Wide Load

[Cliff16334]

Teresa and I have just purchased a Hunter 26 in Eastern Pennsylvania. We will be hauling it home to Ohio and launching next spring in Chautauqua Lake, NY. I have learned that the standard trailer limit is 8.5 feet. Our recently acquired Hunter 26 exceeds this road limit. I have been attempting to line up the correct state filings for a "Wide Load" permit in Pennsylvania and Ohio and am having trouble with my insurance company.Does anyone bother to acquire the stipulated permits? I know that a large number of these boats are on the road. What do you all do?Cliff

 

[pmeyers]

I wouldn't bother

In June I hauled my H26 1600 miles to Port Alice on Vancouver Island. This week I hauled my boat back to California. I didn't get any permits, nor did I have any problems. One thing that I did was to remove my guide ons while trailering which reduces the trailer width. I mounted the lights on L brackets which fit the existing holes. Without the guide ons the width of the hull is almost impossible to measure; it's only 6 inches over in any case.I am quite confident in the trailer that came with the boat, although I wish that they had created more clearance for the rear cross member. I cracked the weld going up a gas station driveway last year, requiring that I reweld it and reinforce it. No problems this year.

 

[Benny]

Stealth!

A regular box trailer displays its with all through its length but a sailboat only shows its maximum width for a foot or so. It is hard visually to determine true width as the eye or brain averages out. Highway patrols will hardly see a few inches diference in width at the belly of a boat. They will most likely concentrate on the footprint or the width of a trailer.