CD-25 on a trailer - an oversized load at 102" wide?

[Bill.Secure]

I just stumbled on regulations that seem to imply my brand new 2007 CD-25 is wider than permitted for normal road travel. Neither the C-Dory dealer nor the trailer dealer had indicated there might be a problem and both knew my plans included trailering throughout the United States and probably Canada. In Maryland it appears that 96" wide is OK but that 102" is permitted only when bringing the boat someplace for service.

Does anyone have experience on this topic in Maryland and/or other states?

Bill

[Butch]

Bill, most tractor and box trailers are a standard 102" wide and a max of 13' high. If you look closer you'll see the semitrailers are not placarded "wide load" at 102". I live in Cecil County, MD and put up and down the highways with a 102" trailer for my backhoe and I have not had any issues with the Transportation Authority when passing through the weigh stations. regarding width.

I am 99.9% sure we are ok fine at 102" max width.

Butch

[JamesTXSD]

Bill, this issue rippled through the RV industry when many of the coach manufacturers moved from 96" wide to 102". There were cries of "not legal on some roads..." I am not aware of a single issue in the 10+ years since most RV makers increased their width. I believe there are some states in the NE that "restrict" 8.5' vehicles to federal roads. We have RVed from coast to coast, north to south with a 102" wide coach (not including mirrors and awnings, which make the coach even wider), and never had a problem. This is not to say that an insurance company or lawyer might get interested if there is a serious accident.

One of the main reasons we selected the CD-25 over the 22 was the increased beam (a confined space feels even more so when you have trouble passing by each other in the aisle). Towing it thousands of miles now has not been a problem. When we first picked up the boat, the side bunks came up almost to the rub rail, which actually made the trailer around 9' wide; the factory cut down the sides a bit to get it back to 102". This is on a King trailer, btw.

If you see RVs, buses, tractor/trailers on your roads, you can be pretty darn sure that they are at the maximum allowable width.

Enjoy the new boat!

Best wishes,
Jim B.

[thataway]

As Jim, We have been in all of the states except Noth Dakota with an RV which is 102" wide--with another foot on each side for mirrors which do fold in--and a 4" awning which does not--never a problem---well a little problem when we missed a turn off which restricted travel to 96" in a bridge repair--but we pulled in the mirrors and crept thru.../.

I don't see a problem with the 8 1/2 feet. Even with guideons on the trailer (these are temporary attatachements and so appear to be legal).

[journey on]

102" is 8 1/2 ft. This is legal in every state west of the Mississippi of which I know. Every point on our loaded CD25, including the guide-ons is 8 1/2 ft. or less.

Following that up, has anybody weighed a loaded CD25 and trailer? Mine weighed in right at 8000 lb with 20 gal in the fuel tank.

Boris

[Sea Skipper]

Boris: "Following that up, has anybody weighed a loaded CD25 and trailer? Mine weighed in right at 8000 lb with 20 gal in the fuel tank."

Sea Skipper on trailer with full fuel & water tanks, all gear, and two weeks cruising supplies weighs 8,400# - this includes the 700# on the tongue. I estimate the trailer weight @ 1,750#; if correct, Sea Skipper weighs about 6,650# in the water plus passengers.

[Butch]

The FMCSR (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations in Title 49, set the legal limit at 102 inches or 8.5 feet of width. Anything more than that would require special permits for wide loads and a restriction on some routes. Anything greater than 102" is considered to be a risk in general transport and that's why manufacturers adhere to the 102" rule.

While we are on the subject... the FMCSR regulations are for commercial vehicles only. That simply means you are using the vehicle in commerce, i.e. a for hire or private owned money making business. That rules out pleasure water craft and RV's that are transported by their owner operator not for revenue.

