Towing a boat behind a Range Rover

|| Any lauching tips. I dont fancy seperating the trailer from || the || RR''s hitch to launch it with a rope like some suggest

That's a well-known and widely-accepted way to do it. Reverse the boat down to the water, detatch the boat, drive back up the slope, rig the rope and reverse (well clear of the water) to lower the boat into the sea/lake. Same to recover. It's hard to think of an easier way.

What's stopping you doing that?

My old v8 RR worked well towing a 16 and half foot speedboat with all the gear plus passengers. You are right on the towing limit with that weight. Make sure your trailer brakes are in good working order as they do tend to seize up when left for the winter or being dunked in salt water all the time. Also check the bearings are in good nick.It will ruin your day if they fail with the possibility of a bad accident.

As for launching, It depends where the launch site is. If its a fresh water lake then its very simple as most lakes launching areas are not very steep. Get out and have a good look at where your best reversing line would be. Look out for any slippery or muddy patches to avoid,And especially kids running around. Get your boat ready,Take off trailer board,straps etc and make sure the bung is in the transom. Leave the ratchet strap on and tie a good bowline to the front eye. Line your vehicle and trailer up for reversing and put the RR in low range,Keep it straight as you are going towards the water and try to avoid stamping on the brakes,Range Rovers have excellent engine braking. It doesn't matter how much of the boat trailer goes in the water but stop before the water reaches halfway up your rear wheels.Handbrake on and leave in gear if its a manual. By then your boat should be floating.Before undoing the ratchet start it up and check all is ok.I always do this at home before going out. When you are happy,Have someone hold onto the bowline and undo the ratchet strap.Push the boat clear of the trailer and carefully pull the car away and hey presto go and have fun. I would never ever launch using just a rope wrapped around the towball,It's just too risky,Although i still see people doing it.

You can though use a long rope to recover your boat if the launch site is a long stretch of shingle with a steep drop off.

If you are launching on a tidal river,The first thing to look for is what is stronger,The wind or the tide. The wind could be blowing one way and the tide going the other which makes launching a bit more difficult. Look to see which way a flag or something is blowing,And then look which way a moored boat is pointing. A moored boat will be facing the oncoming tide. Have someone who doesn't mind getting wet to stand at the side of the boat to stop it curving back around once it is in the water.But be warned it takes a lot of effort with a strong wind or tide.

Hope this helps you a little bit, Its not hard but it can be dangerous,Before you go out have a look at how others do it,Stand back and watch for a bit. You will find that the majority of boat users will be more than happy to give you a hand.

Roll on the warm weather.

You're in luck, at last, something I speak about on this group about with authority! As part of my job we launch / recover boats of all shapes and sizes up to 5 or 6 times a day.

A big help will be having a decent roller trailer, bed trailers are ok if you are keeping your boat in the water but otherwaise you can't beat a good quality roller, if you are having one made for your boat then I can put you in touch with someone who I believe makes the best trailers bar none.

Your Range Rover will easily tow the above weight assuming that you stay legal weight wise and the nose weight is ok. Before we bought our Td5 90 for launching and recovery we used a Tdi range rover and regularly towed a 25ft sportscruiser at around the weight you are talking about, we can sell you one also if you want

I also have a Tdi RRC of my own and it happily, although slowly, tows over 3 tonnes when taking my bobtail RR to events.

Like i mentioned before just make sure your nose wieght is ok, otherwise you end up with the "tail wagging the dog!"

With regards to lauching and recovery, i treat it like off-roading, and by that I mean get out and walk it first, I speak from bitter experience. I've seen someone come piling down a slipway, try to brake and jack-knife their rig on the seaweed on the slip.

should still be some weight on the trailer. The loose technique (proven!) we use is to reverse near to the waters edge. Take the trailerboard and rear strap off. Reverse into the water just enough so the engine can cool and start her up(trim the engine or leg down). Once you are happy that all is well engine wise, reverse further until you are happy that the majority of the boat is floating. Remember that these boats are designed to roll of these trailers not just float off.

