DaySailer.org Forum

I recently acquired #8899 (DSII, 1978) and am thoroughly enjoying it with my family. I tow the boat to a lake about 50 min away from my home in Memphis. I am a tad concerned about the total weight of the boat & the trailer. The trailer is a "Dilly" trailer out of Texas but does not indicate how much it weighs. My 2008 Honda Accord has a total tow limit of 1,000 lbs. Anyone have a good guess as to the total weight?

After searching through several older posts that make me think I am okay but I was hoping to see if anyone had other information. My Honda seems to tow it without any issue. But since this will end up being my 10 year olds car in 6 years, I don't want to screw up the transmission (etc.).

Thanks, Keith Price
Memphis, TN
O'Day DS II 8899
Thistle 3930

I think that 1,000 is probably tight. Best to not use the boat to hold any gear while trailering.

You could get a better estimate with a bathroom scale.

Place a short piece of 2x4 between the two wheels. It should be as high as your scale. Put the scale outside one of the wheels, same distance. Run a 2x6 between the block of wood and the scale. if you now drive your trailer on this the wheel will rest in the middle of the 2x6 and the scale will read approximately 1/4 of the weight of the boat and trailer.

So you multiply this by 4, and add the measured or estimated tongue weight and you should have a pretty good idea what the actual weight of your towing configuration is. I would estimate the error of this method to be 10%, so ideally, the number you come up with is low enough to give you a bit of headroom.

Keith, I can't imagine the all-up weight being more than 1000 lbs unless your boat is waterlogged and/or your trailer is cast iron!

I've never weighed The Red Witch/trailer combo ('79 DS2 #10099/homemade tilt trailer with a Yugo axle!), but have towed it with both a Nissan Altima 5-speed manual as well as a PT Cruiser automatic, the latter 800 miles round trip from here to Pensacola and back with no probs. In mountainous areas, maybe not so much ... ?

Make sure tho that your boat/trailer combo is balanced correctly so that the tongue weight is within the recommended range. Mine's about 50 lbs.

Nice weighing method GL - I'll have to try that!

+1 on the GL method of weights and measures! I've been interested in figuring out how "over" I might be due to water in the flotation tanks, and now I've got a method. Weigh my trailer, then add the boat and weigh again, subtracting the first.

As for the trailer--I'm about 5'6" and weigh about 135 pounds. A small, pathetic human specimen. That said, my trailer seems about the typical DS tilt trailer and I can lift it, swinging it on the cars trailer hitch and walk in a radius to it. I know I'm not bearing the entirety of its weight, but most of it, and I don't think I can pick up 400 pounds. Not sure I could muster half that. So weight of the boat, plus trailer should be fine. What you add in gear to the boat is up to you, but I still think 1000 lbs. should be something you could stay under. I tow mine with a 2.0 liter engine with no trouble whatsoever.

Usually, trailer and load would be balanced to keep the tongue weight quite moderate. Mine is around 50 lbs, perhaps a bit more, and might be on the high side. I'm not sure I'm using the most perfect balance point for my trailer, but it seems to work.

I can lift the rear of the boat when it's on the trailer, enough to shift it sideways. I don't think I'm really lifting the full 1/2 boat weight, because it doesn't seem that much. (I'm not anywhere near your height/weight class, though ).

Yeah--I lift my boat up too in order to center it on the trailer sometimes after coming out of the water. But my point is that, being the power house that I am, if I can lift the trailer's axle off the ground (sans boat--OK, guys) and walk around with it while its only other point of contact is the trailer hitch, it couldn't possibly make up the difference between the DS' stock weight (which I think is about 580 lbs. or so--someone correct me if you know the actual weight) and 1000 lbs.

I know my trailer is light enough to lift off the ground when the boat is not on it. With the boat on the the trailer it should be under 1000lbs. I pull my boat long distances sometimes, but I also have a 3500lb limit with my Jeep Commander.

John

Thanks for all the great replies. I will try to weigh it as described above and post my results. It will be sometime next week as I left the boat down at the lake.

