Dinghy Towing
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Saturday, December 02, 2006

How NOT to Tow Your Dingy


Cruising down the highway with an Arizona state trooper on patrol is an interesting time to ask your favorite questions. Like: "What kind of dumb things do you see RVers do?"

Arizona DPS Office Joe LaPre gave me the usual rundown on slow moving rigs in the hammer lane, but one of his favorites? Trying to tow "doubles" illegally. No, it's not a problem to tow your dingy behind your motorhome. And actually, it's not even illegal to tow your dingy behind your fifth wheel, being towed by your pickup truck. Not real common, but not illegal, at least not in the Grand Canyon State.

What some crazy folks try to do is to set that final "double" in the chain behind something other than a fifth wheel. Fer instance? Oh, try a motorhome, pulling a dingy, and the dingy pulling a boat, be it a dingy or a yacht. In LaPre's eyes, this makes the guy behind the wheel of the motorhome a bit dingy himself. Bottom line? Only one "hitch ball" anywhere in your combination. Check back with me later for his lecture on radar detectors stuck on the inside of your windshield.

posted by Russ and Tiña De Maris at 3:36 PM

4 Comments:

  • I guess I need someone to fully explain why towing doubles is not safe. I checked with the Maryland State Police, and here it is not illegal. I have considered using my 26' M/H with the 8.1 motor to tow our Cherokee and a small rowboat on a trailer. The Jeep has an aux. braking system and all hitches are rated for all weights.

    bloom

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:54 PM  

  • I'm wondering if towing a boat behind a car which is fastened to the motorhome through a towbar with a receiver mount (therefore no ball) would then be legal?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:41 PM  

  • I am very curious as well if a tow-bar can be used as well (as long as it is rated for all connected load.

    The truck industry uses the round clevis (I don’t know the actual name) on their multi trailer tows. I would assume that if Ball hitches were converted to this type then it would be legal as well?

    Thanks

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:01 PM  

  • I have pulled doubles for years. Here in California, the pull trailer must have a "King Pin" AKA 5th wheel. The hitch has to be over the rear axle of pull vehicle. Here I needed a Class A Non Commercial Driver license to be legal. 65.5 ft was the allowed total length of all three vehicles.

    By Anonymous buddy, at 9:27 PM  

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