Worst towing story or accident.

[SlowlySinking]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

It was the summer of 1966, my buddy Norman was just released from the Air Force in California and had hauled his worldly possessions across country in a homemade wood trailer towed by another friend to Pittsburgh, a bus trip to Long Island and we headed back for the trailer, a side trip for gas yielded a $50 speeding ticket in some kangaroo court, on the way home from Pittsburg about 2 AM on the Pa. turnpike one trailer wheel bearing siezed and there went one tire and rim to who knows where, of course no spare, didn't matter, we also had no lug wrench or jack, we had no choice so we continued on at 60 MPH with a long trail of sparks following us, every passing car beeped and pointed as if we didn't see this roman candle, duh, we were too drunk to see, we continued until the hot axle set the wooden trailer on fire, panic set in and of course we had no fire extinguisher, fortunately all the beer we had drank came in handy, phew, what a stink, never pee on a wood fire. Now remember, this was before the letters D W & I were ever used as a phrase, so we got the fire out and we continued to a truck stop, rented a U-Haul, grabbed more beer, quickly switched the stuff, popped the plates, abandoned the wood trailer, and beat it out of there. Sometimes I wonder how we managed to stay out of jail.

 

[KenOhki]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

I guess I have a story to add here.. Many years ago, My brother decided to go into the arcade bussness. he then got wind of a lot of 100 pinball machiens. So, he bought a 25 foot tandom wheel trailor, and built a 10 foot high box on it. He then hitches it up to his 5.o liter Mustang GT and down the road we go to start hauling our pinball machiens. The first load went fine, but the second... thats another story... we were going down the Maine Turnpike, and hit one of those expantion joints they use on the bridges. The trailor jumped and started to sway side to side, 2 seconds later my brother was fighting for control trying to recover by using the stearing.. Big BIG mistake. I was ony 14 but knew he should have droped a gear and hammered on it relying on the power of the GT to pull it straight. he didnt know that having not grown up with my father as I did. ANyway. You can guess what happened, several seconds later the trailor won the fight, spun us around sideways and the trailor tiped over, naturaly, the cheap box that we built disinigrated on impact, and we sent pinball machienes flying down the road for hundreds of feet. After we stoped moving ( sliding actualy ) the first thing I saw was a semi trailor about 15 feet away and still moving. He Barely managed to stop.. Later we learned the semi driver saw it happening, and blocked both lanes with his rig wile slowing trafic behind him. Nobody was hurt, we lost about 40 machiens. The smart ass cop thought he was being funny when he told my brother he was writing him up for opening a arcade on the side of the turnpike.

 

[tombold]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

I was coming back from a nice day of fishing and beer drinkin from a backwoods lake in northeastern washington state towing my dads 14' alum boat along a nice dusty gravel road for 10 miles when I noticed it swerving back and forth a little excessive. I didn't pay much attention and figured it was from the gravel road. It was about 95deg that day so I had the air on and the windows up. When I returned to pavement I heard a nasty noise thinking "what the hell is that" I rolled in to a little town and realized I blew the tire. OK, 95 deg, many many beers and a blown boat trailer tire with a town clown across the street, a recipe for disaster, to my advantage I worked quickly, as quickly as a drunk guy could, and got the hell out of dodge, ahh the good ole days. Couldn't get away with that these days. I had to bs the ol man though, but who hasn't had to bs their ol man a time or two before.

 

[SeaMasterZ@aol.com]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

I had my Ford Van equipped to handle the load of the SeaCraft SeaFari 25 - trans cooler, super duty fan, front read super heavy duty sway bars, beefed springs, torquer cam, the works, and the thing was a beast that would rigs that a 454 Suburban would cringe at (351, not the 460)<br /><br />So ...<br /><br />My buddy asks if would tow a volkswagen bus for him, maybe sixty miles or so<br /><br />sure, no problem<br /><br />and it wasnt, except for one thing<br /><br /> the bus was stuck in second gear<br /><br />so I ease it down the road, keeping it to about 25 or so<br /><br />But this was The Van, you see, bulk strength on wheels, and soon I Was getting lost in the sounds of the killer stereo I had installed<br /><br />after a while, I dont know how long, I look back in the mirror<br /><br />there is my buddy frantically waving his arm to slow down<br /><br />Mighty Beast is rolling along at better than seventy miles an hour<br /><br />ever drive a seventies vw bus? they top out at 24 in second gear<br /><br />foot to the floor<br /><br />falling off a cliff<br /><br />He was petrified that the shrieking noises he heard from the rear of the bus was its motor readying itself to grenade into a million pieces<br /><br />I started laughing, thinking about how loud that noise must have been<br /><br />and kept creeping up on high speeds, but tried to keep it down.<br /><br />once home, he was pale, and piisssed at me for scaring him like that, but me being me, I bought him a beer and told him to fuggetabout it ...<br /><br />now lets repair the trans seal that blew from pulling this damn thing all those miles<br /><br />(I still think it was a fluke that the seal went)

