Road debris protection while towing

G

Golerud

New member
I am looking for some method to keep the road debris and rocks from hitting the boat while towing. I've looked at the brush flaps that mount on the back of the tow vehicle but I'm not sure that alone is enough. Has anyone ever used a device like the "Montana Rock Knockers"? Their website is: www.mtrockguard.com Any input and advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Gary
 
After towing Journey On for ~20,000 miles, I'm amazed at the LACK of dings on the hull. More docking dings (my bad) than any rock dings. And, no, I've not towed up to Alaska, just the lower western states.

Actually, I'm interested in comments regarding rock dings. I feel that the truck takes most of the flying debris.

Any thoughts?

Boris
 
I have a set of very large over sized mud flaps that attach to my ball mount. These can be adjusted to fit from a dually to a Toyota 4runner. I've had the same set for my last four tow rigs. The only down fall is a rear facing exhaust will not work, I nearly lit the back end of one of our tow rigs on fire.. We have been on a freshly laid gravel road towing for over twenty miles with damage. Now I was only doing twenty five though. They are called rock tamers and I ordered them over the net for about $200. I think through Cabelas. What's nice about these they work on whatever your towing. However it does make the ball much heavier.
 
Don't forget to provide some protection for the boat windows when towing over really tough roads!

Damage can be caused not only by rocks your vehicle throws up as well as others passing in both directions!

Our AlCan towers often cover the windshields with heavy doubled cardboard or other protectors.

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Several Alaska trips now with this being the protection system we use.
PICT0016.jpg

And yes it is needed. In 2010 we made the trip with new trailer with no protection except windows & Joe, you're right about the windows needing protection too. Did get some minor chipping in the front gel coat from that trip. Problem is not so much the gravel road sections though if you don't slow down enough it will cause damage. The big trouble was the long sections of chip sealing where a layer of oil is covered with loose sharp edged gravel. Practically, just can't slow down enough to prevent damage.

For our planned Alaska trip this summer will be checking on the price of the Rockquard shown by Gary. Looks like a very good protection set up to me. Much better than the one I show in the photo.

I too have used the hitch mounted mudflap system & they do help, but still won't provide whats needed on a freshly chip sealed road.

If anyone else is planning on a Alaska Highway trip without some kind of protection from my experience there is no doubt you will suffer some damage to the boat that could be prevented by the Mountain Rockquard protector.

Jay
 
I towed a 22' CD to Alaska in April. I had the boat owner get it shrink wrapped and had the bottom of the wrap almost go down to the trailer frame. Boat was in perfect shape.
Using carpeting against the hull will result in an abrasive situation...........not good.
Mud flaps are helpful but not 100%.
See a picture of the tow on page 3, last picture, in my photo album.
 
Thanks for all the responses to my question. I got a price for the Montana Rock guard system this morning of $650.00 +- plus freight of $69.00.

Add in the cost of the mesh "MudFlap" for the tow vehicle and a $1,000 disappears pretty quickly.

Since I don't need the tow protection for awhile, I'm going to keep looking for something a little less expensive.

Thanks again for the responses.

Gary
 
We have towed cars behind RV's over 100,000 miles, with only one incident--that was "road gator" (tire tread), which went under the RV and hit some wiring. The cost to repair the wiring was in the $25 range.

Boats--Like Boris, we have towed over 25,000 miles--and no real damage.

For an AK trip, I would put some protection--but you can wire tie the sunscreen mesh over the trailer frame for about $30--and do as well as the "rock guard".

I agree that covering windows on an AK trip would be a good idea.

We use a full width solid mud flap behind the engine on the diesel pusher, and each rear dual (22.5" tires) has both a brush and a solid flap).
 
During the 11 years we owned our Alumaweld, we probably towed it in excess of 60,000 miles. All in the lower 48 except for one trip to Canada. When we sold it this past summer, it had what I called a small amount of "road rash" on the bow. Most of that came from about 40 miles of driving on a wet gravel road in Canada.

Our tow vehicle is a Dodge 3500 dually and we have conventional mud flaps on it. I think that adding the brush style guard the full width of the truck will eliminate 99% of what might hit the boat so will go with it to start with. I'm just a little more concerned now that we have the 23" Cape Cruiser as the fiberglass is more suscepticle to damage than the aluminum on our old boat.

Again, thanks for the input and advice.

Gary
 
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