camping with a boat

[Reel Kahuna]

Re: camping with a boat

... but while double towing is allowed in my home province (Alberta), it isn't allowed in my favorite place to visit (BC).

Now that's interesting...being that it's legal in your province and you're not a resident of BC, wouldn't you be allowed to double tow in BC?

Hummm

 

[Mark42]

Re: camping with a boat

Double towing is hard, and backing up is near imposable for the average motorist. Extra consideration for lighting connections and amperage are needed. Tow speeds need to be much lower that most people like, as trailer sway will cause a crash fast. Not to mention the addition of a tow ball on one trailer that is strong enough to both handle the push/pull requirements of the following trailer, but also the extra tongue weight from the following trailer.

A pickup camper is a great solution. And they are available up to about 3 feet longer than the truck bed. Long campers usually require the removal of the tail gate, because a full shower is popular in the back, and the plumbing hangs down. My Dad has owned two, a short and long model. The long was by far the best.

And with today's flat screen TV's and portable DVD players, you can travel and camp in the lap of luxury.

 

[109jb]

Re: camping with a boat

As for removing truck campers at the campsite, I saw a guy doing just that on a camping trip a few years ago. He didn't have anything special other than the 4 electric jacks that most of them come with now days. Those jacks aren't stable enough for using the camper but what this guy did was jack it up and pull the truck out from under it and he then lowered it down onto some short wood stands he pulled out from inside the camper and placed under the camper floor.

 

[Titanium48]

Re: camping with a boat

Now that's interesting...being that it's legal in your province and you're not a resident of BC, wouldn't you be allowed to double tow in BC?

No, that law applies to everyone, regardless of place of origin. They actually put up signs at the border depicting a truck, 5th wheel RV trailer and a boat with a reminder that that non-commercial 3 unit combinations are illegal in BC.

Double towing is hard, and backing up is near imposable for the average motorist. Extra consideration for lighting connections and amperage are needed. Tow speeds need to be much lower that most people like, as trailer sway will cause a crash fast. Not to mention the addition of a tow ball on one trailer that is strong enough to both handle the push/pull requirements of the following trailer, but also the extra tongue weight from the following trailer.

Backing up does need to be avoided, but sway and weight balance issues are largely solved by using a 5th wheel RV trailer. My dad's rig never got out of line, even going down hills at 120 km/h. Our old 1979 dodge D200 had no problems lighting up all of the lights, but if there are issues you could always switch to LEDs. For a hitch you can buy a multi-fit receiver and bolt it to the frame of your RV and you're good to go.

The biggest issue I remember was the old 5.9 L engine that might have made 200 hp on a good day coupled to a 3-speed transmission. Even moderate hills would start slowing it down, but the engine redlined around 80 km/h in 2nd gear (4.1:1 axle ratio), so downshifting wasn't an option until we dropped a lot of speed. A modern truck with twice power and 2 more gears would have worked much better.