Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

[jtexas]

Do you have any idea how it feels to watch in horror as your boat & trailer roll past you on the street? It happened to me this afternoon. <br /><br />I had the boat parked on the street for a couple days, doing a little work on it. Wanted to take it out to the lake this afternoon. So, I put the drawbar into the hitch receiver & locked it down, hitched up the boat & took off around the block back to the interstate: down the hill, left turn, then up another hill. That's when it happened. The ride suddenly became much smoother; way too smooth. I stepped on the brake but it was too late - the boat passed me on the left at about 20 mph, went up a driveway right between a car and a big brick mailbox into the front lawn. It dug a shallow trench in the turf before hitting a concrete walk leading from street to front door. Out steps my neighbor, and what could I say but "I just stopped by to say Merry Christmas & Happy New Year."<br /><br />The drawbar was still attached to the trailer. It seems I put the pin in behind the drawbar rather than through the hole. It worked fine going downhill on my street, but when I tried accelerating uphill, well !<br /><br />The neighbor helped me pull the trailer back to the street, where I hooked up and pulled it out of his yard. I couple of wires were severed but I fixed those on the spot. The guy was pretty nice about it, seemed amused. I told him I would come around to check on his grass I get a couple plugs if it looked like it wouldn't survive.<br /><br />Man, talk about a helpless feeling!

 

[KeltonKrew]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

Never had that happen, but we were towing a lowboy full of hay....I see a tire come up next to us, hit a car on the rear bumper, then hit the car on the right side, then on the left side....turned out the tire came off our trailer....don't ask me how it hit 3 sides of that darn car!

 

[CCrew]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

Glad to hear the boat survived! Never seen a boat come loose, but having been into RV'ing for a while, seen more than a few 5th wheels dropped because the pins weren't locked. That's just plain ugly..<br /><br />If you don't mind me asking.. Where were the safety chains?????<br /><br />-Roger

 

[Red Rider]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

Back in the spring I was moving a 21 foot cabin cruiser (Larson ???), and had the axle come out from under the trailer at about 45mph. <br /><br />It was on a country road, with a four foot deep ditch on the right side. The axle came loose the boat and trailer went into the ditch, I tried to keep the truck straight, and stayed on the gas lightly, so I wouldn't go sidways. The boat and the front half of the trailer came out of the ditch at the next driveway and tried to pass me on the left. The boat was draging what was left of the trailer behind it by the tie downs.<br /><br />Exciting! <br /><br />I will never tow someone else's trash for them again, without a thourgh inspection. Their assurances, that they do it all the time, and a quick walk around will not work anymore.<br /><br />My '80 GMC C-3500 dulie was ok. <br /><br />The trailer was distroyed. The boat had three new holes through the bottom and several cracks about 18 inches long on one side. <br /><br />One good thing was I got the boat for nothing to haul what was left away. Since then I took my tiger saw to it and have it about 90% completed to converting it to a walk around CC.

 

[LubeDude]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

OK, Ill admit it!! Years ago when I was fishing Bass tournaments, Getting up early and partying late! I hooked up the boat one morning and took off! This boat had a very light tounge weight! I forgot to lock the hitch down! I do not know how, but I made it about 30 miles when I felt something funny after hitting a dip in the road, then all hell broke loose! I was on a slight turn and the boat was going back and forth across the road still chained to my truck! I thought quick and temporarily straightened the truck and boat out and put my brakes on slowly whitch stuck the tounge of the trailer under the bumper of the truck!<br /><br />Got it stopped with no damage other than the wiring and the plastic wheel in the jack! I double check everything now!!<br /><br />LubeDude

 

[oneforu2nv]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

I know what it is like to have things pass you that are not suppose to pass you. Thank god I was not halling my boat when my rear axel passed me. I could just imagin what it would have done to my boat just by the damage it did to the side of my truck.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

Ccrew, thanks for asking about the saftey chain - it was right where I left it, hanging from the trailer. It would have held the drawbar in place. I'm a pretty safety-conscience boater but this time I forgot it. Like a lot of accidents, it was a series of mistakes rather than just one. All the possibilities flashed through my mind in a few seconds: would it hit the curb & flip, crash into a mailbox or car or house? What if friction had held it in place until I was on the interstate? Thought my boating days were over.

