Trailerable Height Can't Be Over 13'6"
I would like to get this thread back on track because I share an affinity with the OP for trailerable boats that are also comfortable liveaboard boats. I think Mr. CPC was looking for ideas for trailerable boats other than the usual smallish trailerables like the C-Dory TomCat, Nimble Nomad, Albin 25, Rosborough, Ranger 27, etc.
No disrespect at all to these boats; we hope to own one when we get old. If we live that long.
With the OP’s big rig towing experience, he understands the details regarding towing regulations, excruciating details that Hubby Dan and I learned in, well, excruciating detail before we acquired our TT35. I won’t go into all of them here; you would fall asleep.
As some TF members recall, our American BoatWorks 43 listed to the left here in my TF signature started her life as a TT35.
With a total boat-plus-trailer length of 50 ft, height of boat-plus-trailer at 12 ft 10 inches, beam of 10 ft 9 inches, and weight of 12,000-12,500 pounds, she tows very sweetly. She wears her Oversize Load banner proudly on her stern, and I swear I’ve seen her grinning from her pulpit to her outboards when she is pushing 65 miles an hour up the freeway.
We find her a very comfortable and roomy liveaboard platform, too.
BUT... whenever we are docked next to a classic trawler, I still look over with longing and envy at the trawlers that have wide side decks, a Portugese bridge and an enclosed pilothouse.
Then I wish I could find a trailerable, liveable vessel like that. Of course, the vast majority of this style of trawler are much too tall and beamy to be towed on any kind of a regular basis. So I come back down to sea level, throw off the lines, and quit being moody about boats that I don't have.
I really understand the trailer-boat yearnings like Mr. CPC has, because I was a Yearner, too. We have trailered from St. Petersburg to Lake Hartwell and up to Knoxville, and thoroughly enjoyed the transcendent freedom of boldly going where no trawler has gone before.
In conclusion (or confusion), here are my suggestions for potential larger trailerable liveaboards:
Looking at Bacchus’ chipper Mainship (sans flybridge), a boat like that might be a candidate for a large trailerable, if one had a custom trailer built for it and could keep the Height of boat-plus-trailer under 13 feet 6 inches. Looking at Wayfarer’s sleek Sylphide, same conjecture. It all depends on what's below the bilge.
You can build a custom trailer that keeps the bottom of a boat one foot off the ground and is safe to tow. I know this from experience.
In a nutshell, can anyone else suggest a liveaboard boat for the OP that is maximum 12 ft 6 inches tall from bottom of running gear to tippy-top of boat?
Cheers,
Mrs. Trombley
I would like to get this thread back on track because I share an affinity with the OP for trailerable boats that are also comfortable liveaboard boats. I think Mr. CPC was looking for ideas for trailerable boats other than the usual smallish trailerables like the C-Dory TomCat, Nimble Nomad, Albin 25, Rosborough, Ranger 27, etc.
No disrespect at all to these boats; we hope to own one when we get old. If we live that long.
With the OP’s big rig towing experience, he understands the details regarding towing regulations, excruciating details that Hubby Dan and I learned in, well, excruciating detail before we acquired our TT35. I won’t go into all of them here; you would fall asleep.
As some TF members recall, our American BoatWorks 43 listed to the left here in my TF signature started her life as a TT35.
With a total boat-plus-trailer length of 50 ft, height of boat-plus-trailer at 12 ft 10 inches, beam of 10 ft 9 inches, and weight of 12,000-12,500 pounds, she tows very sweetly. She wears her Oversize Load banner proudly on her stern, and I swear I’ve seen her grinning from her pulpit to her outboards when she is pushing 65 miles an hour up the freeway.
We find her a very comfortable and roomy liveaboard platform, too.
BUT... whenever we are docked next to a classic trawler, I still look over with longing and envy at the trawlers that have wide side decks, a Portugese bridge and an enclosed pilothouse.
Then I wish I could find a trailerable, liveable vessel like that. Of course, the vast majority of this style of trawler are much too tall and beamy to be towed on any kind of a regular basis. So I come back down to sea level, throw off the lines, and quit being moody about boats that I don't have.
I really understand the trailer-boat yearnings like Mr. CPC has, because I was a Yearner, too. We have trailered from St. Petersburg to Lake Hartwell and up to Knoxville, and thoroughly enjoyed the transcendent freedom of boldly going where no trawler has gone before.
In conclusion (or confusion), here are my suggestions for potential larger trailerable liveaboards:
Looking at Bacchus’ chipper Mainship (sans flybridge), a boat like that might be a candidate for a large trailerable, if one had a custom trailer built for it and could keep the Height of boat-plus-trailer under 13 feet 6 inches. Looking at Wayfarer’s sleek Sylphide, same conjecture. It all depends on what's below the bilge.
You can build a custom trailer that keeps the bottom of a boat one foot off the ground and is safe to tow. I know this from experience.
In a nutshell, can anyone else suggest a liveaboard boat for the OP that is maximum 12 ft 6 inches tall from bottom of running gear to tippy-top of boat?
Cheers,
Mrs. Trombley
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