Towing on unsealed rough roads

[Houndslair]

I am thinking of towing my boat to weipa.
Is anyone aware of an article/experience/advice on how to prepare a boat for towing over rough unsealed roads.
I have a hornet 4.55m with a 50 yammie 4s on a Redco trailer that has not been modified except for trailer brakes and the axle diameter has been increased to 50 mm from 39 mm.
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks in advance

[corza85]

that is one wicked road to weipa....make sure u have spare bolts for everything and take some spare springs with u... we tried to make it to the tip in september... there were 4 vehicles towing trailers in our group and 1 of the veicles had the bolts that attach the cuplink to the trailer shear off...thank god for saftey chains.... by the time we got to the archer river our trailer had some damage...the bolt that goes through the centre of the leaf springs sheard off adn the welding snapped...thats as far as we went b4 turning back...2 vehicles kept going 1 a toyata landcruiser 80 series and the other a 1 week old toyota hilux dual cab.. when we met up with them in cairns later on.. the cruiser was in the shop gettin new bolts put in his suspension as most of them were missing (brand new suspension i might ad) and the toyota hilux had a bent chassi and was missing its spare wheel carrier.. i would suggest welding a short peice of chain from your axle to your trailer on both sides(just in case)... anyway fishing is great up there and hope u have a great time...




cheers..................corza

[Barrymundi]

Do you like your boat ?

Is it pretty ?

Do you plan to keep it after the trip ?

I recently towed a 455 Hornet to Weipa on a specially built offroad trailer.

I sold the boat when I returned home. The road was rough as guts. Heaps of stone chips, Rub marks from the tie down straps, dirt in everything and constant adjustment on the rollers for the trailer.

I only blew one tyre on the trailer, but with one down and no extra spare I was worried. A had 2 spares for the car.

Standard Trailer ? Will be a slow trip.

I will never tow a boat to Wiepa again, roof topper or hire one in Wiepa.

[basserman]

never been there but my mate tryed to get to the cape got as far as wiepaafter seeing so many cars and car/trailer parts along the road thought better but says next time he will fly and hire a boat there BUT if you still want to go 1st take your engine off and store in the car wraped in foam 2nd load a spare trailer on the roof racks or have enoght parts to make one 3rdwrap your boat up in three overlapping traps to protect it 4th PRAY and pray alot! :o
nice trip but it is hard on everything including yourself and you can garrinty if anything is going to go wrong IT WILL! :o
so just don't do it by yourself and make your your over prepared and it might be alright :)

[Lucky_Phill]

I like Al_NFI's response. ;)

Phill

[mackmauler]

have heard stories about taking the boat to weipa from karumba by barge, the towing to weipa sounds like bad news

[Houndslair]

Thanks to all...
the decision has been made ;D

[corza85]

so what did u decide...



cheers...............corza

[Houndslair]

Corza
fly in and hire?; go to Hinchy instead?
We were on a fairly tight schedule as well and its obvious that its not a road that one can rush.
The trouble with flying in and hiring is that you also need to hire a vehicle to tow the hired boat.
Its obvious that one can drive to weipa as the caravan park turns over 40 vehicles a day in the tourist season and they all cant be coming on the barge.
We will stirr it around a bit more and work out a way as the fishing sounds too good to miss.
thanks
Dave ;)

[MarcusD]

I've heard that trailer repairers make a fortune on the stretch to Weipa. Personally, I'd save the heartache and hire a boat when up there.