Largiest practical towable boat

No issues at all with the law. I passed 3 different troopers sitting in the median in the dark and had several pass by me. I stopped for fuel at a place in Iowa roughly 3am or so and as I was turning onto the main street that went back to the highway a trooper was in the left hard turn lane and looked right at me. Not sure what he was thinking but I kept going.

Some of the states did allow night driving and some did not. I would have look at my notes again to see which ones did.
 
Annual oversize permit for IA up to 14' x 14' is $25/year. Single trip is $15 IIRC. Iowa allows for night movement, within these dimensions.


State Patrol won't get worried about a boat until there is an accident or incident. DOT in Ohio at night with OVERSIZE LOAD banners? Turn you upside down and shake, shake, shake until the money stops coming out of your pockets...


Looks like a safe load to me, from your pics. I would probably remove the upper venturi windshield to avoid breaking it on a tree branch, or similar.

How much weight did you get up onto the truck? It looks like its still sitting pretty high?
 
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I always trailered our 10'2" beam boat with twins and had it for 10 years. It was nice to take it home after an outing and I miss that. Took it from Upper Michigan to Florida and back to Upper Michigan. I never got permits. In Georgia a truck cop followed me for several miles and never even looked at me when he passed.
The truck cops were the ones I worried about most but I was never questioned.
You have not lived until you take a boat this size through Atlanta, 60 mph, at night with wall to wall traffic.
Btw, about insurance. You are insured even if you are drunk. Likely get canceled but you are insured.
Doug
 
chatter box said:
I have always wondered what the largiest practdical boat for towing from place to place is without having to remove things, get permits, or mark as wide load that is. With unlimited towing options now days how big a searay could one go?
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we were faced with this same question and wanted to up grade to larger cruiser.

we found the 310 sundancer to be the biggest small boat we could easily tow. it doe's need over size permits not a big deal in the end. with proper light we can run after dark. just have to have a amber flashing light at back of trailer.
the extra room we have makes much more livable than the 290' and 270's we were considering


 
I guess I'm probably missing something, but why is everyone so afraid of getting wide load permits and being legal? Many states allow you to buy permits online, then all you have to do is make sure you have the right equipment....
1. "Wide Load" signs (or" Oversize Load") front and rear
2. Orange flags at the widest part of the load
3. in some states yellow flashing lights are required at the rear of the load.

It's easy to check any states' restrictions to towing oversize loads....they all have them online.

Why would you let the requirement to get a permit keep you from taking your treasured boat to a distant destination to enjoy the boating experience?
 
Good question. I never felt the need. Once you put the signs on you are advertising you are towing an overwidth load.
Now each state has a requirement. Some won't let you run at night or weekends. From Mich. to Florida, its 6 permits, each may or may not require the same thing.
But your right, I would never let getting them keep me from towing where I wanted to go.
I know a guy who tows a 3818 Bayliner Motor Yacht all over the country. He lives in Wyoming and tows to Washington state and goes to Alaska every other year. He has a heavy duty truck and a well built trailer. I think he has it launched with slings.
Most anything is doable.
 
I bought the permits for Washington and Idaho and towed to a different lake every weekend when I lived in Spokane. I've moved but will still purchase the Washington permit. Idaho was only $50 a year. Washington was $20 a month. Both options together are cheaper than one ticket. When your boat is 11 feet wide, it's hard to cover that up and play dumb. I could tow and night and might pursue that option this year. The frustrating part is not being able to tow on the book ends of Memorial Day and Labor Day. Getting the lights would allow movement after midnight on the Monday night of those holidays and allow movement anytime it gets dark.

There is a huge benefit to the signs when you apply them. People get OUT of your way and give you plenty of room. I didn't expect that and it was a pleasant surprise. Of course, it also means they can't wait to get around you and sometimes that's a little annoying.
 
In my case it wasn’t a matter of not getting permits. It was a matter of I could not get them. I would have to find my notes again but on the eastern-ish side of the country you have to go through a third party agent to get permits.

When I called they would not issue me permits without a D.O.T number. I explained I was not a commercial driver and they told me it didn’t matter and that I would need to get one from my home state. I called my home state D.O.T office and explained the situation and he laughed. He told me to call the other office back and have them call him and he would be happy to read the section in the book where it states that I don’t need a D.O.T number.

I called the third party agent back and they said they had no interest in calling my home state office and then told me they couldn’t help me without a D.O.T number.

I called my home office back and told him what happened. He was as baffled as I was by what I was told. He recommended hanging my signs and go, and to stop at the scale houses to explain what happened. At that point they would either sell me a permit or they wouldn’t.

Other than the story above, the other permits were easy and relatively cheap to get. I got as many permits as could and I applied for them online or faxed them over. I upped my insurance policy, and hung all the wide load banners, flags and lights in place. Not a lot involved other than the hassles from the third party agents.
 
