A guy towing two trailers!!

[poconojoe]

On our way back from the lake, trailering our 18' bow rider on a small back road. Saw a guy dangerously situated on the side of the road checking his rig(s). Had to swerve a bit. Did a a double take, asked the wife if she saw the same thing. The guy was pulling two utility trailers in tandom containing PWC! Wish I could have snapped a picture. Priceless!

 

[MTboatguy]

That is a common sight around my part of the country, I tow my 5th wheel, with my 14 foot aluminum boat behind that. Saw a guy the other day, driving a large Motothome, that he was towing a car behind and his boat behind the car.

 

[QC]

Two utility trailers? I thought a combo had to have front trailer on a 5th wheel. Like MT's. Two ball style is legal?

 

[Maclin]

That is what I was thinking also QC, not so legal to go tongue to tongue so to speak.

 

[MTboatguy]

Here in MT, it depends on how they are set up, there are companies around here the set up flatbeds and utility trailers designed specifically to tow this way and it is legal. Lots of people town their bumper pull style travel trailer with their boat or ATV trailer behind it. But as I said, the front trailer has to be set up correctly to do it.

 

[Chris1956]

They tow large trucks in a tandem set up on New York Interstates. NJ used to not allow that, so there was a parking lot near the NJ border, where the tandems were changed to a standard 18 wheel tractor/trailer configuration. I have never seen a tandem being towed, that was private vehicles.

 

[poconojoe]

Must be a real pain backing up! Can you say double Jack-knife? Ha! Try and back that boat down the launch ramp behind your camp trailer! I'm kidding. I hope they take the camper out of the equation when going boating!

 

[smokeonthewater]

In most states there is no requirement for a fifth wheel to be in the mix....
I tow multiple trailers all the time... It's a non issue as long as things are set up right....

 

[MTboatguy]

Must be a real pain backing up! Can you say double Jack-knife? Ha! Try and back that boat down the launch ramp behind your camp trailer! I'm kidding. I hope they take the camper out of the equation when going boating!

Normally when I am towing the trailer and the boat, I drop the boat in the parking lot at the boat ramp, pull the 5th wheel to my camping spot, un-hook and then go back and launch the boat. Pretty easy to do, I have never seen anybody attempting to launch their boat while it is still hooked to the camping trailer.

 

[poconojoe]

Very interesting to see that this is more common than I expected.

 

[smokeonthewater]

I can generally avoid backing because usually my second "trailer" is a flat towed jeep wrangler but on a few occasions I've had to either unhook or back up..... Sometimes the time to unhook and rehook is a safety concern with traffic building up and other times I only need to back up a short distance so I just do it... The front wheels on the jeep will turn to full lock within a few feet and scrub but as far as steering the rig it's actually pretty easy since the second trailer steers the same way as the tow rig but just has a delay before it reacts.... Simply start the turn early and straighten back out without waiting on the trailer to start turning....

I once won a $100 bet backing 20' utility trailer and a 20' boat trailer in a figure 8 around two trees....

 

[gm280]

WOW that sounds like a nightmare if you ever get stuck in a dead end road... I can't even begin to imagine backing up two trailers with any type tow vehicle. :facepalm:

 

[smokeonthewater]

Been there done that.... No big deal if you know how...

Backing up one trailer on a dead end road would be a nightmare if you didn't know or figure out how to do it.... It's just a matter of learning a skill....

Wanna see a REAL challenge search for a YouTube of someone backing semi doubles... Now THAT would be a nightmare for 99.9% of people... Semi, trailer, converter dolly, another trailer.... Huge delay from steering input to response but the dolly will jackknife in an instant.

 

[jkust]

If it is not a 5th wheel, you will rarely see it in my state given it is not legal unless it is someone passing through. Sometimes, I'd love to have the option though.

 

[Skutt]

"Wanna see a REAL challenge search for a YouTube of someone backing semi doubles... Now THAT would be a nightmare for 99.9% of people... Semi, trailer, converter dolly, another trailer.... Huge delay from steering input to response but the dolly will jackknife in an instant."

I'm a truck driver and I pull doubles. We can't back up very far with them because of the dolly. It being so short, at least ours are, that once it jack knifes we are screwed. I haven't seen people pulling more than a single RV, boat or other trailer. I'll have to check it out on youtube.

 

[smokeonthewater]

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