Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

just for chitchat, I too have my class A with doubles, triples, and tanker endorsements. Never pulled doubles, triples, or tanks tho LOL Pulled 190,000 lbs 16' wide tho

j martin,
fwiw I'm not telling you that your wiring plan won't work, just that it's a lot of extra trouble to go to... I AM still suggesting tho that you reconsider the brake setup.... you are asking for trouble with elec brakes on the boat.... Maybe a little less so with a camera as you would be able to see tire smoke but by the time the tires smoke you have already done damage to them.

If you have not towed previously with a dually you may not realize how much of a hawse you have there.... It is a night and day difference compared to a half ton
My dually and my 12,000 lb camper with the 4000 lb jeep on a tow bar will stop as fast or faster than many cars although it makes a heck of a mess of my stuff in the camper The Jeep has no brakes (when towed) at all. I DO have excellent safety chains tho.

If you are still absolutely determined to run electric brakes on the boat consider this:

You have an extra terminal in your 7 way rv plug that is generally not used.... you could run your existing brake power through a resistor or even a rheostat and to that terminal. Then that would be run to the normal brake terminal on the plug at the rear of the camper. Anything you can do to K.I.S.S.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

My dually and my 12,000 lb camper with the 4000 lb jeep on a tow bar will stop as fast or faster than many cars although it makes a heck of a mess of my stuff in the camper The Jeep has no brakes (when towed) at all. I DO have excellent safety chains tho.

'ya sure about that? Overconfidence is the leading cause of accidents when pulling a trailer, especially when people overestimate stopping ability.

These are all UNLOADED distances, they go up quite a bit for loaded.
2011 Dodge 3500 60-0: 152 ft
2011 Ford f350: 159 ft
2011 GM 3500hd: 147 ft

http://www.insideline.com/gmc/sierr...comparison-test.html#article_pagination_top_2

And here is a chart showing how much it increases with a little load on them.
http://special-reports.pickuptrucks.com/2010/08/2010-hd-brake-tests.html


And now a couple random cars:
2011 Subaru Impreza: 109 ft
2007 Toyota Camry: 124 ft
2008 Nissan Altima: 131 ft

http://www.motortrend.com/auto_show...011_subaru_impreza_wrx_sti_sedan/viewall.html
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests...edan_comparison/specs_and_road_test_data.html

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

yes I'm sure about that.... I have 5 braking axles and 12 braking tires... My Brakes and tires are all in perfect condition... notice I didn't say new cars or all cars. I said MANY cars and the fact is that many of the cars that are actually on the road are MUCH older, poorly maintained, and/or have worn tires.... New test track data is good for buying a new vehicle but does not mean that much on the highway.

sc, I CAN see how my post may have sounded more optimistic than I meant it tho.... I simply mean't that in the real world, while it IS a big load and as such requires more vigilance and preparation, that it isn't as bad as many folks who have had their hands full dragging a runabout with a small truck might assume

BTW I have over a million safe driving miles in a commercial truck and who knows how many in my private stuff.... I have towed my 38' two axle 5er and the jeep several thousand miles and the new 5er with 3 brake axles stops even better than the last one.... I've had a few HARD stops too and I'm always amazed at how well it stops.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

smokingcrater's post DOES however make me think of a good point.... If you haven't already done so....Go through that dually.... make sure the brakes are top notch.... this includes shoes, pads, springs, hardware, slack adjusters, wheel cylinders, and last but not least make sure the brake lines aren't rusty, ALSO make sure the axle seals aren't leaking oil on the brakes... You don't want ANY surprises triple towing. Also check out your steering, tie rod ends, drag link, ball joints, these things can also end a day very badly

 

[sschefer]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

John, back to my comment about Denny's.. You're right the truck stop food is usually better anyway!... Reminds of a story though, on the way back from Eagle Lake one year, my dad's prostrate was kicking up and we had to stop. In Ca. if you stop to P by the side of the road it's indecent exposure so my dad say's "Watch for Cops" so I handed him the keys to the trailer and said "Don't P on the floor".. He was still laughing when he got back in the truck..

 

[j_martin]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

Truck is in good shape and will soon have new rubber on it. I've had both front wheels off and one rear brake drum, and the brakes look good. There isn't any rust on this western rig. One of the back wheels was leaking grease real bad, but the wheel is configured to trap it and sling it outside the drum, where it goes across the wheel and tire harmlessly. The drum looks oily, but that's just the edge which will get a drip when yer stopped if it's real bad. Brakes looked real good. Seal was hammered on install, and the bearings were set up wrong. All fixed now.

