strangest trailering experience...

[RobDar]

"Sam"posted a response to the "whats more important for towing" thread that hinted at some "interesting" experiences he may have had...

got me thinking...

What is the strangest trailering experience you have had?

Mine is riding with my father in law pulling his Javelin on his tanem axle trailer. We are driving along I-94, almost home, when a wheel goes whizzing past us...

we were like... Oh look at that someone lost their wheel!

it took only a second to realize it was OUR WHEEL...

bouncing along down the expressway on its way to where it wanted to go...

it actually leaned and started down an exit ramp...like it was stopping off for coffee or something.

[Catt]

During the middle 70's we had a caravan of several boats heading up to Toledo Bend, this was when CB's were popular. I was in the lead truck when all a sudden we hear over the CB Glenn you boat is coming of the trailer. Quickly pulling to the side of the road and running back there is Glenn's brand new Champion sitting in the middle of the road. It took all 14 of us to a couple of hours get the boat back on the trailer & needless to say the hull was totally ruined.

[DMB Fan]

A few months sho while driving home at night, I was pulled over for my trailer lights not working. I told the city officer that they worked fine when I lift the marina, went back looked at the lights pluged in and not working . I told him probably a short some where, I guess he wasnt a boat owner. So four miles and one ticket later I ran into him at a gas station giggled the connector and the lights came on. I waited till he walked out of the store and showed him they worked. He took the tickets from me and said have a nice night.

[burleytog]

Sitting at a Hardee's drive-thru at 0500 one morning. Guy steals a car from the hotel next door, then drives over to Hardee's to get a celebratory sausage biscuit. Bar waitress comes out to leave, notices her car is gone. Looks across the way, sees her car in the Hardee's D/T.

This particular Hardee's is notoriously slow. This morning it only took them 25 minutes to get out two cups of coffee and two biscuits. :-?

Anyway, over those 25 minutes, my buddy and I get to see some really amazing things. The PoPo shows up, uses my boat to corner the guy. Literally. They had him pressed against the boat. Then one of the Donut Brigade gives him and opening and the accused takes off, missing my sideview mirror by all of an inch or two. Dummy even runs out of his shoes. ;D

Five minutes later the PoPo come back, dragging the car thief behind them. He's missing his shoes, shirt, and a bit of blood.

Not exactly a trailering experience, but I was pulling my trailer when it happened.

[KU_Bassmaster.]

Easter 2006

I am cruising down I-35 ( a pretty busy highway in a populated area) at 70 mph in the far left lane.  All of a sudden the truck starts jumping.  Kind of feels like a spark plug wire came undone or something.  It definitely feels like something is mechanically wrong with the truck.  So I start to make my way over to the right shoulder (3 lanes over) and just as I start to switch lanes I see the trailer starting to swerve severely.  Then SHE BREAKS loose and the sparks are FLYING!!!!!!!!!!!  After what felt like an eternity I somehow manage to get to the shoulder with the trailer still in tow.  Had to slow down very very very slowly so the trailer didn't ram the back of my dad's truck.  Some how I got that accomplished with no damage.  Just some very scary moments!!!!  Something very bad could have happened.

In the end I am not sure what happened.  I am not sure if the hitch lock broke, or I forgot to lock it........

I don't know.  Thank God for safety chains.  USE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Called Dad.  He brought me out a new hitch lock and I was out on the water in less than an hour.

[=Matt 5.0=]

Not a fishing related trailer incident, but.....  

We were headed back to New England last year from Kentucky. We had been at Beech Bend for the Mustang Nationals. My buddy Mike has a tire blow out at 70mph on the PA turnpike. The trailer almost flipped with the $85,000 Mustang inside. As it turned out, the truck was completely totalled, hard to see in the pic. The straps holding the car down broke, so it got bounced around inside. It was very scary, we saw it happen behind us and I ran as fast as I ever have in my life back down the highway, luckily he and his passenger were'nt hurt seriously. FYI, the truck is facing the wrong way on the turnpike!  

