Towing In Europe

There is no attempt to 'outlaw'  trailers produced before the 'improved' regulations came in - They will remain 'legal'.

However I'm sure the suitability of the 'new' regulations will be tested in a court of law at some point.  Lengthy 'floating' bars will break at some point, even if they dont cause other avoidable accidents first,  and eventually somebody is going to be hit by the resulting debris .. and so legal process at some point seems inevitable.  'Approved type' status does imply an improvement to general safety does it not ?  And when somebody eventually claims the exact opposite what should happen ?

A suitable qualified engineering expert witness will inevitably be called by one party or another.  To put it simply many would quite enjoy themselves outlining the design considerations that SHOULD have been incorporated into any 'approved' trailer standards or design.  This is not exactly advanced stuff ...

Fancy defending the new status quo at that point anybody ?   Dinghy trailing could/should have been excluded or treated in a different manner in  a 'general catch-all' move for more comprehensive trailer regulations.  The lash-up we now face is simply an engineering joke ...  more cost + less safe  = poor deal for all. 
    

Originally posted by seasickrick Originally posted by JimC Originally posted by seasickrick There have been a few incindents where boats have been hit from the back/side and insurance claims and insurance claims have been dismissed... Do you have a verifiable source for that or is it rumour? A policeman friend of mine has been involved in a case involving a fireball that had its rear quater removed. All was well with the claim until it was pointed out that the lightboard was mounted to the transom (with mast support) and not on the arms supplied with the trailer that have the required reflectors on. If the road base was not type approved it would have been a clear cut case with the driver who hit the boat at fault. I wasn't using the arms supplied with my roadbase until I heard this.

Originally posted by seasickrick .... A policeman friend of mine has been involved in a case involving a fireball that had its rear quater removed. All was well with the claim until it was pointed out that the lightboard was mounted to the transom (with mast support) and not on the arms supplied with the trailer that have the required reflectors on. ..

Reflectors have long been required. There are lightboards around which don't have reflectors, these are only legal on e.g. a bike rack fixed to the car. I've seen a few of these on trailers!

I would like to make some comments.

The new Euro spec trailers have additional lights on the trailer itself, which is why the tailboard plugs into a socket at the mast support, to which the wires for the other lights are also fed into.

When using the new arms, I would expect that most people help to support the arms by tieing the arms up to the back of the boat. However, the natural tendency, for me anyway, is to slide the arms forward if I am towing the trailer empty. This leaves a very dangerous "spear" pointing forward. I don't have an answer to this as I consider leaving them unsupported at full length every bit as dangerous.

Be careful using an old trailer. I had what I thought was a well maintained (old ) trailer base, and one of the suspension units peeled open due to corrosion and the wheel, complete with hub and half the suspension unit went trundling down the street. Fortunately this incident occurred at very low speeds, but all the traffic behind stopped very abruptly!

Originally posted by JimC Originally posted by seasickrick There have been a few incindents where boats have been hit from the back/side and insurance claims and insurance claims have been dismissed... Do you have a verifiable source for that or is it rumour?

A policeman friend of mine has been involved in a case involving a fireball that had its rear quater removed. All was well with the claim until it was pointed out that the lightboard was mounted to the transom (with mast support) and not on the arms supplied with the trailer that have the required reflectors on.

If the road base was not type approved it would have been a clear cut case with the driver who hit the boat at fault.

I wasn't using the arms supplied with my roadbase until I heard this.