Trailer suspension boat damage

Originally posted by Iain C

Originally posted by Iain C

Originally posted by m_liddell

I read somewhere that if you car's light are visible while towing you don't need any on the boat. I can't be arsed to install all the electrical stuff into my car or buy a lighting board. Can anyone confirm this?  I haven't ben pulled over so far...

Not sure what boat you sail but just visualise for a second another car dissapearing through the transom of your boat (accompanying sound of splintering wood/carbon/foam...delete as appropriate) and all the fun you will have with your insurance company not buying you a new boat and the third party deciding "where there's blame there's a claim" for inadequate lighting, plus all the great spectating you'll be able to do at your club for a few months!
Really not wishing to get up on my soapbox, but I've seen a Mirror that got rear-ended, not pretty at all, and it really is dead easy to wire in trailer electrics, get yourself a plug kit and scotch-locks from Halfords, refer to your car wiring diagram (Haynes manual or similar) and you'll be done in 30 minutes.  There's even a huge amount of info available on the net for this stuff, or even pop to a breakers yard and see if there is a car like yours with the kit wired in, just chop the wiring loom out and match it one wire at a time to your motor.

Compared to the cost/hassle of fitting a tow bar the electrics are a piece of cake, I did mine by trial and error (no wiring diagram) and it only took me an hour!
At the very least you should fit some decent reflectors at the rear and/or outermost points of your boat/trailor until you can fit electrics. In my experience people drive far too close to the back of boats with lights/reflectors on so without you're just asking for trouble.

Edited by Matt Jackson