Lugnutz, I used to pick up the permits from our local DOT office but you can also get them online in WA.
 
i guess i didn't realize how lucky i was

have only had to get permits in NV, AZ, UT, CO, and WY.

all have ports, but NV, and can get online.

no port in NV. have to get that one on line.

 
Garry, where did you get the trailer/what brand is it?
Mike

garryowen said:
we were faced with this same question and wanted to up grade to larger cruiser.

we found the 310 sundancer to be the biggest small boat we could easily tow. it doe's need over size permits not a big deal in the end. with proper light we can run after dark. just have to have a amber flashing light at back of trailer.
the extra room we have makes much more livable than the 290' and 270's we were considering


Click to expand...
 
Lugnutz said:
In my case it wasn’t a matter of not getting permits. It was a matter of I could not get them. I would have to find my notes again but on the eastern-ish side of the country you have to go through a third party agent to get permits.

When I called they would not issue me permits without a D.O.T number. I explained I was not a commercial driver and they told me it didn’t matter and that I would need to get one from my home state. I called my home state D.O.T office and explained the situation and he laughed. He told me to call the other office back and have them call him and he would be happy to read the section in the book where it states that I don’t need a D.O.T number.

I called the third party agent back and they said they had no interest in calling my home state office and then told me they couldn’t help me without a D.O.T number.

I called my home office back and told him what happened. He was as baffled as I was by what I was told. He recommended hanging my signs and go, and to stop at the scale houses to explain what happened. At that point they would either sell me a permit or they wouldn’t.

Other than the story above, the other permits were easy and relatively cheap to get. I got as many permits as could and I applied for them online or faxed them over. I upped my insurance policy, and hung all the wide load banners, flags and lights in place. Not a lot involved other than the hassles from the third party agents.
Click to expand...

My third party broker got me permits in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota while I got the permit for my home province of Manitoba. It took me a couple of tries before I got away from the east coast broker who wanted a DOT number and found one who understood that I was a private guy transporting my own boat and that I was not in it as a business, but they are out there.
 
spikedaddy99 said:
Garry, where did you get the trailer/what brand is it?
Mike
Click to expand...

mike;
i had it custom made by metal craft trailer in salt lake city utah.
the reason for four axles............have elect. over hyd. disk brakes and the extra axle was for the braking in the mountains i frequently haul in, as much as the the two B III's with 454's and genset. all right on the transom.

have to say it works great for what we needed
 
garryowen said:
mike;
i had it custom made by metal craft trailer in salt lake city utah.
the reason for four axles............have elect. over hyd. disk brakes and the extra axle was for the braking in the mountains i frequently haul in, as much as the the two B III's with 454's and genset. all right on the transom.

have to say it works great for what we needed
Click to expand...

Quite a set-up!
I'm curious, however, about the frame hitch. You are obviously over 10K#, so, how are you able to avoid going to a fifth wheel arrangement on the trailer?
 
Jerry, there's no requirement to go to a fifth wheel hitch at 10K#. I towed my 330 on a triple axle trailer with a frame hitch and it worked well. It's simply a matter of making certain the boat is positioned on the trailer such that you have the proper amount of tongue weight.
 
Gofirstclass said:
Jerry, there's no requirement to go to a fifth wheel hitch at 10K#. I towed my 330 on a triple axle trailer with a frame hitch and it worked well. It's simply a matter of making certain the boat is positioned on the trailer such that you have the proper amount of tongue weight.
Click to expand...

A weight distributing hitch is also a good idea, possibly even one with anti-sway but I don't have that on my set up.
 
Someday Lady II said:
A weight distributing hitch is also a good idea, possibly even one with anti-sway but I don't have that on my set up.
Click to expand...

Boat trailers usually have the axles to the back of the trailer frame so that coupled with the fact that the boat is rear heavy and they usually don't sway enough to need anti sway or weight distribution.

MM
 
MonacoMike said:
Boat trailers usually have the axles to the back of the trailer frame so that coupled with the fact that the boat is rear heavy and they usually don't sway enough to need anti sway or weight distribution.

MM
Click to expand...

Gotta disagree on both counts MM.

Although the boat is definitely heavy to the rear the trailer axles, in my experience are not what I would call "to the back of the trailer frame". In fact on a larger cruiser the tongue weight is significant and can benefit from a WD hitch.
 
JerryS said:
Quite a set-up!
I'm curious, however, about the frame hitch. You are obviously over 10K#, so, how are you able to avoid going to a fifth wheel arrangement on the trailer?
Click to expand...

jerry the GVW of TV and boat both scale at 25000 and change. and i am looking at equalizer hitch. right now i have forged 2 1/2" hitch rated for 20000#. being able to stop quickly for me is the key to making this work.
it does that well.

the weight and over all length have meant that sway is non existent.

get by pretty well as is, to be honest with you. this set up can be had in a 5th wheel hitch but, the extra length and weight to the trailer pulse, cost didn't work for me.
 
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