Tow weight of 26M heavily laden for remote area cruise
Re: Tow weight of 26M heavily laden for remote area cruise
Didn't think of that ie the tyre rating....I didn't do the original rego and I'm "scared" to try and change it....don't really want to wake up the "trailer police"
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Boblee
- Admiral
- Posts: 1702
- Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2006 5:08 am
- Location: Berrigan, Riverina Australia boatless at present
Re: Tow weight of 26M heavily laden for remote area cruise
You got rid of your single axle didn't you oskar? I would be happy with 2.8 t, was it a step down axle?Oskar 26M wrote:bartmac:
The inconsistency between your rego papers and the manufacturers specs could be due to the load rating of the tyres that were fitted when it was submitted for inspection.
When I upgraded the Mac trailer my target was for 3 tonnes on a single axle.
The trailer guy procured springs, axle, hubs and brakes that all met the 3 tonne spec but he (rather stupidly) submitted the trailer for inspection with the original Mac tyres. Those tyres are only rated for 1150 kg, so naturally it failed to make the grade. The trailer guy then "discovered" that he could not source 15" tyres rated for 1500kg so he switched to some (old Landcruiser) 17" rims for which he was able to get tyres rated for 1400 kg.
Hence the capacity of the upgraded trailer was set (by the tyres) at 2.8 tonnes.
The larger rims and higher profile tyres meant that the mudguards also had to be changed. The trailer also ended up several inches higher than the original so launching a retrieval was a lot more difficult
Bartmac
Would be happy with 2700 kg but be surprised if your tyres are what held it back or did you change the rim size down too.
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Oskar 26M
- First Officer
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- Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
- Location: Perth Australia, 2007 26M, 60hp E-tec
Re: Tow weight of 26M heavily laden for remote area cruise
Boblee:
No the single axle was not stepped down because the change in wheel size was not planned but was a last minute thing when the trailer failed the initial rego inspection.
Although I was happy enough with the 2.8 tonne rating, the upgraded trailer weighed a lot more so the net gain was only about 400 kg.
The whole "upgrade" was a botched job and turned into an expensive disaster
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I only took the trailer on a few long distance trips (Perth-Shark bay was the longest) but something always seemed to go wrong.
Apart from the launching/retrieval difficulties caused by the bigger wheels (I had to back the Landcruiser well into the water at most ramps), the springs were too stiff so stuff inside the boat got thrown around a lot, the brakes froze up, the mud guards mountings fractured and fell off, the original Mac winch buckled, I had to rewire the trailer to get the new LED lights to work reliably because the junctions had not been properly waterproofed and the in-car wiring was also faulty. When the spring retainers broke I lost confidence in the trailer completely - I half expected the next problem would be that the suspension mountings would shear off.
Yes, I got rid of it and bought a new Venture trailer. Although the Venture trailer has not been perfect, it handled the Perth- Lake Argyle trip reasonably well and I have been fairly happy with it overall. At least I have some confidence that it has been properly engineered and built by people who know what they are doing.
No the single axle was not stepped down because the change in wheel size was not planned but was a last minute thing when the trailer failed the initial rego inspection.
Although I was happy enough with the 2.8 tonne rating, the upgraded trailer weighed a lot more so the net gain was only about 400 kg.
The whole "upgrade" was a botched job and turned into an expensive disaster
. I only took the trailer on a few long distance trips (Perth-Shark bay was the longest) but something always seemed to go wrong.
Apart from the launching/retrieval difficulties caused by the bigger wheels (I had to back the Landcruiser well into the water at most ramps), the springs were too stiff so stuff inside the boat got thrown around a lot, the brakes froze up, the mud guards mountings fractured and fell off, the original Mac winch buckled, I had to rewire the trailer to get the new LED lights to work reliably because the junctions had not been properly waterproofed and the in-car wiring was also faulty. When the spring retainers broke I lost confidence in the trailer completely - I half expected the next problem would be that the suspension mountings would shear off.
Yes, I got rid of it and bought a new Venture trailer. Although the Venture trailer has not been perfect, it handled the Perth- Lake Argyle trip reasonably well and I have been fairly happy with it overall. At least I have some confidence that it has been properly engineered and built by people who know what they are doing.