Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

[triscadek209]

Im sure this will get some attention... Upon a long internet search last night, I was able to come up with ONE picture of a Jet Ski being towed behind a bowrider, but not of the hitch setup. Definitely looking into this as we only have one tow vehicle. Generally will be within 30mi however our favorite, Grand Lake, is 70 miles to the family retreat. The whole setup doesnt look too bad as etrailer has a $50 U-bolt setup rated at 3500lbs for the back of the trailer, the killer seems to be how low the center of the rear of the trailer is and stern drive in the way. They also offer an extender which would be handy however will put the drop/rise hitch right under the outdrive. Its a single ski trailer with a 2 person RXP. So fueled up shouldnt be over 1200lbs trailer included with no more than about 50-70lbs for a tongue weight.

Before all the lawyers get involved, I do have a Class A CDL with Doubles/Triples and HAZMAT and it IS legal in OK even with a bumper pull as primary, as long as bumper to bumper is under 65'. No trailer brakes on either trailer but I rarely pull the boat over 65mph usually at 60 as my Hemi LOVES its unleaded fuel. I have 0 problems with bringing my boat to a quick stop thanks to the heavy duty brakes on the 2500 package. My boat is a 1990 Four Winns 200 Horizon weighing in at 3200lbs plus trailer weight. My truck is more than capable of handling the extra weight, even braking. Truck is an 06 Mega Cab 2500 with a hungry Hemi.

So my question, has anybody else done this and if so, pics? Thanks guys/gals!

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

Well your cdl (like mine) is irrelevant.... Doubles and triples endorsement only applies to specific combinations.

That said towing multiple trailers is no big deal. I do it all the time tho MY combination is illegal in all 50 states due to length.

I'm 78' long and right at 30,000 lbs with my truck, fifth wheel, and jeep.

You aren't going to be a le to find a bolt on hitch.... This will have to be custom fabbed.

You will need a receiver off set on the trailer that spans two crossmembers and a long drawbar that you would remove before launching the boat.

The draw bar can eithe be offset to center the second trailer or you can just tow it off center sisnce it is narrower the. The boat trailer.

The key to not being hassled is looking VERY professional....


I strongly disagree with your supreme confidence in your truck justifying no brakes..... Most of the time you're right, you don't need em but the one time you do, a couple hundred $ for some electric brakes could save someone's life.

That extra trailer DOES make a difference too...


Last tidbit..... Max out the tongue weights on the trailers..... 15% on them both goes a long way to prevent the scary sway issue of multiple trailers when slowing or going down hill.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

Btw... Since you brought up the law... In Oklahoma you are required to have trailer brakes and a break away system on any trailer over 3000 lbs.....

Towing doubles will be likely to get you noticed and checked out...... The ticket and tow would likely cost quite a bit more than the brake system.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

There is absolutely no way I'd think about towing that without ELECTRIC trailer brakes... Vehicle has almost no impact to sway, and when you have a short little PWC trailer at the back, those things can start swaying and then cause everything else to start snaking down the road. Electric brakes make it a non-issue.

As smoke mentioned, illegal without brakes in any case...

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

Agreed, you need trailer brakes on the boat trailer, at least one axle. I'd probably have a trailer shop fab up something on the boat trailer for it to attach to. You may not be towing that fast, but wait until you come up on the toll gates for I-44 on a holiday weekend and you'll get to practice your emergency stops near Vinita! You'll wish you had the assistance of trailer brakes then.

The other thing to keep in mind, is that that you'll need to increase the tonque weight of the boat trailer to that the weight on the rear of the trailer from the jet ski is offset. I've even seen some people buy a longer tri-axle boat trailer and use the front 10' for the jet ski and the rear 20' for the runabout boat.

 

[triscadek209]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

Im not concerned about the brakes honestly and I wont be pulling it like this often since we dont care to take both ALL the time, the ski is a hassle to haul around when we get tired of riding it. Plus I have a buddy that will attend the lake with us alot and he can pull it. Mainly for the times we dont have him around etc. Im used to pulling two 45' trailers with a GCVW of 90-100k and there has been more than one occasion that I havent had brakes on anything past my first trailer being loaded due to mechanical errors. But at 3am in podunk OK u gotta do what u gotta do. Just gotta take it easy and give yourself room.
Definitely dont care to spend anymore money on the boat or trailer for a while. Ive WAYYYY over spent getting this damn thing ready for Memorial day since we purchased it in Feb. Havvent even pulled the cover off the Seadoo yet. Im sure itll have a few curve balls to throw also.

 

[alldodge]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

It only takes once...

Take a trailer out of your drive way and down two houses to a friend. If something happens and there is an accident, and you are not properly equipped, you are labial. If your willing to loose everything you own, go for it and roll the dice

Attorneys have been lining up for a very long time

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

there has been more than one occasion that I havent had brakes on anything past my first trailer being loaded due to mechanical errors. But at 3am in podunk OK u gotta do what u gotta do. Just gotta take it easy and give yourself room.

Try telling that to the DOT..... The correct answer is spend the night and get it repaired in the morning.....

