Having a boat you can trail means having the best of all worlds. If you are happy to spend the time and effort putting it in the water and retrieving it again afterwards, you can have the freedom to go boating wherever you choose.
It’s critical you know what you are doing though and that you have a vehicle that is powerful enough to tow a heavy boat and trailer. Make sure you check the recommended towing weight for your car and do not exceed this.
Also check the trailer thoroughly, especially if you bought the boat and trailer second hand. Get it serviced so you know it isn’t corroded, that the ball bearings and axel are properly greased and that the brakes actually work.
And if you are buying a boat on a trailer, make sure you get a light board with a road legal registration number plate on the back with the correct length of cable. A bit of cardboard taped on the back with no light board is illegal.
I believe that if you’d plan to be safe on the water there is no excuse for not being safe (and legal) on dry land.
To keep you safe when towing a boat, here are four useful videos produced by Practical Boat Owner (PBO) with their partners Land Rover. They show how to check the trailer is safe before setting off, how to reverse with a trailer on the back of the car, how to launch the boat from the trailer and how to recover the boat back onto the trailer from the water.
[...] How to Tow a Boat Behind a Car Safely, Reverse, Launch and Recover Written by Ralph Varcoe in BestBoatNe.ws – Leave a comment! Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet Box via harbourexchange.com [...]