I've driven a lot of rigs, from dump trucks to semi's to heavy wreckers. The wreckers get hard to steer when the front tires are 5 feet off the road. To me a dually with horses is a lot easier and safer to handle than a half truck, er ton.

Funniest truck VS car incident I've been involved in was when I went around a clover leaf accelerating to match traffic with an empty flat bed. Little old lady behind me in a 1972 Pontiac followed me across the bridge sideways. We had to peel her clenched fingers off the wheel and drive the car off the bridge for her. She was lucky she didn't roll it.

 

[Prophammer]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

The drum looks oily, but that's just the edge

I hate cleaning oily drums and I don't blame you if you didn't clean the drum, but you know it can get hot and blow smoke, right?

 

[Silver Eagle]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

My father in law tried that Idea in Maryland. They came down on him very hard. The police made him leave the boat and come back later to get it after he had to tow the Fifth Wheel to Virginia. Plus he had to pay a big fine.

 

[bnicov]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

My father in law's buddy tows a 5th wheel camper along with his 18.5ft LUND with his 3/4 ton GMC Diesel from Winnipeg to just past Kenora every summer. It's a slow go but he takes it easy and doesn't rush or drive foolishly. The 2 and a half hour drive takes him 3 hours.

 

[Titanium48]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

IIRC you need a class 1 license to do that in Ontario. No problem with a class 5 in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta though. You're allowed to use a ball hitch RV trailer and a 23 m maximum length in MB and SK. In AB you need a 5th wheel RV and maximum length is 20 m. Unfortunately it is prohibited in BC.

My dad used to do this back in the 1980s. We had a 2000-2500 lb boat and a 24 ft 5th wheel. There were no brakes on the boat trailer, and there were no stability issues. He had an old style brake controller that tapped into the brake line. He set the controller so that stopping power was similar to the empty truck (old dodge 3/4 ton). The setting was near minimum when towing the 5th wheel only, somewhere in the middle when the boat was attached.

 

[phxpsd]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

I've done it with an F-350, 27ft fiver and 23' Sea Ray Sorrento. You will not need or want electric brakes on the boat trailer....surge is fine. If it starts to sway just let off the power and it will come back in line. I pulled my rig from Phoenix to Lake Powell many times, up and down many mountain grades. The key is to be very careful, watch your speed (I never went faster than 65, even though the truck was capable) and avoid tight parking lots. I know I will get flamed for this, but I was right at 75', but never had a problem with LE. Knock on wood.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

nah nobody flamed me for the same length.... course they MIGHT now LOL
eh I'll just take the abuse and blame it on you ;D

 

[zopperman]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

similar discussion

 

[Sabbath]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

These lengths sound insane. You guys got any pictures of your rigs?

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

These lengths sound insane. You guys got any pictures of your rigs?

said the guy in the country famous for road trains LOL
first shot is with my old camper

these are the new camper but no pics w the jeep behind it

 

[boat1010]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

I have a 1999 Dodge diesel and a 27ft fifth wheel and pull a 24ft boat. Never had too many problems. I do thins when I go to Wyoming. We only live about 30 miles from the Wyoming state line. The length limit in Nebraska is only 65 ft but Wyoming is 75. But anyway, it isn't too bad if you watch your speed and the wind. Actually my boat is a little too heavy to pull behind the camper. If the wind catches the camper and starts the boat swaying the camper isn't really heavy enough to stop the swaying. We were coming back from Guernsey and a gust of wind hit us from the side and I can normally not see any of the boat behind the camper, well that time I could see about 70% of the boat on both sides of the camper until I got it settled down. So I guess what I'm saying is you have to outweigh the boat by quite a bit so if it starts swaying the weight of the camper will stop the swaying. Other than that I have had no problems pulling both of them.

 

[Sabbath]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

said the guy in the country famous for road trains LOL

Haha, Roadtrains, B-Doubles are just regular, "so what" type things. But when you start talking about recreationally towing vehicles of that size, then it gets to the "wow, that was awesome" stage.

Nice camper btw

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

thanks mate..... Thas my house too lol.... when I actually have work I travel around the country working for months at a time in different places so it's handy to hitch up my tow rig, house, and daily driver.

 

[Thalasso]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

Double 45's across the NewYork thruway. Ripley to Utica.

 

[giericd]

Re: Anybody towing their boat behind a fifth wheel camper?

Don't try it in Florida! i wanted to do the same thing to take a camper and boat to the FL keys,I asked a State Trooper if it was allowed and his reaction to my question was as if i slapped his mother! "if you try it i'll arrest your a#$ on the spot!" but have fun in other states, just remember backing up Left isnt right and right isnt left any more-- Left is again left and right is back to right, try backing up with about 10 luggage carts behind ya!!!!