Long Distance Towing?
 

I have seen a few of these threads but figure I might as well make my own. We are taking off for Lake Powell on Friday and will be towing my 24Ve 20 hours each way. My trailer tires are in good shape and I have 2 spares. I have a towable cover but last time I tried towing with it it started to come off, and I dont want to cause and noticeable wear on my gelcoat either- so I think I am just going to leave it off. I am sure my interior will be filthy when we get to where we are going, which I dont like but its not too big of a job to wipe it down.

I plan to leave the tower up as there is not much support for the 24Ve tower when down.

I have rocktamers, but have noticed a few new rock chips on my bow from the little bit of towing I do around home. I feel like a read somewhere that people have covered the vulnerable area of their bow with painters tape to prevent rock chips, seems like an ok idea, anyone have experience or thoughts with this?

I believe I will have to stop for a watercraft inspection when crossing a few of the statelines on our way. Any advice here? I plan to have the boat cleaned and dry.

Any advice or tips for towing this far would be appreciated . Cant wait for the trip but not looking forward to pulling the boat that far.

If I was going that far, I would have a spare hub and all the tools to change one as well as the spare tires. With fresh grease and frequent checking, hopefully you will not need it, but blown bearings will stop you for a good while longer than a tire, especially if you don't have a backup. Also, make sure whatever jack you have goes up high enough to lift the trailer axle...learned that the hard way.

Having done A LOT of cross country towing I'll throw my .02 in.

Alex is right, a spare tire, hub and tools are a necessity. When/If a bearing goes out then you're going to be hard pressed to find one and get back on the road in a timely manner. At a min go ahead and get the replacement tire and bearing kits.

I do not suggest towing the with the cover on, at all! Even if there are claims that it is towable cover. What will happen is the areas where the cover isn't tight will flap in the wind beat against the gel coat. Over time those areas will become dull and really show in the sun. Yes the interior will get dirty, but that is an easy clean compared to towing with the cover.

Also be mindful of what you store in your boat during the trip. I once picked up a boat to tow 15 hours over two days. Once I got to the event and uncovered (the factory wanted the boat covered for the trip) the owner had put a spare tire inside the boat. Where it rubbed against the seat left a permeant imprint of the side of the tire.

Enjoy, good luck and post pics!

can of fix-a-flat will get you off the side of the road to a well-lit and much safer place to change a tire. I'd carry at least 2 for that distance with a tandem trailer. if you have over sized tires on the tow rig, take that into consideration as well. takes 2 cans to inflate a 33" tire.

plastic film on bow hull makes sense for a tow that long, or a gelcoat touch up kit. your choice

when was last bearing service on the trailer? I'd rather do that beforehand than carry hubs with me, although its not a terrible idea.

I like pallet wrap or saran wrap on the tower - keeps the bugs off. If you do choose to use the cover, run a couple laps of pallet wrap around above and below the rub rail (basically at the cover contact points, and most if not all of your potential gel damage can be prevented.

Every time you stop, grab a hold of your bearing caps - if you've got a problem with one, it will be considerably hotter. Make sure you have a lug wrench that fits your trailer's lug nuts as well.

Check bearing temp at each stop. At minimum a bearing/race/seal set or preferably a complete spare hub with bearings already installed. There things tend to not happen when it's sunny and 75* and right down the street from a NAPA so the less work to do at night, rain, heat, the better. I do not tow with the cover on, it stretches the cover and can abrade the gel. If it starts raining hard or I'm headed into a storm I'll put it on and slow down but for light rain it'll hardly get wet without the cover if you're on the highway.

We're heading up to Powell on Tuesday, it's an 11-12 hour tow for us.
All good advice above, maybe cover your tower speakers with speaker covers or cellophane, the bug splatter is hard to clean off.
See you on the water, maybe :)

I carry two spares and lower the psi in the tire to 3-4 lbs under the max cold psi..

I put an extra bow strap on, Just incase the bow winch strap snaps over bumps. I also like to carry some crimp connectors incase I have to bypass a trailer light plug. Just as a precaution, I would go through your brakes and lube up the caliper pins. I think I have a sticking brake caliper because I blew off a buddy bearing last trip, probably from excessive heat, boiling the grease.

Low air pressure in trailer tires is a common reason for failures. A low tire will get hot and disintegrate.
I use a cheap infrared temp gun to check tire and hub temperatures.

Over pressure after the tires warm up is also a major reason for delamination and tire tread ejection... 3 or 4 psi lower will warm up to the safe operating range to maintain the designed adhesion characteristic of the bond between the tread and the cords of the tire.

CZ, the max cold inflation pressure is designed for heat expansion, but it is meant for cold psi. Once the tires are up to temp inflating to the max cold psi will have them slightly overinflated. I check all my tire pressures before pulling out of the garage and make sure they are up to max cold psi, because I don't have a load chart to tell me what psi is safe to run at for the load at a pressure less than max psi.

I am running the Kumho RADIAL 857 195R14C which is load rated D and 1984 lbs @ 65psi. I have aftermarket tire pressure and temp sensors on the tires at when they are at 65 psi cold they are 69-72 psi at 65-70 mph. My boat and trailer with full gas tank, cooler and other toys for the lake weighs in at 6,400 lbs on a CAT truck stop scale.

When I moved from TX to WA in December I used pallet wrap around the bow and around the rub rail where the cover hits it. I also made a plywood top for the bow which prevented the cover from caving in there and keeping it more streamlined. I got 10.5 mpg without the plywood cover, and 12.5 mpg with the plywood bow cover.

Not sure what typeof axle you have, but if it's a torsion axle I would get an entire assembly with the spindle for back-up. A hub assembly is a great idea as long as the spindle doesn't get damaged during a bearing failure.

Upgrade your AAA membership to include towing of your boat.

Pull your boat out of the garage...close the garage door and change the boat tire without having to go back into the garage...physically do it to be sure you have everything you would need. Most THINK they do till they find out that the tire iron lug is the wrong size or too small to break the lug nuts, car jack won't lift the boat up high enough, you need a few blocks...or a zillion other factors you did not even think of.

Have not ever done it but heard a tip once here to coat your tower in Pam cooking spray. You will have to wipe it fully down upon arrival but keeps the bugs from sticking.

I do this one as well. I add a strap from the bow eye straight down to the trailer to keep the bow from bouncing. The crank up only does so much on my trailer in the vertical direction.