 

[aspeck]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

Worsed day of my boating life (other than the time I was run over by a pontoon and sliced my head open on the moving prop, but that is another story) - was early spring. First fishing trip on the lake after the ice had melted (this was in the States, not Ghana). Mid 1970's and I had by 15 foot Ouachita bass boat with the 55 Johnny all set to go.<br /><br />Made it to the lake and put the boat in the water. Got to the end of the llllooooonnnnngggg no wake area and hit the throttle. Sounded like I hit a log! Shut the engine off and turned around to see 3 holes in the engine cowl and my fuel pump sitting on the top of transom! Piston snapped and knocked 3 holes in the block!<br /><br />Used trolling motor to get back to ramp. Loaded boat and headed for my local dealer. On the way I heard a funny noise behind me. Stopped and checked lug nuts, all tight, everything seemed fine.<br /><br />Was coming down a very steep hill, several hundred yards away from my dealer when a terrible racket was heard behind me. I looked in my rear view in time to see a trailer wheel passing me and heading to the nearby field. Fortunately I was able to control the rig (Firebird was the tow vehicle). Came to a stop, unhooked the trailer - the lug nuts were still tight - the wheel came apart! Hunted for several hours for the tire - never found to this day!<br /><br />Left the boat, motor, and trailer along the road, went down the road to my dealer, pointed to a new boat and motor and told him I would take it. His was up on the hill and he could call me later with the price, I was going fishing!

 

[mvaughn]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

Not quite towing, but still transporting. Myself and a friend duck hunt a private lake about 4 miles north of the house. Our "found in the weeds" boat was not in the best of shape, (14' john boat)someone had left it in the marsh for many years. We fitted an old 3 horse johnson to it, in the field. Between the rotted transom board and minor leak we one day decided to take it to the house for an overhaul. We put it in the back of the pickup, took her home put on a new transom board, and half a tube of JB weld. On the way back, you got it " what's that noise?" Now 1 piece of flashing, 26 pop rivets, and 4 tubes of JB weld. Note: next time don't forget to tie both ends of the rope!

 

[11 footer]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

Two years ago I got my first boat. <br />I call my cousant who is older and can drive me, and we are off to take the 11' whaler out for the first time.<br /><br />We pull it to the ramp with the famly car that everyone has driven at one time or another,<br />A 1988 ford crown vic that is beat to hell <br /><br />So, we get the boat in the water no prolbem and have a good first trip......now for the fun part. The tide had gone out, alot. the ramp is wet and slimey. Once the boat is on the trailer the car won't make it up the wet ramp for the life of it. We had to take sand and rock for the beach and put it on the ramp to get the rig back to the parking lot. Once it is time to go......well turns out the wireing on that trailer is not so good after all we blew a fuse in the car and now we have no head lights to get home its now about 9 at night.<br />After about an hour of laying under the steering colum moveing fuses around we for the head lights to work.

 

[oddjob]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

Hey aspeck, I picked up a 16' quachita bass boat w/ 50hp evin like you described a year ago. I need to finish the powerhead and create a new console. Any chance you have a photo you could post. mine is a 71 or 73 mustard green. Got it in Louisana where they were built and popular? right now its an open fisherman with a 3' upper deck on the bow.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

Sorry, no pictures available at this time - all back in PA. However, mine was about a '70 pr '71 also, dark brown, with a 40 merc and stick steering. Had nothing but trouble with the merc - used a 20 merc from dealer to swap, when one would go down - I would swap engines and use while repairing the other. Got tired of that and purchased a 55 johnny. Too much torque! Kept breaking the stick steering! Not fun going 30mph down lake and the steering goes - happened twice! (Yes, I am dumb enough to let it happen twice, but not 3 times!)<br /><br />Converted stick to steering wheel mounted on the side of boat so steering was like propelling a wheelchair - it was an interesting conversation piece and it worked - till the motor blew up and when I was taken her back to the dealership the wheel broke apart on the trailer and past me on the highway. Last day I owned that rig!<br /><br />It was a blast, even if it was a headache! Hope I didn't scare ya! And I hope you have better success with it! Any thing I can do to help, let me know - yea, right, like after that story you would want my help!

