Towing In Bad Weather and Bad Road Conditions

[Byrdman]

OK gang.... Roger caused me to spill my coffee on this one. Check out the bad weather tow set up in the line of "WEIGHT DOWN THE ROAD".... but watch out for your coffee level...
Byrdman

[Sea Wolf]

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

The ultimate test of a tow rig / package is how it performs in bad weather, such as going down hill in snow and ice.

1. Flatland towing-super easy.

2. Uphill towing- takes some grunt, somewhat demanding in hot weather.

3. Emergency stopping-the real test of the whole combo and especially reveals wheather or not you really do have enough tow vehicle and trailer brakes to control everything!

4. Steeply downhill in snow and ice, or backing down and coming back up a frozen unplowed snow or ice covered ramp: Don't try this until you've passed all the other tests above!!! Unsure of everything? Put on your PFD to wear in the tow vehicle while backing down the ramp!

Chain up the tow vehicle, and be sure your trailer brakes are working in A-1 order. Chain up one trailer axle with brakes for extra bite going down really steep grades. Recommended for 4WD only.

Could be a great article for some tests and reports for Trailer Boats Magazine! "Boat Tow Rodeo on Ice".

Here's an exerpt from an experience I had on the subject that started leading me to these conclusions:

I'm sure that sometimes there's more than a little bit of excess testosterone affecting our judgment on how big a tow vehicle is adequate for a given job, and the great American Male's Fixation on His Truck is a subject that Detroit understands completely.

That said, there really is something to be validated about the idea of having reserve capacity in a tow vehicle. Just before Christmas I was towing my CD 22 to Eagle Lake over a 6500 ft pass between Red Bluff and Susanville. An early morning snow left about 2-3 inches of compressed snow and ice on the highway with the temperature in the high teens. The highway was sanded, but it was too cold to use salt to melt the ice. We had the chains on the rear of my Ford Econoline 150 van conversion, which usually tows the CD with no trouble at all.

Going up the grade, we had no trouble at all, driving in total command. Coming down, however, was another story. I got stuffed twice into the snow bank on the other side of the road, which was, fortunately, high enough to stop the van and boat from going over the edge. Even locked in first gear with chains on the rear, the boat/tandem trailer pushed us around at will. The push forward from the boat/trailer resulted in greater speed than we could handle under the circumstances, and stepping even lightly on the brakes locked up the front wheels (despite ABS), and resulted in a total loss of steering without the wheels turning. Felt like we had a boat full of water pushing us downhill! Upon further inspection, we found that the steel hydraulic line from the brake actuator on the tongue had been broken back near the axle, thus no trailer brakes. We'd checked this system out before the night before leaving, too.

Cal Trans (highway department) told us we had to move the vehicle down the mountain, so we called in a good sized tow truck which towed the boat a few miles down to the next section of flatland, where we resumed the tow.

As we continued on to the next town, it became apparent the 1/2 ton van can easily tow and stop (non-emergency) the boat/trailer, even without the trailer brakes working, but not under the particular steep downhill conditions above. I believe four- wheel drive, and/or a bigger tow vehicle, would have had the reserve capacity to do the job even without the trailer brakes. So it does pay to have a somewhat larger than necessary tow vehicle with enough reserve capacity to help stay out ot trouble and afford some peace of mind, especially nce you can't always anticipate all the problems that might develop.
_________

Joe.

[Byrdman]

Roger.... put your picture of your tow vehicle in here....