All I need is the hitch

Wife and I went sailing today in Miss Spridget. I couldn't help taking a picture of the midget with the boat behind. I need to come up with some sort of hitch for the car. The boat and trailer together are less than 500 pounds. It would be good to transport the boat but with my gearing, I don't think it would be a good boat ramp vehicle.

When I got my Flying Junior, I had a Honda Civic Hatchback as a tow car. A local trailer hitch shop installed the hitch and it proved to be very sturdy. For nearly two years I drove the boat behind the Civic to regattas all over California, made a trip to the National Championships in Aspen Colorado and took it on a trip to New York and back. The trailer was a homemade affair that came with the boat and it blew up about 50 miles from home coming back from Colorado. I rented a tandem wheel car transporter to drag the crippled boat and trailer back home. I made the mistake of loading the transporter with too much rear weight. The trailer started going faster than the car and picked up the rear end of the civic doing about 80 mph. After about three lurid lane sweeping oscillations, I threw the car into a spin to stop the whole rig. The whole rig did a 180 turn in the middle of US 80 near Berkeley. It didn't even tweek the hitch a bit, but it was a definite E ticket ride.

Way way back I towed a sailfish behind my BE in Hawaii. Never a problem.

regularman said:

I don't think it would be a good boat ramp vehicle.

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What you need is a trailer toung extension.

I don't think it's a problem making the tow bar, you could bold to the rear spring hanger and bumper brackets, but (not based on any scientific calculation, just how it looks) I'd say that boat's too big to tow with a Spridget!

equiprx said:

regularman said:

I don't think it would be a good boat ramp vehicle.

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What you need is a trailer toung extension.

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She is a centerboarder with no keel. No hitch extender needed. The problem is taking off up a steep ramp with a 450 pound boat and trailer behind when pulling the boat out of the water. I've got the 3.55 rear gear and the car just does take off well on steep hills as it is.

Most people think the boat weighs more than it does. Both the boat and trailer are under 500 pounds and the boat is plenty aerodynamic. About any vehicle can tow 500 pounds.

Reason for the extension is that the area where you will need the most traction is usually covered in slime.

equiprx said:

Reason for the extension is that the area where you will need the most traction is usually covered in slime.

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Oh,I get what you are saying now. I wasn't even thinking of it spinning. I was thinking of it stalling the engine or burning the clutch. My gear is way high or tall. The car came with a 3.90:1 ratio and now has a 3.55:1 ratio.

regularman said:

equiprx said:

Reason for the extension is that the area where you will need the most traction is usually covered in slime.

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Oh,I get what you are saying now. I wasn't even thinking of it spinning. I was thinking of it stalling the engine or burning the clutch. My gear is way high or tall. The car came with a 3.90:1 ratio and now has a 3.55:1 ratio.

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Don't know much about ratios. My tow vehicle had front wheel drive so I could back it up until I saw wet stuff. Most of the time there were hoist launch cranes, always preferable to ramp launch.