Weighed up by the Constabulary

[Mikecambray]

On the way from Kendal to Largs, with BC23 Juno behind our Ford Mondeo Estate last Saturday we were stopped by the police on the M74 "How heavy is your boat sir?" "1400kg all up officer" I replied with as much certainty as I could muster. "Let me look at the plate inside your drivers door sir". I show him the plate on my Mondeo Estate, which shows a Maximum Gross Train Weight of 4130kg. "Right sir, please follow me to the next junction and then pull in at the weighbridge". "Certainly officer". Before I got on the weighbridge they carefully showed me it registered zero. I drove on, car fully laden with my wife and I inside. After a pause a head appeared from inside the weighbridge office wearing a rueful look " Gosh, you are way under the weight limit! We thought such a large boat would be much heavier, and would normally be towed by a 4x4 or similar". A good natured explanation of the merits of water ballast ensued (I could see by their glazed look that carbon spars would be taking it too far!!) and I thanked them for the free weigh in, and the accompanying official certification they gave me to wave at anyone else who stops me.  For the record the recorded all up weight of car and trailer was 3,560kg and AW Jenkinson Forestry products are now £4.50 better off for their weighbridge services to the Scottish Police.

[Martijn]

Thanks Mike.

I'm not an expert and don't know the weight of your car + gear but from estimation that would mean the total weight of boat and trailer would come up at appr. 1700 kg right?

[Matthew P]

It seems "Golightly" was an appropriate name!
                                                             
Matthew
BR20 Gladys

[Rob Johnstone]

Your not far off Martijn.I weighed Vagabond and trailer at the end of the Round Britain trip, engine, anchors and all the other stuff too. It came in  at 1650 kg. The trailer tyres were rated at 750kg each.........so I had the axle updated that winter.

[Mikecambray]

Yes Martijn, I think you are about right with your estimate.  My "1400kg" estimate was probably wishful thinking and I was secretly glad that they had taken the Gross Train Weight rather than ask me to unhitch the trailer for independent weighing.  I'll save that for another day!!

[Graham W]

My wife thinks that towing my BR20 on a braked trailer (850kg) behind our small-engined VW Golf is asking for trouble.  Not from the police though, as we're well below the weight limits.  She may have a point, as coming back from the old Bala bash the car stuttered and fell silent one Kentish village away from home during that very hot weather last Friday.  At one point going up the escarpment at Stokenchurch the engine oil had reached 122°C, which probably isn't ideal.  However, I blame the engine stopping on the suspiciously cheap petrol that I'd bought in Wales the day before.  After a bit of a wait, the car restarted and we've had no problems with it since, especially with new Kentish petrol in the tank.

I wonder what's the smallest car out there to have successfully pulled a Swallow Boat?  A Fiat 500 pulling a BC23 would be an interesting sight.  As we no longer have 4WD, I'm expecting future issues on steep slipways.  Probably solvable with a long block and tackle and some wheel chocks?  Or some clever arrangement involving my two-speed winch?

[Martijn]

The last Practical Boat Owner featured an interesting article on how to calculate the all up weight of the boat by using a bathroom scale.
First you measure the weight on the jockey wheel. Then move the boat a small distance aft and again measure the weight on the jockey wheel.
From this distance and the 2 weights you can calculate the total boat weight.

In the absence of a weighbridge in the vicinity I think I'm going to try this method as soon as Riff Raff is back on her trailer. I estimate the all up weight of boat and trailer just shy of 1500 kg but it would be nice to have this confirmed.

[Richard Cooper]

Hi Graham

I know the Stokenchurch escarpment well, so am really surprised by your struggles there. Maybe the petrol had come a long way from the refinery (we used to say Brains beer was never any good having travelled from Cardiff to Swansea!), or had just been sitting in a remote Welsh filling station tank with no visiting tourists to buy it.

On the subject of small tow cars, I might stand accused of getting in on a technicality, but I towed my Storm17, ca 500kg on the trailer, with a Skoda Fabia  for 1000's of miles no problem. But it was a decent sized diesel engine (1.9l) and I had it tuned for extra torque and power.

Steep slipways might well be a problem with a small engine and no 4wd, often the state of the surface and grip is the telling factor, a tidal slipway with a smooth surface attracting lots of seaweed is a nightmare.

Richard

[Matthew P]

For an example of boat towing excellence roll up a trouser leg and see today's posting at https://www.facebook.com/groups/swallowyachtsassociation

Matthew
BR20 Gladys

[Michael Rogers]

Posts like Matthew's on this forum are going to tantalise those of us who don't 'do' Facebook. Yes, there's an obvious solution. I know the forum doesn't exist to sort out IT fossils such as myself, but can someone tell me whether, if I open a Facebook account but don't use it except to 'look' every now and then, that represents any sort of advance of Big Brother into my daily life.

