Trailer 'Plating'

ratracer · 02-11-2015 4:55pm #1

Hi folks,

Can any of ye wise ones tell me if there is anywhere I can legally get my boat trailer plated for weight?

I have a 20ft Bayliner Cuddy and over the winter, along with another long list of jobs, I want to improve my trailer from what I think is still legal, to actually being legal. I phoned the RSA the other day and was told that I'd have to contact the trailer manufacturer to get them to verify the weight. Given that it's an 18 year old American made trailer, this will be almost impossible.

What I hoped to do was bring the boat and trailer to the weighbridge and get it weighed, both hitched and unhitched to the car and keep a copy of the records with me. The weight of my car and boat is less than 3,500kg, so a trailer licence shouldn't be needed.The problem is, although this may be good enough if explained to a Garda at a checkpoint, I don't know if it will be sufficient in the event of an accident/court date.

Can anyone shed any light on this for me?

I have a car and rigid truck licence, but not a BE trailer licence, as it wasn't necessary before. (I think)

TIA

fergal.b · 02-11-2015 5:56pm

The new trailer laws are a bit grey but as far as I know the plate is only need on newly built trailers, you might have a problem with it being a US trailer as I think they are wider and not allowed on our roads a lot of US boats came here on whats known as launching trollies just basically for transport as they had no breaking system.

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ratracer · 02-11-2015 6:57pm

Thanks Fergal,

Yep, as usual the laws are quite vague. I hadn't heard about the width of the trailers being an issue, must look into that before I spend any money on it. I intended to change the wheels as getting tyres is a PITA, but may also look at adding brakes if I can get my hands on some second hand.

I never noticed huge weight under braking before, but I had always used a jeep to tow it. This year I got rid of the jeep and got an estate car, but haven't tried towing the boat with it yet.

fergal.b · 02-11-2015 7:06pm

I think any boat and trailer weighing over 750 kg has to have brakes now, also check the ball hitch as the us ones come in different sizes it might still fit in an EU hitch but it could be slightly smaller and pop out.

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ratracer · 02-11-2015 10:24pm

fergal.b wrote: »

I think any boat and trailer weighing over 750 kg has to have brakes now, also check the ball hitch as the us ones come in different sizes it might still fit in an EU hitch but it could be slightly smaller and pop out.

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Unfortunately in my first year of boat ownership I found this out the hard way. Towing the boat along a bumpy road it came off the hitch. I was going downhill at the time and the safety chain was attached so the boat hit the back of my jeep. No other car or person harmed, but a nice dent in the back door of the jeep, and a whole new set of underpants required that day!

Bio Mech · 03-11-2015 5:12pm

I don't see there being anyway you can legally tow a 20 footer on a B licence. I tow a 16 foot boat and its right on the limit. Don't forget its the GVW of the car plus the GVW of the trailer that counts. Not the actual weight on a weighbridge. GVW is the maximum weight that the car is rated to take not what the empty car/vehicle weighs. And the GVW of the trailer must be less than the unladen weight of the vehicle too.

You said you drive a jeep so I am guessing GVW is going to be in the 2250 - 2500 kg range. That only leaves you able to tow a 1000-1250 GVW trailer and still be under the 3500 limit. For a 20 foot bayliner the GVW will need to be well above that. On my boat its 1150 (16 foot speedboat with 75 hp engine) towed with a 2100 kg GVW estate car with an unladen weight of 1300 kg.

A quick google suggests a 20 foot bayliner would need a trailer with a GVW in excess of 1500kg.

I am not sure how the rigid truck licence would leave you but I don't see anyway you can legally tow that on a B licence.

ratracer · 03-11-2015 10:00pm

Thanks for that BM, a lot of info in that post. The weights seem to suggest needing the trailer license alright. I don't mind sitting the B+E test, hopefully it'll just be a formality.

However, after making a phone call to Indespension today to inquire about installing brakes on my trailer, the guy recommended that I just get a new trailer (that they just happen to sell for ~ €3k). Unfortunately this is just not in my budget, so I may just have to sell the boat. This is not something that I want to do, but with the use I have gotten out of it in the last 8 years, I cannot afford to, nor justify spending that kind of money for a trailer. She's sitting on the trailer in her shed now for the winter, she may be appearing on DD/AD in the next few weeks unless I find a reasonable trailer second hand.