However, if you were to hire for money someone to transport your boat over public roads, that operator must be in full compliance with the FMCSR. As far as weight goes, any [b][u]commercial motor vehicle [/u][/b]with GCVW (Gross Combination Vehicular Weight) equal to or in excess of 10,001 is subject to the regulations. Thus requires the vehicle to be signed with a Federal Motor Carrier Identification Number and the name if the company to which the ID number was assigned. The next regulatory trigger related to Commercial Motor Vehicles and weight is the requirement for a Commercial Drivers Licence (CDL), and that is any Commercial Motor Vehicle the exhibits a GCVW equal to or in excess of 26,001 pounds.

Here's a quiz... "When would a VW bug be required to exhibit a Federal Motor Marrier Number AND the driver be required to have a valid CDL in his possession?"

Answer, "Any time the VW bug is used in commerce (per the DOT definition) and that vehicle is hauling any DOT Placardable Quantity of Hazardous Materials as defined by the DOT Hazardous Materials Regulation. Believe me.... there a few items listed in the Hazardous Materials Table in 49 CFR, 172.101 that if hauled in a DOT defined Commercial Motor vehicle in [u][i][b]ANY QUANTITY [/b][/i][/u]requires the vehicle to be placarded on all four sides.

The regs are complicated, however, seeing as how we don't trailer our rigs in commerce... we opt out.

Hope this helps. Butch

[B~C]

on the flip side of the VW bug question- if you want to tow your boat with a big Class 8 Freightliner with the condo sleeper, all you need to do is install a porta potty and a camp stove and license it as a motorhome (in most states) and you can go tearing down the road with no Commercial Drivers license, and pay very little for insurance.

check it out- http://www.truckconversion.net/

all this has nothing to do with the original question, but, if you're concerned about hauling that new boat around, you would be more than welcome to store it my house

[Andrew]

Up here in Canada, we use the metric system. Here we need a permit after 2.6 meters. (101.4 inches).

[Butch]

I know a guy in Maryland that uses a 2004 Freightliner long nose with a deluxe sleeper for a personal vehicle. Ken, all he had to do was put in nice lettering on the cab door, "Non-commercial" and "Not For Hire".

When Sach (his nickname) blows past the weigh stations along 95 on his way to work as an electrical engineer for a national construction firm... he usually gets pulled over by the state police or the Transportation Authority Police. The buggers tried to make a ticket stand a couple of years ago and he just petitioned DOT's Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) for a regulatory ruling. The Cops could not touch him... as his vehicle was not a commercial motor vehicle according to DOT regs.

This past summer he bought a camper to pull behind the rig. You guessed it... it was a converted 53' 102" wide and 13' high box van made into a palace on wheels. The reffer unit is the heating and cooling unit for the trailer. Damn thing still looks like a tractor trailer rig so he still gets pulled over, however... I seriously believe its a game for him. Oh one other thing... he tows a 2004 Mustang convertible behind the box trailer... go figure as he is a genius at his job but mucho nuts otherwise. He's a good egg though. Have a great evening! Butch

[iggy]

[Alyssa Jean]

It is 8 1/2 ft in Washington State.

[Andrew]

iggy,
You are probably right. After looking at a tape with both imperial and metric on it, 2.6 meters equals approx. 102 and 3/8ths of an inch. We need wide load signs after 3.05 meters.

[journey on]

Well, I’ve beat this to death, but having a small boat, I’d like to know what I’m floating and towing. And, having worked on spacecraft, if it weighs too much you can’t launch it, which is applicable to boats, too. Starting from the boat+trailer scale weight of 8000# here’s what the data below says:

· The trailer weighs 1900 # from their catalog
· The boat, with all the boat gear, less gas and water, weighs 5000 #
· Our cruising gear, including O/B, gas, water, food, cloths, etc, etc, etc, weighs 2400 #
· When we’re cruising, the on-water weigh is 7400 #
· We tow 8000#, with another 500 # in the truck.
· We’re lucky that we got 4 mpg last summer ( @ 7 knts.)

Boris

Data:

[Ron on Meander]

Well thanks Boris!
You sure saved me a lot of work. My scale weight is practically bang on to yours and my cruising gear is very comparable so thanks for doing my calculations for me.
Ron