It is no good deciding to go in "as far as the mudflaps" or "so far up the wheel" this only works when you know your particlular set up and how steep the slip is.

Once you're happy, take the front strap off and try to unwind the winch strap, the boat will most likely try to roll back so get the skipper to engage forward gear to hold it while you take the winch strap off.

Then it's just a case of a telling the skipper he is free to go, he pops it back into neutral and she rolls off the trailer. Lovely. As Rich B says, it really is easy.

Putting it on however takes a bit more skill. Because sportsboats have planing hulls they are more affected by wind than displacement type hulls so you need to have your wits about you. The wind will always try to push the bow around and this is really tricky to control at slow speed as is always multiplied when you are putting a boat on a trailer because you have to trim the leg or engine up which means you lose steerage to a certain extent.

The person with the trailer can help you by pointing the trailer slightly into the wind.

The technique, if you can master it, is to point the boat into the wind and then swing the front of the boat onto the trailer at the last second (this is where your good roller trailer comes in handy). Also, in windy conditions you really need to go for it, none of this half-hearted butting up to the trailer while the winchman pays out 25ft of cable to winch you in, you'll be off up the harbour before you know it. If you try to put the anchor on the rear wiper blade of the RR you're not far wrong!!!. Once you're on, you may need to hold her in gear briefly while your winch man gets the hook onto your boats towing eye. Easy!

Sometimes you need to remember though that things can get very tricky very quickly. A while ago I had to take a boat out where a spring tide was running in one direction and the eind was blowing in the other. Interesting. Especially when it's 50 grand of someone elses money!

Give me a shout if you need any more advice,

Dave

A related question..

Why is it that everyone else can reverse their trailer down the slip in a straight controlled line whilst if I attempt it it keeps attempting to go off line and jack-knife? I keep having to pull forward to straighten up and start again.

I must be doing something basic wrong and I'd love to know what it is!

Cheers,

I would caution you to use low range and just do it very slowly. This gives you time to correct things before you get to a jackknife situation.

Some also suggest putting your hands on the bottom of the wheel as this makes the steering more intuitive. If you are really battling then just put a hitch on the bull bar and drive the thing down forwards.

Regards Stephen

On or around Fri, 26 May 2006 19:38:03 +0100, "Richard Brookman" enlightened us thusly:

and use a good, strong rope. I once had much amusement watching a bloke on the Thames trying to get a smallish cabin cruiser out of the water using a Bedford campervan with a knackered clutch. He couldn't pull it up the slope so adopted a technique similar to the one you describe so that the van was on the flat. Unfortunately, the rope was thin and not in the best condition, so once the thing was out of the water and all the weight of the trailer on it, the inevitable happened. The trailer, with boat, rolled back down the slope and into the water. he had made the bow fast to the trailer, mind, so at least the trailer didn't carry on rolling down in to the bottom of the Thames.

|| A related question.. || || Why is it that everyone else can reverse their trailer down the slip || in a straight controlled line whilst if I attempt it it keeps || attempting to go off line and jack-knife? I keep having to pull || forward to straighten up and start again. || || I must be doing something basic wrong and I'd love to know what it || is! || || Cheers, || || M

Get a view of the trailer in your door mirrors and apply correction the instant it starts to move either way. Catch it quick and make small movements - the main error is in over-correcting.

On or around Mon, 29 May 2006 10:25:48 +0200, fanie enlightened us thusly:

it's all down to practice. There was a series III based at Chas. Newens marine in Putney, London, which had a toball moutned in the middel of the front bumper. I've seen a bloke push a trailer down the road at about 20 mph with this setup. most impressive, and probably illegal.

but reversing is all down to practice.

One useful tip I can give you - using the rig you want to reverse, find an empty car park or something and driver forwards at full lock, 'til you've gone around more or less 360 degrees, then stop (still at full lock) and look at the trailer. That angle the trailer ends up pointing is the "magic angle" for that rig. If it gets further than that when reversing it's impossible to correct except by going forwards.