cruisers on the ocean. Looking at the old boat ads from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and even the 80s most trailerable boats were pulled by the family sedan or station wagon with apparently no problems at all. Back then, there were virtually no SUVs and pickups were typically owned by men in the construction trades.

Today, the rule of thumb is that it's dangerous and reckless to haul with anything but some honkin' SUV or 1500/2500 pickup truck.

Heck, 20 years ago I towed a 19ft fiberglass I/O with a non brake tandem axle trailer from a town on the shores of Lake Michigan to NH with a '85 Chrysler 5th Ave equipped with a class I bumper mounted hitch over mountains on the NY State Thruway with not a single problem.

I never recall seeing or reading about boat trailers coming loose and causing mayhem on the roads and highways and other than seeing one on the side of the road with a flat trailer tire on occasion, the highways weren't littered with tipped over boats.

What over-cautious alarmists we have become.

Are you one of those people that puts sandbags in the trunk of your front wheel drive car to get better traction in the winter? Seriously, cars are not at all made the same as they used to be. In fact, full size trucks/SUVs are the closest thing to the rear wheel drive full framed cars of the early 80's and before.

 

[emilsr]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

[Funny how low rear diff ratios were back then...trucks have at least 3.73s if not 4.10+ while these big block BOF cars had ratios less than 3-1...maybe 3.27 if you got the performance/towing ratio

Tire size has changed, a lot. That necessitated a change in gearing.

 

[emilsr]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

I do it in a 25 foot cruiser and its not that big of a deal. It took a bit to get farmiliar with the larger boat (was trailiring a 21 foot before). But then again I am 32, so perhaps in another 20 years the idea of cranking an 8K boat on to a trailer will be a bit more than I want to deal with.

It's no big deal to me either and I'm 50....so you have a few years yet to enjoy your "big boat".

I will say that the time I spent with the boat on a lift (rather than a trailer) was wonderful. Given the choice I wouldn't own a trailer....but unfortunately I don't have that choice right now.

 

[ricohman]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

Tire size has changed, a lot. That necessitated a change in gearing.

Not really.
My SD has way taller tires than anything offered years ago and you can get anything from 3.73 to 4.30.
Fuel economy mandates dictated higher gear ratio's. And transmissions can have far lower 1st gears than they did back in the day.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

yup... I'm 39 most days..... about 72 today..... dang waverunner put a whoopin on me....... I trailer my 28' twin eng cruiser each trip, and it's no problem.... don't get me wrong, if I could stroll down the bank to my boat dock in the back yard on a beautiful lake or river I'd be all over it but for me, trailering the big boat is really no different than trailering the waverunner.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

trailering the big boat is really no different than trailering the waverunner.

Sure about that? Last time I loaded my waverunner, I took the golf cart with trailer behind, and then myself and 2 other guys LIFTED the waverunner on to the trailer, and I drove off...

As an owner of many big and small boats, bigger boats are ALWAYS a bigger pain to load. Once you are into the mid 20's cabin cruiser size, loading by yourself becomes even more of a pain, especially without a dock beside the boat. It means crawling over the bow and attempting to get to ground level, without killing yourself in the process. (and speaking of dock, some of the ramps I load at don't have any dock whatsoever, so you have to park on the beach, go get the vehicle, back in, then crawl back up on the boat, drive on, crawl off, etc...) You can load half a dozen waverunners in the same time as a sole cabin cruiser owner.

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

...You probably let your kids roam the back of the station wagon without seat belts or rode bicycles without helmets also...

I still do not wear a Helmet on a Bicycle!

And I don't wear a Helmet or Seat Belts when in the Boat either!
Sometime I even stand up when Steering?

Just call me a risk taker.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

I still do not wear a Helmet on a Bicycle!

Only wear a helmet if your head is worth protecting I guess! $0 Head = $0 helmet!

My nephew who is on the UCLA triathlon team wouldn't be alive today if he wasn't wearing a helmet. His helmet split in half in a crash and was airlifted to UCLA hospital with a concussion. He wasn't racing when this happened. Just riding with his friend on a windy road.

A friend of mine and I were at a light(stopped) and he tipped over because he couldn't get his shoe unclipped. Hit his head on the edge of the curb but helmet saved him.

 

[bonz_d]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

I find this funny. Back in the late 60's there was a lady doctor from Chicago that had a summer cottage by us. She used to pull a 16' Lonestar with a 65 Merc 3 blocks to a gravel ramp behind a VW Bug. That lil Bug did all right for what she was doing. That lady also taught myself, 2 brothers and a sister how to drive a boat and pull a skier! She was a great lady and I miss her often. One year she came out early in March to bring me a birthday cake for helping her clean and wax the boat.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

trailering the big boat is really no different than trailering the waverunner.

I totally agree. We could launch and retrieve our 27' boat faster than almost everyone else on the launch ramp.

 

[lrak]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

trailering the big boat is really no different than trailering the waverunner.

I'd actually argue it is easier. I find it challenging to backup a trailer much narrower than the tow vehicle and so short the distance from the rear axle to the trailer axle is less than the distance from the rear axle to the front axle of the tow vehicle. By the time you get a jetski trailer crooked enough you can see it in side mirrors you better already be in a full lock turn to get it behind you again. A trailer where the wheels are 2-4x the tow vehicle's wheelbase behind it is easy to back up.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

A trailer where the wheels are 2-4x the tow vehicle's wheelbase behind it is easy to back up.

That's true until you start working around tight corners and confined spaces, then that long trailer takes a lot more planning in order to negotiate that 90-degree bend with cars lined up around it, lol.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

double post