towing with collapsed center beam

[NYGiants]

i have a sailboat, and the crossbar on one side the weld broke. I have to trailer it 10miles along backroads or highway (proboaly backroads) and the keel is resting on the axle. the axle dosent spin, and the beam dosent hit ground should i be ok? everything else on the trailer is great. i guess i should get the welder to check the other welds while hes repairing it, as he does good work for cheap

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: towing with collapsed center beam

i have a sailboat, and the crossbar on one side the weld broke. I have to trailer it 10miles along backroads or highway (proboaly backroads) and the keel is resting on the axle. the axle dosent spin, and the beam dosent hit ground should i be ok? everything else on the trailer is great. i guess i should get the welder to check the other welds while hes repairing it, as he does good work for cheap

Does he do good work offsite before you tow it ??? Bad idea to tow as is or you could bend the axle and cause yourself more grief down the road.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: towing with collapsed center beam

the keel is resting on the axle.

Do I understand this correctly, the axle (that bounces up and down and carries the entire weight of the boat) is in direct contact with 1 point of the keel. Somehow this does not sound good, 1 bad pothole and

 

[NYGiants]

Re: towing with collapsed center beam

the keel is held by a wire cable.
but it is resting on it. and the only way i can fix it is by floating off the boat.
i could see if i could pull it up farther to try to remove it from the axle, but i was towing in from vermont and i noticed it had popped off when i got home so i dont know how long i already towed with it.

 

[HappierWet]

Re: towing with collapsed center beam

I'd jack the boat off the trailer and block it up then preferably have the welder come to work on it. Definately would NOT tow the boat any further, and only tow the trailer as a last resort. Look at it like this, having something break and you don't know about it might be construed as negligent, HOWEVER taking something you know to be in disrepair on the road and having it break and potentially hurt or kill someone might be criminally negligent. Anyhow, I would not take the risk.

 

[Navy Jr.]

Re: towing with collapsed center beam

Over the past couple of years that I've been a member of this forum, I've seen a number of posts asking if it is ok to pull a trailer with an inadequate vehicle, or to pull a damaged trailer, or to do something else that might be a risk to other motorists even though "only need to tow it a few miles." In all cases the OP acknowledges the shortcomings of their idea.

It is almost as if they are looking for just one "Sure, it's okay to do that" response from us to therefore put blame on someone else when certain disaster occurs.

So, no, don't do it. You already know better. Have it fixed before you take your load back out on the open road. You'll probably tow it the 10 miles to the welder anyway, but at least it won't be at the encouragement of any of us who have responded so far. -Ken