Towing boats on a bike trailer

[Matthames]

This is probably really ambitious, but has got me thinking.

I have seen pictures of canoes and kayaks being towed by a bike and see that it could be done. But with my thinking, how about going a stage further than this and tow something like a Laser dinghy.

Any thoughts?

 

[Rhythm Thief]

How far would you be towing it? I'd have thought a Laser was a bit too heavy and unwieldy to tow safely behind a bike, but I've never tried it.

 

[numbnuts]

Crazy next question
I have thought of towing my kayak by bike, but I would like to keep in in one piece

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Thinking about it a little more, I'd just use it as an excuse to buy an old Land Rover.

 

[Matthames]

How far would you be towing it? I'd have thought a Laser was a bit too heavy and unwieldy to tow safely behind a bike, but I've never tried it.

Not really sure, I am interested to see if it could be done. Unfortunately I don't have a Laser dinghy at the moment, but would hope to acquire one at some point in the future. I don't envisage towing it far though, because like you say they are pretty heavy and unwieldy, the last one I owned seemed to be heavier then the others in the boat park, which probably accounted for me not winning anything

 

[Norm]

A Laser would make quite a load to tow - although there was a post on here a few weeks back from a chap who had cycled round London towing a kayak.

Edited to add: Here you go

 

[Rhythm Thief]

... the last one I owned seemed to be heavier then the others in the boat park, which probably accounted for me not winning anything

Older ones can let water in around the mast socket, which obviously adds a lot of weight.

 

[Norm]

The 'glass can turn porous and absorb water.

I bet I can claim the oldest, though, sail number 2493. What are they up to now? Have they passed 200k yet?

 

[jay clock]

I was in Tanzania recently and they would sneer at pathetic load like a dinghy, when they tow a huge trailer with a pile of sofas about 10 foot high! Go for it

 

[TheDoctor]

If you gear low enough, I'm willing to bet a bike could tow just about anything.
Stopping it could be a different matter, of course...

 

[Muddyfox]

Theres a chap near where i live that tows a canoe with a recumbant trike ... he takes it to Seaton (Devon) and does a bit of mackerell fishing with a handline

Simon

 

[Clarkey]

There was a thread about this on a canoeing forum a while back - lots of comments about how illegal it was to tow something the size of a canoe with a bike. Try as I might I can't find any legal limit on pushbike trailer dimensions though - does anyone know if they exist?

I have a 16' dinghy (60kg) that I would quite like to tow to the river with my Brompton, a distance of about 1 mile with no hills. The only thing really putting me off is the typically pathetic Brompton brakes.

 

[Banjo]

There was a thread about this on a canoeing forum a while back - lots of comments about how illegal it was to tow something the size of a canoe with a bike. Try as I might I can't find any legal limit on pushbike trailer dimensions though - does anyone know if they exist?

I have a 16' dinghy (60kg) that I would quite like to tow to the river with my Brompton, a distance of about 1 mile with no hills. The only thing really putting me off is the typically pathetic Brompton brakes.

I supppose you could allways throw out an anchor :-)

 

[Wobbly John]

I tow my boat, but it's only an 8 footer:

It's pedal powered BTW:

 

[Clarkey]

Is that an Atkins Mouse?