Buying a used Swallow boat

[Martijn]

PYoung,

I am wondering whether my car is up to the job of a BC23 though. I have a 2.2 diesel car (1715kg kerb weight) with a max towing weight of 1300kg and a towball weight of 58kg.

According to Swallow Yachts specs the empty ("all up") boat weight is 850 kg. This includes mast and sails.
Engine, fuel, gear and personal items are not included.
If you are lucky to find a lightweight trailer then you are adding at least another 300 kg for the trailer. Standard CLH trailers are significantly heavier (130% of the weight of my current trailer).
This means bare minimum weight of boat and trailer is 1150 kg and you'll have to carry the engine and all gear in your car, but I don't think this is very realistic.

This spring a method to calculate boat weight when sitting on the trailer using bathroom scales was mentioned in PBO. I think I will give this a try this week since I'd very much like to know the actual weight anyway. I expect the trailer weight of my BC23 to be range of 950-1050 kg meaning the towing weight is likely to be 1270-1370kg.

My previous car was a VW Passat 1.6 Diesel, 1400kg max towing weight. The car had no trouble whatsoever towing the BC23, but getting of the slipway proved difficult. And my usual slipway is not a particular steep or slippery one. At the time I decided it was cheaper to have the boat craned on the trailer rather than buying another car, launching was no problem at all.
I currently own a Mondeo 2.0 Diesel which does the job effortlessly.

[Graham W]

The slipway is probably the place where a lightweight 2WD tow car is at its greatest disadvantage.  My VW Golf hasn’t got stuck yet but there has been the occasional moment of tyre scrabbling at the front.

Has anyone successfully used anti-slip measures on a steep or slippery slipway to overcome this handicap? For example, sprinkling some coarse sand under the driving wheels, tying a long rope between the car and the trailer or even using the trailer’s own winch to winch it up an incline?

[mark1]

Graham, I've used a long rope a few times to keep my front wheels on firm ground when recovering my BRe from beyond short slipways, has worked well and always taken less time than expected.
My secret weapon though is leaving winter tyres on the car all year round, I think that helps quite a bit.

[Sea Simon]

At risk of continuing to wander off topic?


I've used the tow rope from car hitch to trailer hitch a few times. Works well if there's room...which in the West Country there often is not. Short, steep slipwyas, and narrow roads etc.

My (self-employed) Pal had a secret weapon to tow hs 35 ft "Day sailer" keel boat, the boat craned on to the three axle trailer.
One of these American pickups, which I  think had a 6 Ltr diesel?
I do remember it had a rifle rack across the back window!

As a humble employee, I could not dream of such a commercial vehicle on PAYE.

[Rob Johnstone]

This link takes you to a previous set of postings on BC23 trailer weight, giving you some idea of the all up weight of a BC23 om a braked CLH trailer. On the subject of cars, front wheel drive is not a good idea for getting the boat and trailer up  a wet or slippery ramp, particularly if the car has a long backend. The Passat I used to tow Vagabond had the tow point at least a metre behind the rear axle and I could hear the power wheels slipping on hills in the wet, let alone on slipways! If you must have front wheel drive, you can always fit a towhook to the front for recoiver (on a temporay basis), Buy a second towing eye and weld a tow ball to it. Screw it into the front towing point for temporary boat towing (going backwards, of course).

[Matthew P]

My Volvo V70 2.4 front wheel drive was great for towing on roads but awful on steep and slippery slipways.  It also had a dreadful turning circle.  The Mazda CX5 AWD is much better. 

Two techniques I have found useful are: 

1) Using the winch to pull the trailer towards the tow bar.  This needs the winch webbing/cable to be routed around a roller mounted low on the trailer.  The winch strap/cable probably probably needs replacing and extending with a rope (not wire). 
See https://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/smf/index.php/topic,1800.msg12077.html#msg12077 for some useful information elsewhere on this forum on replacing winch webbing with Dyneema or similar. 
In any case I would chock the wheels to prevent the trailer running backwards out of control if something went wrong.