I probably sound paranoid, and am not being entirely serious, except that someone told me that 5G and Facebook could gang up so that, in the near future, while walking past an M&S store, I might get a personal message telling me that that particular store had a new line in trousers, in my size, that I might like to try. Gives me the creeps if true.

Actually the dam has already been breached because my wife insisted that our new TV had to be a "smart' one, which means, I believe, that Someone knows what programmes we like without us telling them. What cheek, except that it's our own fault.

Returning to matters maritime(-ish), I really like the idea of weighing boat + trailer with bathroom scales. Brilliant!!

Michael R      (Cavatina, all 12' of her, and currently gleaming with new paint)

[Julian Merson]

Really interesting and useful thread, this, for me. Previously I've indicated concern over the use of the unbraked trailer with my BC20, where 100kg of 'stuff' over and above the boat itself pushes it up against the unbraked limit, which is far too close for peace of mind.  On a cabined boat, I want to load it with kit and kerboodle and leave it all on there.  Still, it has made for a disciplined approach to equipment!

Oddly, the nose weight of my three boats has changed inversely to their size.  The Lugger weighed down most, the Coaster was lighter and the BC20 is lightest of all on the nose - just 30kg on the scales.  (Yes, I know the coaster is technically heavier and longer, but in no way is it 'bigger' than the BC20). 

I've done the PBO test today and found my boat and trailer came out at 700kg, although the margin for error in my case was small.  If the drop in nose weight had been one more kg, that would have resulted in an overall weight just over 750kg. That's easily possible on a set of rickety bathroom scales.   So, I am right up against the limit.
The plan is to get the trailer converted to braked just as soon as funds allow.

Regarding FB and Big Brother, I have no doubts that membership does increase the level of surveillance on one's private life.  However, my gut view is that this is over-played since we are snooped on in so many other ways, these days - I don't think FB makes all that much difference.  And, they can only extract  from your private life what you are prepared to reveal.  So, if someone wants to snoop on my FB account, they'll find out all about my sailing, a bit of music and that's about it!

[Julian Merson]

Just been doing some maths on this business of the use of bathroom scales for weighing boats.  It's all to do with Moments of Forces for anyone who is that interested - as a maths teacher, I am...!  If anyone would like to see the way it all works, I can show - it's all a bit of A-level Mechanics. 

The formula given in the PBO article gives the weight of the boat only, not the boat plus the 200kg trailer.  So, my even on the lower limit of my calculations, my boat and trailer comes in at 100kg over the legal limit. 

I am phoning CLH trailers today to get this conversion done ASAP...

[Martijn]

The formula given in the PBO article gives the weight of the boat only

You're correct. I've modified my previous post to avoid future confusion.

To those of you who are interested, the weight of the CLH trailer for my BC23 on an official weighbridge was 410 kg. That was the standard trailer including rollers and spare tyre but without winch post (app. 15 kg). Adding 425 kg to the calculated boat weight should give the total weight for a BC23 and standard CLH trailer.

[Martijn]

Correction, the trailer was no longer "standard CLH"
Rob upgraded the 1500kg axle to a 1800 kg one, but I doubt this had a significant impact on the total weight of the trailer.

[Matthew P]

A couple of years ago, without prompting by the constabulary,  I took my BR20 Gladys to a weighbridge. 

Gladys is a GRP, gaff rigged, wood masted, open BR20  I weighed her with sails but without outboard, oars, or other heavy kit and no weighty modifications.  In other words just the basic boat ready to sail. 

The trailer is the standard un-braked Bramber trailer supplied with the boat in 2009 by Swallow Boats.  I always carry the spare wheel separately in the car, for security and to reduce weight, so I did not include during weighing..  I usually also carry the jockey wheel in the car (so it can't miss-behave and drop down while towing) but on this occasion left it on the trailer. The number plate and extensions were on the trailer, so the trailer was in normal "road condition".

The boat and trailer weighed 740Kg
The legal limit for the un-braked trailer is 750Kg.  :-

So now I avoid loading anything in the boat.

I would prefer a braked trailer with bigger wheels.  On the other hand the trailer has carried Gladys hundreds of miles to Scotland and on the continent without trailer-related incidents so I don't intend doing anything except continue to maintain it, keep the bearings dry and carry all heavy kit in the car - which is big enough for the load and the trailer.

Matthew
BR20 Gladys