Lets be careful out there towing.

Vigo wrote:

Rather than join the speculation pool I'm going to say that there is not enough info to speculate properly. Could have been a malfunction, could have been bad setup, could have been an interesting text message that started the whole mess.

But this is a towing thread where everybody knows everything!

aussiesmg wrote: A Durango is just a gussied up Dakota, IMHO not enough tow vehicle for the size of that boat. According to Wikipedia it weighs a light weight 4500lbs Add in an inexperienced driver and one little thing along the way to start the waggle and disaster was almost guaranteed

So I about nailed it from the start right?

RealMiniDriver wrote: Its not so much the weight of the motor, but the location of that weight.

Quoted for truth.

My father didn't believe me that adding the bike rack and a bike or two behind the trunk could make a discernable difference in the handling of my old fancy Camry.

Boy, was he ever surprised.

I'd be interested to know if the boat and trailer were an original matched pair from the factory.

If the trailer was a little short, or the axle was too far forward, the weight distribution with that outboard motor tail would be questionable. Add a little too much speed, an inexperienced driver, a crosswind, and it would be easy to see that getting away from them.

Glad no one was hurt.

Racer1ab wrote:

RealMiniDriver wrote: Its not so much the weight of the motor, but the location of that weight.

Quoted for truth. My father didn't believe me that adding the bike rack and a bike or two behind the trunk could make a discernable difference in the handling of my old fancy Camry. Boy, was he ever surprised.

I remember driving my really beat, blown shocks, 98 Mitsubishi Mirage with 80lbs of aluminum truck wheels in the trunk. Went from a civic knockoff to nearly undriveable.

Dodge may rate the Durango at 7000#, but you're not gonna find my white ass towing 7000# with one. Too narrow, too tall, too little wheelbase. As a bonus, pontoon trailers are worse than most boat trailers. Since the pontoons are roughly the same distance apart as wheels, you either end up with a trailer with a normal track, but the boat way up in the air, or a trailer with a very narrow track that fits inside the pontoons.

In this case, it seems like an over confident / inattentive driver was the cause, but the equipment certainly didn't do them any favors.

In 30 years of towing boats, I've never had one sway. Ever. Yes, the engine is a large mass on the back of the trailer, but a properly loaded boat trailer is balanced just like a properly loaded car trailer. With the axle that far back, the moment arm the engine has is a lot less than the moment arm the trailer tongue has. If properly set up, it's a balanced load. The tail is going to have a hard time wagging the dog. My 17' boat, behind my wife's Liberty, tows like it isn't even there, even at 70mph on the interstate.

SVreX, most boats are married to their trailers at the dealership so the factory usually doesn't have much input.

Inexperience, improperly loaded, full of water, high winds or mechanical failure, I'll buy. Boats being inherently dangerous to tow because the engine is heavy, not a chance.

I'm not suggesting towing a boat is inherently dangerous.

I do very little boat towing, but have hundreds of thousands of miles of towing experience. I know what a tail happy trailer feels like, and how easy it is to load wrong. Moving a load forward or back 6" can have extreme consequences.

The heavy engine on an appropriately sized and loaded trailer means very little. But a slight mismatch can lead to drastic results. A lightweight boat with a heavy motor on a short trailer is absolutely dangerous, and VERY tail happy.

If you've never towed a tail happy rig while the tail whipped violently out of control, you don't know what fear is.

I didn't really mean the actual factory. I meant matched together as when they were new.

Where I live, it would be extremely common to see grossly mis-matched equipment and loads.

In reply to SVreX:

The dangerous boat towing comment wasn't directed at you but some of these others that seem to think a boat trailer can't be as safe as any other trailer.

I wouldn't count on the dealership getting it right and you are correct, get it wrong and it can get kind of exciting.

I've never had one get violently out of control but I have had some rigs get twitchy. That's when I pull over and reposition the load. That's where experience comes in.

Toyman01 wrote: I've never had one get violently out of control but I have had some rigs get twitchy. That's when I pull over and reposition the load. That's where experience comes in.

I have.

It happened so suddenly that there was not time to think about pulling over and repositioning the load. I was lucky.

An out of balance load may not give warning. You get get to a speed, get caught by a crosswind, or make a maneuver it responds to badly and find yourself in trouble much quicker than your reaction time can respond.

This coming from over 30 years of towing experience.

That part of 67 has some really rough pavement, not conducive to high speed. Much of it over 40 yrs. old. Back in the day, it was nice.

Uhoh another towing thread turning into towing knowledge/experience E-dongle comparison...

I've only towed ~10k miles, but I DID stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.