[Jimzee]

During the middle 70's we had a caravan of several boats heading up to Toledo Bend, this was when CB's were popular. I was in the lead truck when all a sudden we hear over the CB Glenn you boat is coming of the trailer. Quickly pulling to the side of the road and running back there is Glenn's brand new Champion sitting in the middle of the road. It took all 14 of us to a couple of hours get the boat back on the trailer & needless to say the hull was totally ruined.

Oh my God!!!  I would cry.   :'(

[Sam]

Ever hydroplane while towing your boat?

It happened to me after a rain and to this day I go  s-l-o-w  during or after it rains.

The car went left; the trailer went right; I held on and both finally straightened out.

That was very scary.  You have no control over either the car/truck/SUV or boat.  All you can do is hang on and hope for the best.

[RobDar]

this is a long story but I will try and make it fast...

going to Canada...

well the trailer blew a hub...which we luckily noticed at a toll booth...

the problem was is that this toll booth was in the UP of Michigan.

The UP is like leaving the country. It is a different world there. You never really know what will be open when cause folks just may go hunting that day...and d**n near everything closes at noon on a weekend. They say it is a slower pace...I am not sure there is PACE at all, they kind of just make it up as they go.

At any rate...we leave the trailer on the side of the road and go on the hunt for hub.

We drove for hours...we once place, they sent us to another, that sent us to another...half of which were closed. We drove 4.5 hours trying to track down a hub...the wife was so angry she was crying. We finally found one at a NAPA store...

and...

you could see the first place we had stopped from the parking lot!

the wife to this day is convinced that they had done this on purpose and everyone had a good laygh at the tourists.

[dickenscpa]

While not a boat, a still tear jerking trailering moment. I like the Avalanche, have had three of them and like all Chevys they have a "Tow/Haul" mode on the column. I'm about to have shoulder surgery the next day. We built a new house and I'm fooling around with dirt and a wheel barrow leveling my yard 'cause I know I won't be doing it for a while. My Dad calls and tells me he just bought a brand new HUGE lawn tractor to mow these 7 rental properties he has. They're 5 acres each. He asks me if I will bring my trailer and haul 'em up there and watch him mow. He's had a stroke and heart attack or two and can't load like he used to. I'm tired of shoveling so I say OK.

As I pull into his driveway he's putting oil in it for the first time. I let my ramp down and his deck won't clear it. I get the bright idea to lower the dump bed and drive it up in it and let it slam down. I pull the pin and he drives it up and it slams down. I go to put the pin back in and he starts hollering at me to hurry up and help him get the ramps back up, "We gotta go! It's gettin' dark!"

I hit the hwy and we're doin about 50 mph and I jokingly said, "Should I put it in Tow/Haul?" I clicked the button before he could answer and it downshifted and the whole trailer rares up. I hit the brakes and his new lawn tractor goes head over tail flippin past me in oncoming traffic. I come to a stop and notice part of the trailer is fixin' to slam into the side of my truck. I stepped on the gas. I didn't realize my Dad was in the process of getting out to assess the damage. I come to a stop again and turn to look at my Dad, he wasn't there. I get out and see two legs sticking up out of the ditch.

The aftermath was a brand new lawn tractor that was separated from the rear end and front end. A trailer tongue still hooked to my hitch. An axle in someone's lawn. The trailer bed skidded thru someone's lawn taking out a swath of grass and two freshly planted sapplings.

We get everything back to his house and I'm shaking, I could have hurt someone. Dad's in disbelief and can't figure out how this happened, he's truly puzzled. I put my hands in my pockets and feel that pin for the dump bed. I literally felt nauseus.

Sorry so long. To this day, and this happened Feb '04, anybody that knows me buys a new mower, they call to make fun and ask if I can load it and take it home for them. I had to buy my Dad a new John Deere, didn't have to according to him, but definitely felt OBLIGATED!

[surfer]

A lesson in tongue weight.