Thanks for the advice lads, I hope I can sort something out over the winter.

Bio Mech · 03-11-2015 10:29pm

ratracer wrote: »

Thanks for that BM, a lot of info in that post. The weights seem to suggest needing the trailer license alright. I don't mind sitting the B+E test, hopefully it'll just be a formality.

However, after making a phone call to Indespension today to inquire about installing brakes on my trailer, the guy recommended that I just get a new trailer (that they just happen to sell for ~ €3k). Unfortunately this is just not in my budget, so I may just have to sell the boat. This is not something that I want to do, but with the use I have gotten out of it in the last 8 years, I cannot afford to, nor justify spending that kind of money for a trailer. She's sitting on the trailer in her shed now for the winter, she may be appearing on DD/AD in the next few weeks unless I find a reasonable trailer second hand.

Thanks for the advice lads, I hope I can sort something out over the winter.

Yeah should be worth trying for the eb licence. I was in a similar quandary a while back and did the theory test and got a learner eb. I did a few lessons but never got round to the test.

That was because we planning on getting a bigger boat but my mate decided he wanted out of boating so it didn't happen.

At the time we had an Orkney strike liner with an umstamped trailer so we were in a similar position I guess. Insurance said they would be happy for an engineer to assess and stamp the trailer. Again didn't go anywhere with that when my mate wanted out and the Orkney was sold.

Would the engineer option be out with the new regulations?

No easy solutions though. It can be very frustrating can't it.

fergal.b · 03-11-2015 10:33pm

How about just changing the axel for a braked one Indespension also sell them http://www.indespension.co.uk/58-axle-beams or maybe look at putting her in a marina it will cost a few quid but the boat will be ready to go when you are so you might get more use out of her then just use the trailer for storing her over the winter.

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tabby aspreme · 03-11-2015 10:43pm

Three things you need to find out.
1. gvw, gross vehicle weight
2. gtw, gross train weight
3. car towing capacity

If you tow a trailer with a gross weight over 750 kgs it needs to have brakes and you need a trailer license. Google your cars towing capacity , that's the maximum weight your allowed to tow, the gross train weight is a combination of the cars, gross vehicle weight, plus the maximum towing weight allowed , this is not limited to 3500 kgs.

Bio Mech · 04-11-2015 12:00pm

tabby aspreme wrote: »

Three things you need to find out.
1. gvw, gross vehicle weight
2. gtw, gross train weight
3. car towing capacity

If you tow a trailer with a gross weight over 750 kgs it needs to have brakes and you need a trailer license.

That's not quite true. You can tow a trailer greater than 750kgs on a B licence once the GVW of the trailer is less than the curb weight (unladen weight) of the vehicle and the combination GVW (GTW) of the trailer plus vehicle is not >3500 kgs.

Of course brakes and actual towing capacity of the vehicle are issues too but not related to licence.

Chiorino · 05-11-2015 12:33pm

Fergal is correct in that only trailers manufactured post 2012 MUST be plated. However, getting the boat and trailer weighed should definately be the first step. I would imagine you are well over the 750kg limit so (without going into the ifs/ands/buts/maybes of the new towing regs) you will need brakes to make the trailer legal. You won't be able to retrofit brakes to a US trailer so you will need a new axle (possible 2 depending on weight) new trailer coupling to match and new wheels as the US stud patterns would not be used here.

Having spent over 10 years in the trailer business and seen many cases identical to yours I will tell you what I have told people for years. From a cost perspective, you'd be as well buying a new trailer. The cost to replace parts as above would be close to €2,000.

neris · 05-11-2015 12:46pm

Keep an eye on boatsandoutboards.co.uk for trailers if you are thinking about buying a new 1 or good up to date 2nd hand trailer. They usually have a good selection.

Its amazing the amount of dodgy boat trailers you see getting towed around to slips in the summer and then down to yacht clubs & marinas in the autumn

Trailer 'Plating'

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