How to tow a car AND a boat?

[stonestatue]

People that drive RVs and campers often like to have vehicles to drive around town once hooked up at the campsite, so RVs tow their car behind and campers already have a drivable tow vehicle. But what happens if you want to have a car AND a boat with your camper rig?

I've heard of double (sometimes referred to triple) towing being an option to solve this problem. A truck tows a fifth wheel and a boat behind the fifth wheel. That would solve that problem, but I've heard double towing is only legal in certain states, and then only with a fifth wheel setup. What about RVs? RVs can't tow a car and a boat without getting into double towing.

I am researching options on how to be able to drive a converted skoolie and tow a car and boat. A school bus and class A motorhome are of comparable length, so that approaches length limits on highways. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[bansil]

Most states regulated are 65 feet for short ones...tow a car and throw a flat bottom on top or some kayaks and or canoes?

[GreyEagle]

Legal?????
Some people here in Tennessee tow their Toad vehicle and boat behind their motorhome or bus if you like..... The key is to stay under 65 ft overall.
A friend of mine has a motorhome 34 footer, tows a Chevy Tracker with the boat behind it .... It's called Triple tow because of the 3 vehicles, motorhome tows Tracker.. Tracker tows the boat.
Park the motorhome, drop boat in lake, park tracker next to camper. and you're done.... always fun watching them come and go in and out of the campgrounds..... The buddy drops his Tracker and boat at the gate drives the motorhome and parks it while the DW drives the Tracker w boat in behind him.

[chev49]

You can only double tow in a few states...

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by GreyEagle

Legal?????
Some people here in Tennessee tow their Toad vehicle and boat behind their motorhome or bus if you like..... The key is to stay under 65 ft overall...

You need to find out what your legal length is for your state. From what I understand, some states you cannot be over a certain length NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE TITLED. Double/triple towing is dangerous. It's not how much can you pull but how much can you stop. Crosswinds will make driving very hazardous. There are some stretches of road/interstate that it is illegal to triple tow on. We are very leery of double/triple towing. That has a great deal to do with what we have seen. When we were living in Socorro (NM), we would drive up to Albuquerque about once a week on I25. During spring/summer/early fall we would see a flipped RV/toys or the remains of a flipped RV/toys on the side of the road every week. Plus we have watched a few loose it. One was really impressive. I did not know a travel trailer could sling a vehicle up in the air like that. Whole set up was air borne. Worthy of an Olympic gymnast. Amazing that no one was killed. Not only could you not tell that the RV was a trailer but you would never have known they were pulling a boat either. Crosswinds. Double/triple towing is dangerous. Would we do it? Depends. IF we had to leave out for what ever reason (hurricane, fire, flood) and one of us was unable to drive due to illness or injury, then yes. The BlueBird is capable of towing/stopping our Jeep (4 down) plus the food cart. This would put us between 60-65 ft I believe. I've never measured the overall length. But to double/triple tow just because we could? NO! I would not risk a ticket in NM (65 ft OA and requires supplemental braking system which we do not have). They are using traffic tickets as a way to raise revenue. It's so bad that I now call the state & local cops "revenuers" since all they are interested in is writing revenue producing tickets.

You CANNOT back up. You must unhook (also a problem when we tow the Jeep 4 down).

While you can generally double/triple tow on most interstates (with a few sections prohibited due to winds). It's once you get off the federal roads that trouble occurs.

Most states won't ticket an RV for double/triple towing or being over length because it's a private vehicle. But if a cop decides you "look" unsafe or wants any reason to pull you over, the long length will provide the "excuse". Then again it's also a good revenue maker. Most states need to make up budget shortfalls.

While traveling in various states over the years, I have seen RV's pulled over that looked too long and they WERE being measured. I don't know about anyone else here but I can't afford the fine nor the resulting insurance increase.

http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?s...dpost&p=556147 I talked with a guy pulling a toy hauler at a rest area here in Oregon last week, and he told me they flagged him into a check station in Florida. They got out a tape measure, and docked him a $1000 fine for being 3 inches over length. He said he was pulling a 45' toy hauler with a Duramax.

TOWING LAWS LISTED BY STATE Also lists legal overall heights by state

No Triple Towing States -- Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia.


Read the laws and make your decision. If you decide to double/triple tow then get the supplemental braking systems and use them.

[ol trunt]

Legal schmiegal--if you tow two vehicles behind your rig let us know where you will be so we can stay AWAY---and buy lots of life insurance. Unfortunately, I have seen the aftermasth of this endeavor and the gain isn't worth the risk. That's not my 2 cents worth it's the whole buck ninety eight's worth!

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by ol trunt

... Unfortunately, I have seen the aftermath of this endeavor and the gain isn't worth the risk...

