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That boat on the A9 ...

TheBiscuits

By TheBiscuits
in General Boating

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Paul C Veteran II

Paul C

Posted
Posted

Aaaaah makes sense now - a 27' sea otter including trailer is 3400kg. Of course, that would rely on the water ballast thing being empty, and no doubt almost all the personal possessions etc in the boat removed too, to squeeze under the limit. And not much fuel either. And empty water and toilet tank etc etc

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haggis Veteran

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Posted
Posted (edited)

As far as I could see from the photos when the boat fell off the trailer, it wasn't secured in any way to the trailer.  When we tow gamebird she has ratchet straps across both bow and stern and secured to the trailer. We did this after my brother drove behind us one day and noticed how much the boat "bounced". Also, when we towed, we had huge stabilisers  to reduce the swing. Perhaps the driver didn't have those. 

 

When we have hosed through the water ballast tank (when the boat was on the trailer) there was never any weed or mud came out. When the tank fills, I think it stays filled with the same water till the boat is taken out of the water so I don't think there is much chance of mud or weed getting into the chamber. 

 

haggis

Edited by haggis
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jonathanA Experienced

jonathanA

Posted
Posted (edited)

Could be or if there was some ballast still in maybe it was a tad nose light a stamp on the brakes as the wagon passed and a bit of snaking game over...

 

i dont think whether it was 3300 kgs or 3800 would make that much difference it’s the weight distribution and security of the load that are likely to be more pertinent.

Edited by jonathanA
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Paul C Veteran II

Paul C

Posted
Posted

I know plenty of 4x4s have a towing weight limit over the weight of the towing vehicle; and 3500kg. But not many average car drivers have probably driven that weight of combination - its markedly different to driving a "normal" car, and different to a little trailer for going to-from the tip too! With a (guesstimated) weight of about 3800kg inc on the overloaded trailer, I bet the tail started wagging the dog at about 40mph so a major A road was a ticking timebomb, either from going over a safe speed, or being so slow as to be a hazard for other traffic etc. 

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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

Totally off topic, I know, but I see that the press report is from the P&J (Aberdeen Press and Journal), whose claim to fame is the front page headline on the day WW2 broke out:

 

GIANT NEEP FOUND AT ELLON

 

Wassa neep anyway?!

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Tumshie Influencer

TumshieDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted (edited)
22 minutes ago, haggis said:

As far as I could see from the photos when the boat fell off the trailer, it wasn't secured in any way to the trailer.

That horrifies me - You're less than £50 for a good set of straps, they take minutes to put on, and they are not complicated. 

 

He was really lucky that when the trailer jackknifed it rolled the boat on to the barrier and that he didn't kill any one behind him, or his 7 point would have been 7 years.  

Edited by Tumshie
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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

 

What an excellent demo of the effect I was suggesting happened. 

 

Thing is, WHY does it happen when the weight distribution is wrong? 

 

1 minute ago, Tumshie said:

? You're a nutter. ?

 

Dammit. Busted.....

 

?

Actually have you not heard of it??

 

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/purple-sprouting-broccoli

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Tumshie Influencer

TumshieDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

What an excellent demo of the effect I was suggesting happened. 

 

Thing is, WHY does it happen when the weight distribution is wrong? 

 

 

Dammit. Busted.....

 

?

Actually have you not heard of it??

 

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/purple-sprouting-broccoli

I have - you can also get purple potatoes and purple carrots. And I once made veg broth with red (purple) cabbage it tasted really good but it looked a bit peculiar ☺️

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted (edited)
51 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 

I reckon we was just going too fast and it started fish-tailing. All the waffle about the turbulence of a lorry passing then hitting a potholes was just that. Waffle. 

Not quite waffle.

 

A passing hgv or indeed coach will often cause a trailer such as a caravan or other high sided trailer to briefly move out of line especially if they pass too close. Then as they pass, the trailer will fall back into line. If the trailer is incorrectly loaded this is often sufficient to create a snake even if it is not being towed too fast.

 

The worst offenders are car transporters because of the eddies and air flows through the vehicles. They can really make the outfit 'twitchy' as they pass, even on a correctly loaded outfit with the nose weight set optimally. The effect is only temporary but it is noticeable none the less. Unless of course your trailer is overweight, badly loaded and you don't react by hitting the brakes which will normally make things a whole lot worse.

 

Lots of modern caravans now have a system (Alko Trailer Control) whereby if a snake is detected it applies the brakes on the caravan independently of the towing vehicle. The effect of dragging the car to a slower speed rather the the car braking (and the caravan trying to swing past it) will in most cases kill the snake before it gets out of control. 

 

It is very unlikely the trailer here will have been fitted with such a system therefore even if the driver behaved correctly it will likely have reached the point of no return and deposited its load onto the carriageway, especially if it wasn't fastened down to the trailer.

Edited by MJG
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cereal tiller Veteran

cereal tillerDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

What an excellent demo of the effect I was suggesting happened. 

 

Thing is, WHY does it happen when the weight distribution is wrong? 

 

 

Dammit. Busted.....

 

?

Actually have you not heard of it??

 

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/purple-sprouting-broccoli

The Joint of Hitch and Towbar should rise and fall with Road Undulations and Pivot laterally to allow turning.if the Trailer is tail heavy the Rise/Fall/Swing  will convert to a Rotational action which will increase rapidly and cause Instability.got that MtB?

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Alan de Enfield Veteran II

Alan de Enfield

Posted
Posted
28 minutes ago, Paul C said:

I know plenty of 4x4s have a towing weight limit over the weight of the towing vehicle; and 3500kg. But not many average car drivers have probably driven that weight of combination - its markedly different to driving a "normal" car, and different to a little trailer for going to-from the tip too!

That is soooo true.

My (our) horse trailer is 2050kgs 'empty' (It has 'living' built in - bunk beds, kitchen, shower & toilet) and with 2 'full size horses' it is right on the max. The Merc 4WD has a towing capacity of 3500kgs but easy it aint !! - get on a slow steady ascending hill and I have been throttle flat on the floor locked in 1st gear doing under 10mph.

 

I used to tow a 30 foot long glider trailer - light weight but being so long it really caught the cross winds.

 

I can completely understand why they introduced separate driving tests for trailer towing.

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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, cereal tiller said:

The Joint of Hitch and Towbar should rise and fall with Road Undulations and Pivot laterally to allow turning.if the Trailer is tail heavy the Rise/Fall/Swing  will convert to a Rotational action which will increase rapidly and cause Instability.got that MtB?

 

I note you fail to explain WHY... 

 

If you did, I would get it ;) 

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