Passed on the street by my own boat & trailer

[skeezx01]

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

speaking as one who is familiar with law enforcement(mechanic for IDOT)the crossing of the chains is not only a good idea but the lack of could getcha a ticket in some states. a $75 ticket with court costs is enough to ruin a trip to the lake.

 

[Jack Shellac]

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

Actually, theres an old country song about this very thing:<br /><br /> Today you passed me on the street<br /> And my heart just skipped a beat<br /> {Something, something, something}<br /><br />Must happen a lot.

 

[asgrinne]

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

Not a true boating story. Husband and I used to grain farm. Lots of amusing truck/farm equip stories. <br />Best/Worst<br />Had grain trailer 5th wheel.Tri Axel It got used a lot! Hauling grain one night. <br />Field to farm run, nothing abnormal. Get to the farm have the local sheriff dept tailing us. Turns on the lights after we stop in yard. <br />"Umm hate to tell you but you had an accident."<br />What<br />"Well can you find another vehical to use and follow me?"<br />Ok off we go, welp there is poor old Grandpappy type guy smashed hood and windshield. <br />Turns out he was going the opposite direction lost that rear wheel. It ran into him at highway speed. We had no idea anything was wrong. The welded posts on tires split right off.

 

[notenuftoys]

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

I had a similar incident about 12 years ago, but fortunately no one got hurt. I was driving a loaded 18-wheeler (80,000 lbs) along the interstate, at about 70mph. I felt a little bump-bump, and when I looking in my right side mirror, I saw 2 tires pulling away from the trailer. I took my foot of the throttle, and then slowly slowed to a stop. The two tires were from the rear axle of the trailer, and the bolts had sheared off. One tire jumped a barb-wire fence, the other was in the median about a half mile down the road. Luckily, the road was virtually empty at the time. <br /><br />And I'll remember about crossing the chains. That's an excellent tip.

 

[James Bond]

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

I goofed pretty bad about a month ago. I towd my 21' CC from Oklahoma City to Texas, and I forgot to lock the the little catch latch that locks the ball in place. I have no idea how I went so far without it popping off. There were even times on the freeway when I saw bumps coming up and thought to myself "Uh oh, this ones gonna hurt!". At least I had my chains crossed underneath!<br /><br />But anyways, when you have a screwup like that, it's extremely sobering, and makes you very cautious after that.

 

[Stumpknocker]

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

Safety chains? hmmmm. I knew I forgot something.

 

[Sodaguy]

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

I bought a 20' Baretta on E-bay in Feb. 04, in S. Carolina. I'm in Mass. My son and I drive 18hrs to pick it up, stay over night then head home. Every thing is going great, nice boat, new tires and lube on the trailor, going around DC beltway 60mph 5 lanes of TRAFFIC and theres a huge thud, my right trailor tire passes me and I trying to get 4 lanes the right dragging a on the axle. <br /><br />People are braking and swerving 18 wheeler locks up his brakes smoke from his rubber looks like a storm cloud on the highway, I made to the brake down lane aahhhh. <br /><br />Now for the damage, no accidents!! no way!! a little old lady from CT shows me a mark on her door says the tire hit her, I rub the mark off and tell her to give me a break.<br /><br />Now for the real damage $$$, towing $130.00, axle $400.00 had to buy in MN, no name trailor after markets dont fit. next day mail $300.00 (had to because I had to be in DC next week and I aint coming back again). Labor $200.00.<br /><br />I have the boat on the CT river in my back yard, no more trailoring.

 

[Tom2697]

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

Crossing the chains is done for two reasons. The first has been mentioned here many times: to catch the tongue should it pop off the ball. The second reason is to allow the trailer to turn without getting caught on the chain. If you don't cross the chains and you turn tightly in one direction, the chain on the outside of the turn can get stretched by the trailer if it is not long enough. Crossing allows the outside chain to become the inside chain and vice versa. I don't know if anyone here has ever had a chain break but it sounds like a 12-guage blast and does the damage of a 50 cal when the shrapnel hits your vehicle.

 

[umblecumbuz]

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

... and when the concrete mixer I was towing passed me, my wife said, 'You're not letting him get away with that, are you? Put your foot down!' She's been very quiet ever since!

 

[rambofish]

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

2697,<br />Good call on the shotgun blast! I had my son (15 1/2) hook up the boat one day for a quick trip to lake. Made it all the way up the driveway. As I made the left turn onto the road.....BOOM!!!! Slam on the brakes...what the F**K!!! Jump out and find one of the safety chains snapped in two. Seems he thought it better that the chains not have ANY slack in them.....except he forgot about turning! No harm, no foul....but he knows to leave enough turning slack now!

 

[swimmin' for shore]

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

A few years back, I'm helping my dad move from AZ out to IL. He had, and still has, a ton of junk. He made 3 trips with 30,000 lbs. each time. He was set to make the last by himself, when he blew the engine in the semi. Plan had been to load a trailer behind it, with both car and backhoe on a flatbed. He can't get back, though, with that much weight behind a u-haul, so I fly out to Phoenix and we load the trailer with just the backhoe on it, and the u-haul full of miscellaneous. We start out for IL, with me driving the car behind him. <br />We did pretty well like that, all the way into Oklahoma. We're both road-weary by that time, naturally. When I saw another setup just like his passing him on his driver's side, I had to take a 2nd look after I realized how much like his it really was. Honk though I tried, he never caught on until it hit the side of the u-haul. He finally pinned it between the truck and the rail that runs down the interstate all through there. When we got stopped along there, it came out that even the backhoe had been too heavy for the welds on that trailer. The weld on one side of the trailer hitch had broken completely, allowing one side of the trailer to fall to the pavement. I can't even tell you how hard it is to get any kind of repair service in Oklahoma on a Sunday morning. In keeping with the trend of safety comments here, I can't bear to tell you what he did to jimmy-rig that thing back together and make it all the way to Illinois. I'll only say that I spent the rest of that trip just a little further behind on the road.

 

[waterone1@aol.com]

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

Two years ago I bought a boat in Florida (I live in Ohio) and since it did not have a trailer I had a well known Florida trailer company make one for the boat (triple axle). I did not have a truck big enough to tow the trailer, so two friends of mine agreed to go get the boat for me.<br />The trailer company delivered the new trailer to the boat broker, who loaded the boat onto the trailer. Two days later my friends pull into town with my boat and trailer. After exchanging pleasenties I walk around the port side of the boat....the middle wheel is missing !!<br />They have no idea what happened to it or where (somewhere between Florida and Ohio. Thank God another wheel didn't come off or the whole rig could have ended up overturned ontop of someone.<br />Always, always check lug nuts (even on brand new trailers). Always walk completely around whatever you are towing whenever you stop for gas or rest-room break, etc.