You know an idea is bad when ol trunt & I AGREE that it's a bad idea!

[bansil]

Originally Posted by lornaschinske

You know an idea is bad when ol trunt & I AGREE that it's a bad idea!

[Stuff]

[flash=960,720:b2ep7n2l]http://www.youtube.com/v/mZAKjaUxNW8?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0[/flash:b2ep7n2l]

[nat_ster]

You guys are going about this all wrong.

Build a trailer that lifts the boat above the car. Same concept as a car hauler.

Trust me, you don't want to be trying to pull a car with a tow bar behind a bus. The rear swing is far too great from the length of the overhang on the rear of the bus. It would drag your car sideways, and, or break something.

Nat

Posted for educational purposes only.

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by nat_ster

... Trust me, you don't want to be trying to pull a car with a tow bar behind a bus. The rear swing is far too great from the length of the overhang on the rear of the bus. It would drag your car sideways, and, or break something.

Nat

We towed our Jeep Grand Cherokee, 4 down, 1700 miles from NC to NM. No problem (until David forgot to put the Jeep's tranny in Neutral). I was behind David a great deal of the way and the Jeep pulled just fine.

[nat_ster]

Just because you did it, and it seemed fine, doesn't mean it was. Your Jeep is a little bigger, and a lot stronger than a car. Your schoolie on a tight turn would drag the front tires of the jeep side ways and you would never know.

Again, I drove a Truck with the same wheelbase, overhang, ect. I've seen it happen.

The only way I can think of to correct that, would be a tow bar as long as the overhang on the bus. That would cancel out the swing. But for what the op wanted, this would make the over length problem worse.

Nat

Posted for educational purposes only.

[Stuff]

always this option

[GreyEagle]

http://rv-roadtrips.thefuntimesguide.co ... wing-2.php

Here’s what you need to know before you pull 2 trailers behind your RV.

These are just some of the things to keep in mind about triple towing:

Triple towing isn’t legal everywhere; every state is different.

There is usually a maximum length requirement, which varies between states.

Backing up with such an arrangement is near impossible; don’t even try it.

Don’t exceed the CGWR (Combined Gross Weight Rating) of your tow vehicle.

Make sure all portions of your combination have the proper safety equipment in place.

Check your state & local requirements if you must tow more than one... behind you tow vehicle.

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by nat_ster

Just because you did it, and it seemed fine, doesn't mean it was. Your Jeep is a little bigger, and a lot stronger than a car. Your schoolie on a tight turn would drag the front tires of the jeep side ways and you would never know.
Nat

I thought my Jeep was a car (or a tractor depending on how I used it). The front tires track behind the bus. If they were being dragged sideways, wear would have occurred on the tires and they would have been hotter than normal. We kept an eye on the tires of all the vehicles, especially the ones being towed. Of course the only tight turns were in the Benbrook COE (Holiday Park... nice little campground... $28/night for w/e, no sewer just dump station... skoolie friendly of course). David turned the bus & jeep around in the empty parking lot at the boat launch. If the tires had dragged, we would have seen evidence of it in the loose sand/gravel that accumulated on the surface of the pavement. We also would have blown a tire out in a very few miles. How do I know this? Because David put "R"-Jeeps tranny in gear while we were at Benbrook (spent a couple nights there). He didn't mention this to either Stacey or me, so we assumed (never assume) the Jeep was still set up to be flat towed when we pulled out on Monday. From Benbrook COE to the exit where the front tire blew from being towed in gear (tires rolled but with a great deal of resistance) was roughly 20 to 25 miles. Gotta love that there seems to be a Wal-Mart at every other exit! But you are probably right. We can't pull the Jeep 1700 miles behind the bus. Can we pull the single axle food cart behind the bus? I just need to know because if we can't, then we didn't pull the cart over 150 miles on Hwy 380 back in December.




NOTE: That white stuff is NOT snow because it "hardly ever" snows out here. AND "IT MELT'S OFF BY NOON!"

[GreyEagle]

then we didn't pull the cart over 150 miles on Hwy 380 back in December....lol

Didn't think that was you guys we seen on the road, it just looked like your bus and food cart going down Hwy 380...

[lornaschinske]

I "photoshopped" the pics!

[nat_ster]

Back to the original point, the Better way of doing it.

Rules for different areas including Canada.

http://www.woodalls.com/articledetails. ... 1195129#AL

Open model.


Closed in model.


Just make the bottom one your boat.

I would also run a single 22.5 tire on each side that matches the tires used on the bus, not them tiny things.

Nat

Posted for educational purposes only.

[nat_ster]

I just found this.



Where it came from.

http://www.hardcoresledder.com/forums/3 ... ailer.html

Nat

Posted for educational purposes only.

[bus-bro]

How the heck do you launch the boat?