The other day we were driving on a freeway (well, tollway) in Miami and we were behind somebody towing a catamaran sailboat. Couldn't tell exactly what it was, because it had a full cover over it. Maybe a Hobie 20. Very nice. Obviously the owner cares about protecting his boat.

HOWEVER, one small problem. He had left his rudders on, which is not normally a problem, but he had taken off the tiller crossbar between the rudders, so the rudders and rudder arms were just swinging freely around in the breeze.

We followed him through a toll booth that had concrete along the left side as you entered, and we watched as his port rudder scraped along the concrete. And then when he got to the actual toll booth and paid the lady, she noticed the rudder sticking out, so she flicked it over with her hand as it went by. I said, "Oh, no!" because this now put the tiller arm out to port, and the end of the tiller then caught briefly on the exit portal from the booth.

We were anticipating certain disaster for the guy's rudder system. But somehow he lucked through it all.

Rick said, "Now there's a guy who, when he sells his boat, will advertise it as "never raced."

Anyway, we have had numerous incidents and accidents ourselves involving trailering our sailboats, including tilt trailers flying a "hull", trailer tongues breaking and the boat passing the car, flat tires that we don't notice until we see smoke coming from behind our vehicle, daggerboards falling out of our boat box on the road....and a friend lost a jib that fell out the back of his boat box. We have spent more time than we had planned in parts of the country where we didn't want to be, as a result of trailer wheel hubs freezing up because we did not keep them greased.

Highway trailering is a way of life for beach-cat sailors, and probably people have more accidents and more problems related to trailering than to sailing.

So please share YOUR bad trailering experiences -- maybe we can help others avoid them.

This is more of a near miss but I had helped my, now wife, move into my house and being short on tie downs, I borrowed the ones from my boat to secure her things on the trailer for the move. You can probably see this one coming by now; I went sailing the next weekend to my normal spot that is about 30 miles away down a rather seriously bumpy peice of freeway that was under construction. We stopped once we were almost there to pick up some snacks. Checking the boat like I do at every stop, I almost died when I realized I had forgoten to put the straps back on (they were in the back of the truck) and it was within a couple of inches of teetering off the last cradle. While it had made it without a scratch, I could put about 10lbs on the back and it would tilt down off the trailer!!

Make sure that you tie your mast down, and do it well.

My first cat was a Hobie 16. I pulled it with my new Ford Econoline van. While heading to the beach one beautiful Saturday morning to sail, the mast bounced out of the cradle on the high end over the van, and was hanging down from the support by the loose ties. It worked its way down behind the van so that it fit perfectly. Well, everything was fine as long as I was going straight, but when I eventually made a hard right hand turn --- crunch! The base of the mast was pushed through the back door/window.

That won't happen again!

Don

I have built these supports for my last two boats, it keeps the rudders straight and takes the stress off of the castings. the best part is it comes off in seconds with 3 bungees.

ElGreengo - Most excelent!!! 1.5" Aluminum pipe? Does anyone see a downside to this setup? I sure don't.

I think it's 2" but any scrap will do, the rudder cradles are 1/4" x 2" flat bar bent into a l shape.here are a few more photos. I always thought it was frowned upon to trailer withyour rudders on but the quicker I can make rigging the boat the more often I can go out. anyone else with good rigging / trailering tips?

photo

p16 photo

Just to underscore the importance of properly tying stuff down. About 15 years ago someone leaving the causeway didn't tie their mast well enough. As you leave the causeway there is a bump as you drive onto the draw bridge. It was just enough to pop the front of the mast out of the front support. The mast fell to the left into the oncoming lane. As fate would have it the moment it fell a car was passing in the other direction. The mast was driven through the windshield of the passing car hitting the driver in the head and killing him.

Always take that last walk around and make sure you secured everything. Don't rely on someone whose helping you to do it right.

Mike

I agree with Mike(catman). The last thing you should do before leaving is ALWAY do a walk about. Take a walk around your boat making sure everything is tied down and you haven't left anything laying anywhere. (Like a wallet on the front of the boat)

There was probably a huge lawsuit after that one.

Someone I know is too cheap/lazy to get a sailbox or van. This person says that it's feasible to tie the boom and sailbag to the tramp and everything will be all right. What does everyo9ne think of this?

David Ho
TheMightyHobie18 1067

Once you make sure your mast is tied tight, make sure its far enough away from your vehicle. We were headed to Racine Wisconsin, had made it all the way fom michigan and as we are driving through downtown racine, we hit a big dip in the road, as the motorhome was going up and the trailer going down, the mast went through the back window. Needless to say, the garbage bag we taped on made it all the way back to michigan after the regatta. Now we put the mast to the top of the motorhome.

Leah

Along that same thinking, it is also important to make sure your boat is back far enough on the trailer so the bows can't hit the aft sides of the towing vehicle when you are turning at tight angles. All our vehicles used to have dents from the bows digging into them. We're slow learners.

Last winter a collegue of me offered to bring my cat to our company wharehouse for winter storage, and crached one hull into his car.
This spring a nice gentleman offered to help me park the trailer, and made a turn direct after disconnecting from the car, I ended up with a big dent in my 12 weeks old car .

The only plomblem I ever had while trailering was loosing a paddle on the highway (forgot to take it of the tram) no one got harmed .

One of the most important things to check, and I can't believe it was mentioned, is your tires/wheels.

I've had trailer tire blowouts on club dinghys before, and its not fun. Also, I've had bearing seize to the point where the entire wheel just stopped and was burning rubber.

I repack or replace my bearings every year.

I remember someone collecting his new cat, taking the wrong turn, doing a U turn and catching his mast on a telagraph pole, snapping it (the mast not the pole - naturally.)

Something that hasn't been mentioned is, if the mast sits on the aft beam, not on a support, it needs to be very carefully padded between the beam and the mast. Because of the movement of the forward support and the flexability of the trailer, especially on bumpy roads, quite thick padding (carpet)can wear away very quickly, damaging both mast and beam.

Trailering experiences...

Story 1:
I was on the Ohio turnpike, far from home, many years ago with my old Hobie 16, when I look in my rear view mirror and see one side of the cat much lower then normal. The trailer was made of galvanized U shaped steel( "[" shaped since on its side) and just behind the wheel on one side the top and middle of the [ section had ripped apart. The bottom of the [ was still attached and the sailbox (plywood) was holding it up some in the back middle so it did not drag. I had a wheel jack for the front that I was able to clamp on with its U bolts across the crack. It held for the remainder of the trip.

Story 2:
Trailer had been sitting unmoved for a couple years (boat on beach) and I repacked bearings one side but could not get the other side out. A bad sign. I greased as best I could but 15 minutes into a 12 hour drive, on a Sunday, towards home, heard a horable screeching sound. Was very lucky to find and old style service station with a service bay that could work on it. The owner was only one on duty and did not want do it, but listened to my plea that I had to get home and was 12 hours from home. Also luckily the one boat parts store in town was open on a Sunday. I now have "Bearing Buddies" and grease gun. Highly recommended.

I wouldn't call not buying a van cheap or lazy. I wouldn't bust out tens of thousands of dollars to buy a vehicle that's butt-ugly to tow my $1,000 boat.

Wouldn't say not having a catbox is lazy, maybe cheap.

Guess I fall into that camp. But prior to purchasing a larger vehicle, when I towed my H16 with my Firebird, I lashed my rudders, sailbag and boom to the tramp of my H16. As well as a couple of beach chairs. Go figure, never had a problem. Never lost a piece and never damaged my boat. Just use a little common sense while tying down.

John

Even with bearing buddies you should take off the hub once a year to check the condition of the bearings.