Legal trailering width is set by each state. Most are 8' 6" and the balance are 8'.
It would be interesting to see what the insurance companies say regarding the issue. There have been trailerable sailboats on the road for years. The water ballasted Hunter 260 was 8' 11' I believe. The J-24 has been trailered around the country for eons and she is also an inch or two from 9'.
Every weekend during the summer you see the trailerable powerboats hit the roads in droves. Some of these monsters can run up to 30' with hugeL beam. Hard to believe it is an issue for the banks or insurance companies or they wouldn't touch them.
New Line Of Trailerable Sailboats At Seattle Boat Show
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RickJ
- First Officer
- Posts: 292
- Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:39 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 19
- Location: Isle of Wight, UK - '94 19 + Tohatsu MFS30
I don't know about the USA, but in the UK the details of the towing rules get rather bizarre when you start to look closely.
There is a max. width (and length) for a trailer, but the load is allowed to overhang within limits, and there are special overhang rules for boats. So a boat on a trailer can legally constitute a much wider and longer total load than something which is an integral trailer - e.g. caravan.
Does anything like this apply in the USA? Maybe there are rules about overhangs that allow you to get away with it.
The max width trailer a car is allowed to tow here is about 7'9", but the Mac is perfectly legal so long as the trailer itself is a legal width. It's one issue the importer has, because the US trailer that the boats are delivered on isn't legal here, so all UK-sold boats get a new UK-built (slightly narrower) trailer.
It's all pretty bonkers if you ask me!
There is a max. width (and length) for a trailer, but the load is allowed to overhang within limits, and there are special overhang rules for boats. So a boat on a trailer can legally constitute a much wider and longer total load than something which is an integral trailer - e.g. caravan.
Does anything like this apply in the USA? Maybe there are rules about overhangs that allow you to get away with it.
The max width trailer a car is allowed to tow here is about 7'9", but the Mac is perfectly legal so long as the trailer itself is a legal width. It's one issue the importer has, because the US trailer that the boats are delivered on isn't legal here, so all UK-sold boats get a new UK-built (slightly narrower) trailer.
It's all pretty bonkers if you ask me!