Happy 4th to everyone!
Keith Price

Keith,
I towed my Day Sailer with my 2007 Honda Accord all the way to Houston, Texas from Boston, Massachusetts without a problem. I do not have an exact weight for the total. My Day Sailer weighs close to 400 pounds and my trailer weighs about 200 pounds. I don't have a motor for my Day Sailer. I'm sure your within the recommended weight by Honda. You can actually weigh your boat and trailer at a highway weighing station. Weigh the total weight of car, trailer, and boat. Reweigh the car and subtract the difference. There may be a charge for this weighing.
Bob

The class rules state:

The hull and centerboard complete with all permanent fittings, fixed ballast, mast, boom, spinnaker pole, all standing and running rigging, rudder and tiller assembly; but less sails and all loose gear, such as but not limited to anchor, paddle,
and all lines that are not running rigging, shall weigh a minimum of 575 pounds...

To me that would indicate that most DS are above that weight. Removing the rudder and all running rigging might save 25 pounds or so, so a truly bare boat might come close to 550. But 400 would seem to be wildly optimistic.

In other references I have seen the DS listed as weighing 628 pounds. That may be a weight that assumes sails and some other normal equipment, or it may be closer to an actual (rather than mininal) weight for these boats. In any case, absent weighing the boat, I have always assumed that latter figure.

If there's any trapped water in the hull or the flotation tanks (or in a soaked and rotting transom) figure on additional weight. Ditto if you don't strip your boat for trailering.

Pondering the question regarding trailer weights , I decided to look at the problem from another angle . I selected a web site -

http://www.mayfairmarine2000.com/

These people manufacture lightweight Redco and Tinka trailers , here in Australia . In the range are single axle non-braked units around five metres long (16 ft 6 in approx) similar to my DS1 trailer . They also have a winch post and skids.
For example their RE13 or RE1310 trailer weighs 220 kg at five metres long and 230 kg at five point three metres (a foot longer) . Which translates to 493 or 507 lbs weight.
Given that the minimum hull weight is approx 575 lbs ignoring sails , anchor and sandwiches , I would be very cautious about assuming a 1000 lbs total. Perhaps older trailers are lighter and the risk relates to newer ones only.
Another idea is to take a set of bathroom scales with you when heading out for a sail. Most scales can handle the two hundred pounds per wheel on the empty trailer . Once the boat is launched (and tied up!) , the road wheels can go on the scales one at a time . The three weights can then be added together to give a total tare weight for your trailer.

graham5494

Officially, the DS minimum weight for racing is 575 lbs. Last time I weighed my boat, just before the 2010 NACR I was at 579. I think before I got serious about reducing weight, my DS weighed about 600. In Ohio trailer weight is required for registration purposes and my trailer weighs 280lbs. (Sean the weight of your trailer is probably on your registration.) So my total rig weight, before I started trying to reduce it was about 880 lbs. My 2001 Honda Accord 4 cylinder never had a problem towing the boat. I admit I never towed it too far, I think the farthest was about 100 miles each way, but it was over some hilly terrain in Eastern OH. I barely noticed the boat was behind me, except for the fact that my rear vision was blocked by a boat.

Good to note, JP. I'll have a look at it, but I'm not sure how accurate the paper work is. My registration had a few other inaccuracies when I bought the boat in terms of boat size etc. I think it says my DS is 17' for instance. I have some other stuff I wanted to tell you about. I'll send you a PM when I have a couple minutes.

17' would in fact be the correct way to round the length of the DS to the nearest foot. 16' 9" is 16.75ft or rounded, it gives 17'.

Yes, that's correct, but recently I decided to see how many DS' are in my area, so I wrote to the DNR and asked for a listing. What I got was a list of all boats under 20' and from what I can see the rounding isn't something that happens automatically. Some DS' say 16'9", some say 17', some say 16'--so my point is I have no idea how much accuracy is actually reflected on those documents. Heck, the trailer could even be a different one, because from what I can find, there's no numbers on the one I have. I can easily picture someone just swapping plates from one to the next trailer at some point between 1968 and now--although, the trailer definitely looks as if it is at LEAST that old! Also, I plan to remove the rollers, (replaced with bunks) replace the axle (spindles are bad) and other rigging like lights etc sometime over the next year or so. All of these changes will not be reflected on the title, nor are any other changes in weight that may have been done by previous owners, albeit, at this point we're talking about minor changes in weight.