Return to Hobie.com
Hobie Forums
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:23 am

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 17 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: Transporting 4 Hobie 16s
PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:42 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:46 pm
Posts: 41
Does anyone have thoughts on how to get 4 Hobies on one trailer from cincinnati Ohio to Navarre florida? We have access to a 18' flat trailer and an enclosed 24' but width inside is about 7' 9" . I considered removing tongue from a Hobie trailer and welding it to the rear of another and then just double stacking both trailers.... Would that be legal? Any thoughts? Don't want to dismantle the boats. We were towing with a Chevy Silverado 2500 duramax diesel.

_________________
1978 Hobie 16 31743


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:57 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2009 7:32 am
Posts: 424
Location: Lake Gaston, NC
You could dissassemble them, and put them in the 24' box trailer, if you can figure out some way to mount the masts on top. It doesn't take that long to knock down and assemble a 16. You can buy roof racks for cargo trailers. The Duramax won't have any trouble at all pulling it. I've been driving one for 11 years.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 5:01 pm 
Offline
Hobie Approved Guru

Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2003 7:11 pm
Posts: 5197
Location: Detroit, MI
Triple stack with one disassembled in between the two upper boats.

Image

Very important that you don't put all the weight on the lower boat. You need to support the upper two boats independently.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:07 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:46 pm
Posts: 41
Matt, I think that's what I needed was a pic of someone else doing it to feel comfortable doing it. Thank you! I met you last year in ft. Walton beach... I enjoyed meeting you.

_________________
1978 Hobie 16 31743


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:12 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Admiral

Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:16 am
Posts: 288
Location: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
Yikes...that rig looks top heavy!!! Must be fun driving when it's windy? Do you fill the lower boat with water for ballast?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:25 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 5:40 am
Posts: 463
Location: Metuchen NJ
the 18' flat trailer... as in a landscape type trailer?
its important to find out if the trailer can support the weight.

we once bent up a steel catamaran trailer carrying only two H16. of course the failure occured on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway at 1am in the morning. fortunately it was the supports and not the springs/axle, so a creative repositioning of the boat supports got us on our way... carefully.

_________________
Chris
'88 H18SE Arís


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:36 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 10:25 am
Posts: 4176
Location: Jersey Shore
I agree, you better make sure your trailer frame, wheels, and axles are up to the task. Between the boats, gear, and added trailer support structure, you'd probably be looking at around 2000 LBS of cargo for four boats. The trailer in the picture looks like it's being pushed to the limit. For a large flatbed or enclosed trailer, four Hobies is probably well within the load capacity. You'll definitely want to verify that though and leave plenty of margin for error.

sm


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 5:21 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:46 pm
Posts: 41
The trailer is a landscape trailer, we use it to transport bobcats and backhoes. I've done double stacking with no issues... Four stacking... Not so much!

_________________
1978 Hobie 16 31743


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:01 am 
Offline
Hobie Approved Guru

Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2003 7:11 pm
Posts: 5197
Location: Detroit, MI
The trailer in the photo is Rob Jerry's (the Hobie dealer in Syracuse, NY); the photo was taken at the 2006 Hobie 16 North Americans in Narragansett, RI.

Those boats are all close to min weight, so 5 x 320 lbs = 1600 lbs + the sailbox.

That trailer has been to Florida from NY many times and I think it's even been out west a time or two. It's usually towed behind a large motorhome or a diesel pickup that Rob uses for snowplow duty in the winter.

You really don't want to be driving it in a high crosswind situation, but it's not as top heavy as it looks. The stuff in the sailbox (sails, tools) and the masts' location keeps the CG low. Note how each level of boats is supported independently down to the frame.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:03 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2007 11:23 am
Posts: 599
Location: Lake Norman NC
just because someone had good luck doing something stupid does not make it right
Two hobies stacked are top heavy four stacked are just dangerous to you and the traveling public
I did stack two 16 for 2000 mile trip and never will do that again it was a really big hassle plus burned out the trans on a new car.
I would recomend getting another tow vehicle
Former Hobie Admiral Gary


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:05 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:13 am
Posts: 1184
Location: Nepean S.C. Ottawa, Canada
Towing with a sedan is one thing....
towing with a Duramax or Camper/mobile home is another.

My first trip was from London Ontario back to Ottawa with a 4 cyl 2002 Honda Accord, pulling a Cooper trailer, sail tube and my first H18, about a 7 hour drive, ignoring the rush hour mess through Toronto. The car was fine provided I 'locked' the tranny in 3rd gear, i.e. no overdrive. Cruised at 100 kph on Highway 401.

The second trip was from Ottawa out to Des Moines IOWA and back when I picked up my used 1989 SX18 from Jim Sohn's shop. For that 1,730 km trip x 2, I borrowed a Honda Pilot with a wonderful V6 motor. Loaded or empty, I flew at 120+ kph, in comfort and with plenty of power. Needed the power, as I did the return trip in one weekend.

The right choice of tow vehicle will go a long way to a happy journey.

_________________
2015 H16, with spin,
SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 1:31 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 10:25 am
Posts: 4176
Location: Jersey Shore
gary eudy wrote:
just because someone had good luck doing something stupid does not make it right
Two hobies stacked are top heavy four stacked are just dangerous to you and the traveling public


I'm inclined to agree with admiral gary on this one. Unless the boat box on that trailer is full of bricks, I would expect that trailer to be unstable (and the fact that it hasn't flipped yet does not make it anymore stable).

A quick google search shows that there is this thing called a Static Stability Factor used in assessing vehicle stability. It's a simple calculation relating track width, T (center to center wheel spacing) to the height of the CG, h... SSF=T/2h. The higher the SSF, the greater the vehicle stability. Your average passenger car has a SSF somewhere between 1.1 and 1.4.

I calculated the approximate SSF of my trailer with boat to be SSF=1.1. (T=5.5ft, h = 2.5ft). I would expect your average double stack to be somewhere around SSF=.8 .

For the triple stack +2 shown in the picture, I would estimate the CG to be at about 4.5 ft with the same track width. This means SSF=.61, so about twice as likely to roll over as a standard single Hobie trailer. Even if I'm off by 20%, I'd say that still puts that rig at scary.

Just something to consider when you start piling boats on top of one another.

sm


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:34 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:45 pm
Posts: 1668
Location: Northfield Minnesota
With a proper trailer its no big deal. I've put six F16's, three sets of cat-trax, and all the gear on one trailer. Went from Long Beach to home with zero issues.

Just needs to be a good trailer.

My own trailer is 1800#'s empty, tandem axle, and I routinely triple stack with all the boats assembled. I tow some serious miles this way. I've pulled it through pretty much every variation of weather. Get out your checkbook though, my setup would run probably $6k if I needed to replace it.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:44 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:46 pm
Posts: 41
Thanks for all the suggestions, and thanks for the picture... I think our plan is to triple stack and pull the fourth with another vehicle. We double stack regularly, adding a third should be fairly easy!

_________________
1978 Hobie 16 31743


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 5:46 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:45 pm
Posts: 1668
Location: Northfield Minnesota
Six boats, seven masts, four sets of Cat-Trax, one trailer, from the Alter Cup last year:

Image

Image


My personal trailer before leaving for Tradewinds this year:

Image
I wish I would've had the rack built a bit lower than it is. With a triple stack I can't fit through a 10' overhead door, a few inches lower and I could fit it inside my shop.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 17 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Jump to:  
© Hobie Cat Company. All rights reserved.
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group