 

[jsfinn]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

jtexas just made me curious - how long should your safety chains be? Mine are long enough so that if something happend to the hitch, the trailer tongue would drag on the ground..should they be shorter than that?

 

[LubeDude]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

An old trucker taught me this years ago! Use two safty chains, one for each side of the hitch, make them long enough that they are a couple inches from draging on the road! then when you hook them up, CROSS them under the trailer hitch, then if the trailer were to come loose the chains will catch it in the cross and make stopping safer!!<br /><br />Good Idea!!!<br /><br />LubeDude

 

[11 footer]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

I always do it that way, littledude, they tell you to do that at MA safety boating class's.

 

[jsfinn]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

I always cross my chains because that's what I was told to do - never knew why though. I understand why now. Thanks!

 

[kenimpzoom]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

We had the same thing happen to us by using an 1 7/8 ball with a 2 inch reciever. We went over a huge bump at about 20 mph, boat/trailer came off the ball, took out some guys trash cans and into his yard. No damage otherwise. They guy was cool, helped us put the trailer back on. We bought the right size ball very quickly.<br /><br />Ken

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

Late last winter I was a couple of cars behind a farm pickup pulling a hay wagon on an ice covered road. You know how these go down the road...swaying left and right. Well, they gits to goin faster little bit by little bit and I see the trailer swaying wider and wider. Finally the back end of the pickup cuts loose and the whole rig spins a 270 right in front of us. Ended up in the gravel at an intersection, otherwise it would've ditched for sure. No damage...except maybe to the driver's pride and the passenger's grundies. Shoulda seen their eyes as we passed by!

 

[jtexas]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

About the safety chains, I think I should have two but the trailer only has the one. My bumper rides kind of close to the ground (Pontiac Montana) & I worried that if the trailer came loose it would hit the ground & maybe damage my frame before the chain pulled away. But I discovered that if I cross it over the top of the hitch there's almost no slack - it should hold the hitch onto the ball even if the clasp works free or breaks. If I had more clearance I would be inclined to cross two chains under the hitch as LubeDude suggests.<br /><br />I visited the scene of the crime the other day to see what the evidence would tell me (I watch too many episodes of CSI). It must have traveled 30 to 40 feet before the tongue hit the ground the first time, and then maybe 25 feet before it hit the turf and came to rest.

 

[jinx]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

The idea behind safety chains is twofold. First, to keep vehicle and trailer together. Secondly, crossing the two chains makes a basket that keeps the trailer tongue from dropping down and digging into the road surface catapulting the trailer and boat. <br /><br />One chain just doesn't do it. Catapulting trailers can get real messy.<br /><br />Jinx

 

[jsfinn]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

catapulting trailers

That made me laugh ... just a funny mental picture.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

sounds like a good name for a rock & roll band

 

[andrewkafp]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

Ladies and Gentlemen..<br />The CATAPULTING TRAILERS...

 

[Ryoken]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

years ago i was detailing a 30' Hustler for a guy while it hung in the slings. we finished and they lower it onto his trailer. well, the guy goes to leave and i say to him "hey don't you tie that thing down?"<br /><br />his response was "i do it all the time, just going a couple miles, it doesn't budge"<br /><br />well, he pulls out of the parking lot and starts to accelerate down the street, the boat starts to slide down the bunks until it gets to that balance point. the bow goes up, the drives catch pavement and pull the boat off the trailer. he was probably doing about 15 to 20 at this point. the boat slid down the street probably 20, 30' or so. <br /><br />i have to admit it was amusing to watch. boat sliding down the street. kept saying to myself "darn, if i had a video camera i could probably win 10 grand on one of those blooper shows!"<br /><br />needless to say, the owner wasn't amused when i had to regel, etc about 1/2 of the bottom <br /><br />keel? chines? what are those? asphalt makes for a good grinding tool

 

[soce009]

Re: Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

sounds like you were pretty lucky overall. i never saw a boat come loose while towing, but 2 years ago, i was driving down the highway, about 20 miles into my trip to the river, and my trailer tire, on driver's side came off!! noticed it while looking in the mirror and saw the bearing buddy fly accross the highway, then the tire, pulled over to shoulder and the tire came to rest in right lane. trailer fender got wedged in to bottom of boat, took about two hours to jack boat/trailer and put tire back on. horrible day to say the least.