2) Wiggling the trailer by alternately chocking each wheel and pushing/pulling the drawbar sideways.  This is slow but powerful and I've recovered my heavily laden trailer up steep, loose beaches.  It's also effective for moving the trailer across my muddy and confined front lawn.  This technique works best with 1 person pulling and 1 moving the chocks but if on a slope make sure the trailer does not roll back onto the chock-shifter.


Matthew
Gladys BR20
     

[Sea Simon]

If you must have front wheel drive, you can always fit a towhook to the front for recoiver (on a temporay basis), Buy a second towing eye and weld a tow ball to it. Screw it into the front towing point for temporary boat towing (going backwards, of course).

RJ
Great minds etc....
A few years ago, I was inspired by a front hitch we had fitted to a Hilux at work (the "receiver" socket could also be used as a winch mount, vice mount, hose reel carrier etc. Bit of a poor mans Unimog!) to try something similar to your idea wth with my golf.

https://www.watling-towbars.co.uk/launching_boats.html
I feel they are reasonably priced? However, not at all suitable for a gti! And Fitting to a modern, leased SUV is extortionate (too much fancy bodywork)...then you need to pay again to take it off and make good at lease end.

Golf. I used a thread tow hitch, dropped thru the tow eye (no welding necessary) with penny washers etc from local tractor dealers. Not expensive. Forms one big bolted connection, no heat involved.

Problem. What with all the "aero" kit, on the gti, bigger bumpers  maybe, I couldn't find an emergency towing/recovery stem eye, with a long enough neck to give me adequate clearance tow hitch/ bumper when manoeuvring. They contacted.
Extra long neck in itself potentially an issue too. Maybe too much leverage on design rating of chassis socket, for an off centre load? Unsure. My car eye was a LH thread so not easily "home-made". I gave up....

Method may work on other cars? Worth a try for £30ish?

You've reminded me to pull the bits out the back of the shed, and try the tiguan for size!

[Graham W]

Marvellous advice all, thank you.  As I already have quite a long Dyneema winch line on my trailer with a low friction ring guide attached, I think I’ll try that tip first.  Maybe with the line hooked on to the car’s front tow eye, so that I can also try backing up the slipway as Rob suggests.  I may also put winter tyres on the front when the current set wear out.  And I have an excellent pair of chocks if I need to put a wiggle on.

So, I can continue my strategy of keeping my small engined 2WD Golf until it eventually falls apart.  Asking it to pull my boat up slipways may hasten its end but hopefully not for a while.

[PYoung]

So, I can continue my strategy of keeping my small engined 2WD Golf until it eventually falls apart.

So now we are on the subject of cars falling apart. Does anyone have a breakdown service that includes recovery of both car & boat in the event of a breakdown?

[PYoung]

So now we are on the subject of cars falling apart. Does anyone have a breakdown service that includes recovery of both car & boat in the event of a breakdown?
[/quote]

Sorry there is already a thread with advice, I should have checked first.

[R and J]

Good information here.

We like the suggestion of the tow ball on the front of the vehicle. We tow with a Ford Transit Custom and expect the towing eye is engineered to take the GVW of 3.1 Metric Tons, so our BRe should present no problems. This will certainly be useful when parking the boat in its designated spot at home.

I have a very useful snatch Block which we have fastened off to something to change the angle of pull when using a rope. Some slips have a strong anchorage point built into the slip for this purpose. Coniston Sailing Club slip is a case in point. We launched our fin keeled Sonata, when members there, using a very very long rope because of the flat lake bottom and needing depth for the keel. The rope was far longer than the slip.

The other idea brought here for us is using the trailer winch to pull the trailer to the vehicle. We will use the snatch block fastened to the trailer to facilitate this. We previously always immersed the trailer and floated the boat on so had no winch.

Rufus and Jane Drake, BRe 089

[Baycruiser23]

Sorry to be a bit late on the raising of the mast etc on the BC 23. We opted for the "Mast raising system" on our 2020 boat and definitely money well spent. You can raise the mast with ease with two people, and if solo, adding a support line upwind on a mid cleat allows the mast to be raised in a controlled manner using the the winch ( and lower when you have forgotten to do something!). The carbon pole doubles up as a spreader for the fore sail and so all in all a useful addition which is easy to use.