Two wheels or four

[derdle]

Recently moved from s SIB to a RIB.
after winning a nice size one on the BAY. I collected it and towed it home 360 miles behind my van. On its first first outing, on the 25 mile trip to the coast a Suspension unit collapsed leaving me wondering what would have happened if it had done that on the motorway at 60mph.

anyway done an A-Team repair by whipping back home nicking the solid axle off my baggage trailer and bolting it to the boat trailer, and still managed to get an hour on the water before the tide put a stop to play.

The boat is now on a borrowed mooring while I sort the trailer. The current set up was no good for the weight and I need to put it right especially as I intend to tow it to Spain next summer. and to keep within the law I need to add brakes.

...Boat believed to be a humber is 7m by 2.6m and is probably about 700kg
...Trailer is quite heavy duty galvanized and has been converted at some point from a bunk to a roller. is about 350kg
...Engine Old Mercury 100hp 2 stroke is 163kg
...fixtures and fittings and junk on board 150kg
...camping gear that will be chucked in the boat on travels 200kg

Total 1563kg

also I need to future proof for a second/bigger engine so i'm looking for 1800kg max

Finally the question????????????

Although I will mostly use my 3.5 tonne van for towing. when the missus and kids want to go out ill need to use my Mondeo.

So............
Do I convert to 4 wheels on 900kg/pair braked suspension units for the extra control/stability. but trade off the maneuverability and higher mainanance costs. (brakes/tyres)etc

or Do I stick with two wheels on 1800kg/pair braked suspension units. and with the money I save on not buying the extra Axel/wheels/tyres/suspension units I can fit an Alko Stabilizer Hitch and have the ease of moving it around and lower mainanance.

Your thoughts gratefully accepted.





106/104N

[Razorbill RIBs]

Originally Posted by derdle

Your thoughts gratefully accepted.

Hi Derdle :wave:

You could save yourself a lot of hassle IMO..... Stu had for sale on here a tidy looking twin axle multiroller Snipe Y20 -2600 Trailer which should work with the 7m....for £1350

Then sell on the old one.....

[BogMonster]

One point you should consider is that two 900kg/pair axles does not equal an 1800kg trailer rating AFAIK. I forget what the exact formula is to arrive at total rating for a twin axle trailer but it's something like the rating of one axle plus half the rating of the second axle, to take into account possible weight transfer from one axle to another over rough ground, ramp breakovers etc. So if the above formula was correct and you want an 1800kg trailer you'd need two 1200kg axles because the rating would be 1200kg + (1200/2=600kg) = 1800kg, but check the formula because I'm not sure whether 50% is right or whether it is another percentage.

I agree with Dan though - another trailer might be easier....

[EnglishLes]

According to Towing Capacity Alfa Romeo, ( you need to select Ford and Mondeo from the base page) the maximum towing capacity of a Mondeo is 1500kg but you should check the figure in the handbook for the year/model you have.

[mick]

I would stick to towing with the van can't beat having some weight in front of you I have just got a redbay 6.5 m on a twin axle and it tows like a dream behind either of my Land Rovers.
Don't forget to add the weight of all the kit you will be tacking as well

[Trailer Guy]

The 1800kg max that you want - is that payload (i.e. boat + gear) or max GVW (i.e. boat + gear + trailer)?

If it's the former, you'll need to go for a larger than 1800kg axle, as you'll need to add the weight of your trailer to that 1800kg payload requirement. If you suspect the trailer to weigh 350kg then this would give you a GVW of 2150kg. You'll be hard pressed to get a single axle trailer to take 2150kg, never mind get a pair of single axle units / single beam axle to take that sort of weight.

As you've stated the trailer's currently unbraked, my suspicion is the trailer chassis itself is probably not up to the job of taking that sort of weight. You'll need to strengthen the chassis, winch post etc before thinking of upgrading the running gear.

To give you an idea of the sort of chassis you'll need, this is one of the largest capacity, single axle, trailers you can get. It's 1800kg GVW, giving a payload of 1300kg. You can now see that the chassis has to be pretty robust (as it weighs circa 500kg on it's own), it needs to resist flexing under towing and bending when you're launching and recovering.




If you're looking to buy the gear and do it yourself I can honestly see you spending £1k to get the trailer up to spec. Unfortunatley, the running gear is the expensive stuff - the rest of it is just galvanised steel!

I don't mean to pee all over your bonfire (no seasonal pun intended ), but I think you'd be better off spending your pennies on a trailer that's already built for purpose.

The Snipe listed on here looks pretty good for the money now, huh?... - no vested interest,the way, just an opinion!

PS. 1563kg is going to be too much for most Mondeos and 1800kg is going to be waaaay too much!

[derdle]

Originally Posted by EnglishLes

According to Towing Capacity Alfa Romeo, ( you need to select Ford and Mondeo from the base page) the maximum towing capacity of a Mondeo is 1500kg but you should check the figure in the handbook for the year/model you have.

Hi EnglishLes

I think that site is a few years out of date as my car isn't even listed.

I have a 2010 Mondeo Estate Titanium X 140 TDCI and .it is listed at 2000kg by Ford.

[derdle]

Originally Posted by Razorbill RIBs

Hi Derdle :wave:

You could save yourself a lot of hassle IMO..... Stu had for sale on here a tidy looking twin axle multiroller Snipe Y20 -2600 Trailer which should work with the 7m....for £1350

Then sell on the old one.....

Hi Razorbill, thanks for the advice. but what puts me off is as you say... "tidy Looking"?????

So did the one that came with the boat and now i've only got one wheel on my wagon.

As I mentioned the trailer itself is solid. it uses a 6mm thick 155mm x 80mm C-section steel beam across the the width to mount the suspension units.

I am well aware of the costs involved to modify the trailer but for £1K I'll have a solid as good as new twin axle trailer. Or Similarly a Solid as new single axle trailer for less ££££.

[derdle]

Thanks trailerguy for absolutely nothing if you had actualy bothered to read my post you would have the answers with regards to the weight that i'm dragging. but I was after some advise on experience with twin or single axles not after someone to flog me a trailer.

[derdle]

Hi discomick, another person who hasn't read the post if I stick with the van where do I put the extra passengers when I take out the whole family?????????????? and yes if you had read the post I have added all the gear to the overall weight.