It's not boat trailer related, but dump trailer related.  I was 19 towing a trailer with concrete debris that I was in charge of loading.  From the job site to the dump was 3 miles of private road w/ no traffic.  Made about 5 runs a night.  After building confidence I started loading heavier and heavier.  Using a 1988 Jeep Cherokee.

I loaded tongue heavy once and found that just by touching the brakes my front tires would lock up but I wouldn't slow.  Steering was not responsive either the truck just wanted to go straight.  I had to keep it below 20 mph.

Next I loaded tongue light.  The trailer was actually lifting up on my hitch.  My back tires were higher wile my front tires were squatty. At 15 mph my back tire started to walk around on me and I was headed towards a jack knife quickly.  I was able to counter steer to straighten it back out and then slow down.  I had to keep it under 10mph.  When I got to the dup I weighed n at 7 tons.  I had 5.5 tons on 1.5 tons of vehicle.  I will never do that again.

[Bass_junky]

I use to have access to a vacation house on a popular bass lake. This house had a very nice boat dock, but of course no ramp. The ramp was about 1 1/2 mile up the country road. Typically I unload all my wife's clothes when we arrive then go to the ramp and launch the boat, dis-connect the trailer and leave it at the ramp. This particular trip was sort of a reunion for friends, big gathering. So, after I unloaded all the wife's clothes, lol. I thought I would be social (when all i wanted to do was launch the boat and fish). Of course I was offered one beer, then two, ect...After a few hours passed by I grabbed the boy and went to launch the boat. My son was in the boat and was too meet me back at the house. When i pulled to a parking space (this parking lot had about 3-4 degree slope & a very steep drop off to the water) I dis-connected the trailer and was walking to my truck door when I heard something behind my truck. When i saw the tongue of my trailer over my head and heading to the lake I grabbed the trailer and tried my best to hold on. I tried yelling for my son but he had already reached plane and was heading for the house. It was about 1/2 hr before dark set in & nobody was around. I saw a tree on the steep embankment and all I could think of was let it go and maybe the tree will stop it. Luckily it did. I grabbed some rope from the truck and got the trailer out. I had forgotten to chock the wheels of the trailer. Only damage was a tail light. Oh the shame!

[jc2bg]

I had one similar to that. Used to sell boats, back in the day, and when we had a quick-turnaround order, sometimes I'd go to the factory and pick them up, then tow back to our store. One early March (in Ohio) I was coming over an overpass 1/2 mile from my I-75 turnoff, after a 900-mile round trip, and it was snowing lightly at 32* F. You guessed it, halfway across the overpass, with concrete dividers on both sides, the trailer just went "light" behind my truck. Totally lost traction. Fortunately, the boat and trailer were lighter than my 4-wheel drive truck, so it didn't slip, and double fortunately, I managed to get the boat back behind me without hitting the concrete. Had been on the road for something like 20 hours. Nearly scr**ed up 1/2 mile from home. Live and learn. -- JC

Ever hydroplane while towing your boat?

It happened to me after a rain and to this day I go s-l-o-w during or after it rains.

The car went left; the trailer went right; I held on and both finally straightened out.

That was very scary. You have no control over either the car/truck/SUV or boat. All you can do is hang on and hope for the best.

[kms399]

lets start by saying life has been VERY busy for the last 2 years. I was towing my boat to go duck hunting. I got to the lake just fine and did pretty good on the ducks. on our way back from our hunting spot we ran out of gas about a mile from the launch ok I have the trolling motor. so about 45 minutes later we are back to the launch with a nearly dead battery when I go to back up to pick up the boat when I notice my back left tire is wobbling really bad so I get out to look at it and the tire is littaraly balanced on the axle. the hub had frozen up while going down the highway and luck kept it on the trailer! my buddy looks at it and asks "when was the last time you greased the bearings" "about 3 years ago" his jaw drops and I felt like a complete dummy. to this day he asks me if i greased the bearings every time we hunt or fish together and if i have enough gas. I now have bearing buddies and grease three times a year. Live and learn.