Definitely dont care to spend anymore money on the boat or trailer for a while. Ive WAYYYY over spent getting this damn thing ready for Memorial day since we purchased it in Feb. Havvent even pulled the cover off the Seadoo yet. Im sure itll have a few curve balls to throw also.

Well then the correct answer is you can't afford to double tow......

 

[triscadek209]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

Not spending the night in my day cab. We fix stuff around here good enough to make due. Never had a problem before.
At a point you get tired of throwing money at a boat...

 

[Grub54891]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

Im not concerned about the brakes honestly and I wont be pulling it like this often since we dont care to take both ALL the time, the ski is a hassle to haul around when we get tired of riding it. Plus I have a buddy that will attend the lake with us alot and he can pull it. Mainly for the times we dont have him around etc. Im used to pulling two 45' trailers with a GCVW of 90-100k and there has been more than one occasion that I havent had brakes on anything past my first trailer being loaded due to mechanical errors. But at 3am in podunk OK u gotta do what u gotta do. Just gotta take it easy and give yourself room.
Definitely dont care to spend anymore money on the boat or trailer for a while. Ive WAYYYY over spent getting this damn thing ready for Memorial day since we purchased it in Feb. Havvent even pulled the cover off the Seadoo yet. Im sure itll have a few curve balls to throw also.

Sounds as if any GOOD advice given here is falling on deaf ears. If someone asks a question and don't want to hear any other awnser than their own opinion,why ask in the first place??:facepalm:

 

[triscadek209]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

My original question was, has anyone here done this before and if so, do they have any pictures?

I know the risks of pulling two trailers, and I know how my setup drives as is and I know how I drive as well as my liability limits. I wasn't born yesterday. I'm so glad everyone here has so much experience in pulling a jet ski behind a boat trailer and what distance it's going to take me to slow down given that they have never done it their self nor been in my truck. All this advice but no one has done it before. Last time I checked, I'm the one that has pulled my boat around therefore making me the one who knows how they handle together. Thank you all for all the replies but I see this topic going nowhere here. Moderator feel free to delete this post.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

By the way, your 1990 Horizon 200 weighs 2970 dry. Add 50 gallons fuel and that is 3270. Add another 600 for the trailer and you are at 3870. Add another 200 for batteries and other stuff and you are at 4070#. You need brakes on it.

If you don't want advice, don't ask in the first place. This will be the last advice I give you on any subject from now on.

 

[triscadek209]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

Surely Four Winns would have thought of that, it's the Original Four Winns trailer.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

Four winns sells boats DRIVERS are responsible for complying with laws while using those boats.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

I have a friend that has that exact boat. The trailer has brakes.

 

[briangcc]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

I see a 1990 Four Winns? Mine in my sig has a tandem and came with surge brakes, direct from the factory. I doubt much changed between model years other than trim levels and perhaps seating.

I agree with the rest of the guys here, 1. You need brakes, and 2. You need to spend the money to do this safely. Otherwise, you're putting someone else's life/lives at stake and the attorneys are going to love you when you cause an accident.

Look at the weights listed by BruceB and then compare that to your local DMV/BMV laws. I bet you're overweight, by a long shot, on needing brakes to legally tow that trailer in your state.

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

My original question was, has anyone here done this before and if so, do they have any pictures? ...

The one word answer to the question is NO!, no one has done this before.
The rest of the verbiage was why no one has done this, or thinks you should either.

Everyone really is trying to help.
Denial is not just a river in Egypt.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

Another possible option for you is to skip towing the jet ski trailer altogether, and put the jet ski in the bed of the truck. Obviously it's dependent on the weight of the ski and the payload limits of your truck with boat tongue weight included. In that case, you can simply back the bed of the truck in the water (without trailer attached), and offload the jet ski. Probably a lot cheaper and easier than modifying the boat trailer. Since you have your CDL, I would think you would be much more receptive to the advice given here about adding a single-axle brake system, electric or otherwise. It's not more than a few hundred bucks and a couple hours of work to make things compliant with the law.

I won't lie (I'm a fellow Okie), we have been towing our 1976 20' runabout (approx 5Klbs with gear/trailer) on a tandem axle trailer without brakes for 20 years. It was not a law to have trailer brakes back then, and we never bothered with it, despite towing the 70 miles to Grand several times a year. We eventually bought a lakehouse where the boat stayed at Grand, so we never saw the need to add brakes at that point. However, I am currently refinishing a nice newer trailer that has dual-axle brakes on it because we are back to towing to a lot of area lakes. There have been a few times over the years where things have gotten a bit hairy during an emergency stop when another vehicle slams on the brakes in front of you. We made it without having any accidents, but we would have been liable if there had been an accident and our equipment was not up to legal spec.

 

[triscadek209]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

 

[jbetzelb]

Re: Towing Seadoo behind boat trailer

Is the back of your trailer strong enough for a hitch mount. I went through this some years back. My trailer would have needed modded. It was also illegal to tow ball to ball in a couple states I boat in. I went with a simple rig to mount the ski in the box of the truck. It works great.