 

[ilmostro99]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

Not an accident, but the craziest thing I have seen was a few years ago, my father and I took a motorcycle trip from Central California to Phoenix. On the way back, we took I-40 trough the desert. Now, I know that all traffic drives fast on that road, and we were cruising at around 85-90 mph when I looked in my mirror and saw a pickup truck towing what must have been a 50 foot OFF-SHORE RACER. He passed us like we were hardly moving. Must have been going about 110 mph. The first thing I thought of was that he couldn't be getting more than about 2 mpg, then... what if something let loose at that speed? I didn't see anything happen to him, but that could be because I didn't see him for long. We backed WAY off, and let him go.

Erik
'99 Sea Ray 190BR

 

[Marcq]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

This is an email I sent to the ex owner of a boat I just bought from Long Island NY once I was back home yesterday

Hi Joe, made it home safe. But had a little scary moment. Got out of LongI good with your instruction, went by NY fine, but man the roads are in bad condition in NY. Once I was on I-87 the drive felt weird, seemed like the trailer was weaving, I thought maybe it was the pavement that was causing that feeling, was trying to look at the boat from my rear view mirror but it was to dark, couldn't see anything. So I said to myself, better stop at the next rest area and check things out, but just when I was reaching the exit, a car pass me and I could see from his lights that the boat was not centered on the trailer, holly molly. I took the exit and parked, got out of my truck, I could see something was very wrong, the winch+bracket was detach from the trailer, just hanging to the boat, and the boat had falling of the front rollers, so the only thing holding the boat was the strap that I installed in the back. Apparently the two bolts holding the winch bracket became loose with all that bad road condition in NY. Luckily I had some spare bolts in my tool box and was able to put the boat back on the front rollers with the help of a nice fellow. The rest of the trip went fine.

Never saw this kind of bracket installation, usually they are welded to the vertical post and it's the vertical post that's adjustable, bad design

Almost made the headline news

Marc..

 

[FishnMike]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

A buddy and I were up bass fishing a lake in northern Calif. On the way home we stopped at a burger joint to eat before leaving the lake. While sitting in the parking lot at a "T" intersection of the state highway and a city road we watch this pickup pulling a beautiful wood Chris Craft ski boat approach the T intersection. The pickup made the turn from teh highway onto the city road but the boat and trailer shot across the intersection and 40 feet down an embankment. The pickup just kept going.

My buddy and i just looked at each other asking if we really saw what we thought we saw and then walked over to the edge of the embankment. The boat was laying at the bottom looking like a pile of kindling. About 5 minutes later the guy in the pickup came back wondering if anyone had see the boat. Turns out he worked for a local boat shop and was taking a customers boat down to the lake for a test run after the mechanic had worked on it. He knew he had the wrong size trailer ball but didn't think it would make a difference on such a short trip.

FishnMike

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

Oh, man. I guess he's out of a job, and the shop owner's going to have to pay plenty to replace that classic boat. All over the wrong hitch ball. No doubt the shop had all the sizes ready to slip into the receiver, but this guy just didn't have time to bother. Heck, I have all three ball sizes all premounted and ready to go.

Very nasty business.

 

[zach103]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

Mines not really bad.. Well the first place we brought ours was lake george NY . about a 5 hr trip witht he boat.. well the whole time the check engine light kept going off but i guess it had always doen that.. but when we got there. we had about 4 or 5 inches of clearence on either side of the ramp.. the boards must have been 8 or 9 ft boards.. took us a couple tries. not to mention there were a number of rocks right there. not the best place for my first launch

 

[alan ber]

Re: Worst towing story or accident.

Hey all you fellow boaters
I live in Sunny Florida and use my boat all year. It is a 21 center console Sea Ray. My EZ loader was heavy duty with dual axels and surge brakes.
Trailer was rusting away and rust was taking over.
Have been searching for a good used trailer but here in Fla that slim.
My main support cracked over the dual axels and I had it welded which held, but the pressure caused a twist in main support and there was a noticeable bend.
On Friday 13th 2008 I had just got off hightway on my way to boat ramp.
A 20 mile ride thru towns and many stops at sign stops etc etc.
I slow down in front of the bait shop and my trailer brakes in two,
Where the two main rails meet and the tongue continues the rust was under the paint and I never was aware this was that bad.
Boat fell to pavement.
Guys from the marinia help me and after a slow pulling we were able to get the crain behind boat and lift into water.
Boat is now at the marinia in a stacking rack.
Can you imagine how fast your life can change
Chains would have done nothing
Boat would have been all over road hurting people.
I guess Friday 13th was a lucky day for me.
It's serious stuff , Make sure your trailer is road ready.
Your pulling another car behind you.