estimated weight of 30' older boats
09-27-2007, 07:16 PM
#31
Registered User
Sorry- I did come on a bit strong- not my intention.
On insurance-
Many times it's due to a particular state's insurance laws. For example, in Ohio you aren't able to sue an insured motorist who has hit you, you must sue their insurance company.
On manufacturer's tow ratings-
Tow rating does have its basis in equipment, as in the example you cite. Going from 4.33 to 4.88 gears will bump your capacity up a bit and I'd be a bundle there's never going to be a stonger sprong, brake component or structural difference included. Yet, it is rated what it's rated. In fact, Chassis manufacturers often ship their vehicles to the final assembler (like an RV co.) with an open GVW. It's up to the final assembler to assign the GVW. Once he does, that's a legal designation per USDOT. As I've said before, nobody is writing overweight citations for private vehicles- but it can definitely be used against you as a basis for a criminal charge. Several years ago, a local (Cleveland) gentleman loaded up a big trailer full of stones and hooked it up to his ratty pickup, grossly overloading it. He came upon a hill and couldn't stop at the bottom. He rammed into several cars stopped at the bottom, pushing one into a canal that ran parallel to the street at the light. Two kids drowned. He was charged and convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide.
Lastly, about "these guys scaring you" and towing 10K with a 1/2 ton truck thoudands of miles, all across the country. Just because you got lucky doesn't mean that someone else should try.
On insurance-
Many times it's due to a particular state's insurance laws. For example, in Ohio you aren't able to sue an insured motorist who has hit you, you must sue their insurance company.
On manufacturer's tow ratings-
Tow rating does have its basis in equipment, as in the example you cite. Going from 4.33 to 4.88 gears will bump your capacity up a bit and I'd be a bundle there's never going to be a stonger sprong, brake component or structural difference included. Yet, it is rated what it's rated. In fact, Chassis manufacturers often ship their vehicles to the final assembler (like an RV co.) with an open GVW. It's up to the final assembler to assign the GVW. Once he does, that's a legal designation per USDOT. As I've said before, nobody is writing overweight citations for private vehicles- but it can definitely be used against you as a basis for a criminal charge. Several years ago, a local (Cleveland) gentleman loaded up a big trailer full of stones and hooked it up to his ratty pickup, grossly overloading it. He came upon a hill and couldn't stop at the bottom. He rammed into several cars stopped at the bottom, pushing one into a canal that ran parallel to the street at the light. Two kids drowned. He was charged and convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide.
Lastly, about "these guys scaring you" and towing 10K with a 1/2 ton truck thoudands of miles, all across the country. Just because you got lucky doesn't mean that someone else should try.
09-27-2007, 07:32 PM
#32
Registered User
By the nature of my business, I get retained a few times a year to give expert testimony in civil trials and occasionally a criminal trial. My scope of expertise is safety and suitability of the equipment involved in these events (not cars or trucks, machinery). We have tons of OSHA statutes and National Consensus Standards that dictate the owner's and operator's responsibilities for suitable use, maintenance and safety. I've seen first hand how severely an ignorance of compliance requirement scan hurt an individual's position. I've also seen how deliberate disregard of proper practices when clearly known to that person can kill them. I worked with a defendent in one civil trial that, after the plaintiff's disregard became a part of that trial's evidence, they were subsequently charged criminally, and convicted.
What always gets me is that keeping yourself, friends and family safe and alive gets less interest than this tangent of the discussion about safe towing.
09-27-2007, 07:38 PM
#33
Registered User
And finally, we all know a dually pulls better than a SRW, and a med duty pulls better than a ton dually. But, do you not think a modern half ton can not be modified to be a safe pulling truck for a 30' boat? Yes the engine and especially the transmission are going to wear fast and are more likely to break. But with good brakes on both the truck and the trailer, with stronger tires, upgraded springs and suspension, and proper weight distribution, the difference between a stock 3/4 ton and a modified half ton get blurred. That is my point, that his 2007 truck can be made to safely pull his new boat. Not in stock form, but after he upgrades it. As he's already put a class five hitch on it, I suspect he'll do the rest soon. Hope so anyway.
Without making this a mile-long post...
5 or 6 lug hubs won't bear the load. Neither will non-floating rear axles. The transmission won't last long. None of the suspension components (springs, shocks, hardware) will work and the frame will need to be reinforced- to an extent that replacement with a 1 ton frame would be easier and cheaper.
Anything is possible but not always does it make economic sense.
