Anybody ever try to drag race you when towing?

[ovrszd]

The most important thing to think about when towing is whom you are up against in a situation like this?? Excluding the other guy's intelligence or lack of it,,, which we know nothing about,,, his vehicle is less likely to have a problem if something goes wrong than yours. If he had to whip the wheel to miss something or slam on the brakes or blow a tire, he's more likely to survive it than you. Unless he had a gigantic boat on his trailer, he's safely under his vehicle's abilities to tow. On the other hand, you are at your vehicle's maximum towing ability. Thus, you are more likely to lose it if things go bad. For that reason alone, you should have avoided the "drag race".

Glad it all worked out. Congratulations on the new tractor!!!

 

[s219]

The most important thing to think about when towing is whom you are up against in a situation like this?? Excluding the other guy's intelligence or lack of it,,, which we know nothing about,,, his vehicle is less likely to have a problem if something goes wrong than yours. If he had to whip the wheel to miss something or slam on the brakes or blow a tire, he's more likely to survive it than you. Unless he had a gigantic boat on his trailer, he's safely under his vehicle's abilities to tow. On the other hand, you are at your vehicle's maximum towing ability. Thus, you are more likely to lose it if things go bad. For that reason alone, you should have avoided the "drag race".

Glad it all worked out. Congratulations on the new tractor!!!

Nah, it was a V6 F-150 towing from the bumper, which is not a great arrangement (I shopped that truck extensively a couple years ago, and you need to get into bigger engine configurations with proper tow package before it's a serious tow vehicle). And he would have had no brakes, or at best surge brakes, on that boat trailer. I'd trust my towing/trailer arrangement way more in this particular situation, especially considering driver skills. My trailer has brakes on both axles, and the brake controller (Prodigy) does a great job giving me stable smooth braking. The rig tows as good as anything I've tried in a few years.

No question a properly equipped pickup/trailer combo would be better, but based on what I see on the road everyday, having a well-braked trailer that is loaded right and driven sensibly are the first key steps. I see a lot of yokels around here towing with questionable rigs and skills, and it looks scary to me regardless of the tow vehicle.

 

[s219]

Not to paint all bass guy with the same brush, but I've seen that behavior from them on Lake Ontario. Got the whole damned lake to fish in but have to idle up to about 3 feet from the dock at the boat slip I was paying for. Casting all over the place at all times. Very inconsiderate.

The problem I see here is that they go way too fast in crowded lanes of the river, and don't even obey the channel markers. Basically, they rocket from spot to spot, fish for 5-10 minutes, then blast off for the next spot. The boats themselves are not very stable (due to the shallow V hull and minimal draft), and can go airborne pretty easily. Two years ago, a guy was ejected from his bass boat and died when he hit someone else's wake. They estimate he was going over 60 mph at the time. He was not using his kill-switch tether, so the boat kept going and ran into a marsh. It could have very well gone off to hit someone else afterwards. Very lucky nobody else got killed.

 

[TripleR]

I spent a lot of years pulling bass boats, motorcycles/ATV/UTV and equipment and still do occasionally except for the boat, if I get into an uncomfortable situation, I just pull off and let them pass; heck I even do that in my truck or car, I've been in a couple too many wrecks and I'm in no hurry.

 

[ovrszd]

I spent a lot of years pulling bass boats, motorcycles/ATV/UTV and equipment and still do occasionally except for the boat, if I get into an uncomfortable situation, I just pull off and let them pass; heck I even do that in my truck or car, I've been in a couple too many wrecks and I'm in no hurry.

Wiser words are rarely spoken.

 

[crazyal]

Maybe the guy thought he was doing a road test that will be posted on YouTube later. That's about the only place I have ever seen anyone feel like they needed to try and test just how fast their truck can accelerate while towing.