Towing Boat long distance

Anybody towed their boat long distances for vacation fishing. Like here to Florida, Upper Midwest, or Northeast. Always wanted to fish places like that but never towed that far. Have towed uhauls across the US a couple of times but not my boat.

Yes I have 2500 miles or more. Inspect your trailer if it’s not in good condition don’t do it. especially the suspension mounting points. Service the hubs. Especially if they’re buddies. Have tools jack and a spare cover is a must for me.

I left Montgomery, TX on a Thursday morning at 3:00 am. Drove to just about Atlanta, Georgia. Looked over the boat, all checked out, turned around & pulled it home ~800 miles home. That's the furthest I've ever towed a boat. I did make sure that I had tools with me, a good jack & 4-way lug wrench.

All in all, I would love to tow my boat up north to smallmouth country, but I just don't know if the cost is worth it. Last time I priced it out, it would be cheaper for me to fly into somewhere, hire a guide for a couple of days & fly home.

Every year we tow my champ from Texas to South Dakota to take my son fishing walleye. We also tow to Arizona and California every few years. But, I’ve upgraded the suspension, tires and brakes too and check bearings every 3 months so I feel confident towing that far. I’ve got my toolbox in the truck bed too.

Have towed long distance a few times , alway repack bearings before a trip.

Carry 2 spare tires a good light weight jack and a dewalt impact, also a piece of cardboard to lay on if you have to work on boat in weeds saves the chigger aggravation.

Towing to Lake Oahe in August for a week of smally fishing and following my hero Greg Hackney around like a super fan!

Made several trips to Lake Jordan in Alabama . I always pack my bearings and change seals right before I leave, I purchased one of those cheap hand held IR temp guns and check my hubs every stop. I have a extra hub packed and ready to go in the boat. So far God has given us safe worry free trips.

Picked up my boat in Ontario, Canada and towed it 1400 miles back to Fort Worth. It's a 2008 also so I was a tad nervous especially with a 10 year old and 8 year old in the backseat. Triple checked tire pressures and looked over the vault hubs and sent it. Stopped halfway in Southern Illinois since I had the kids but overall, it went smooth.

over 500 miles, 2 spare complete hub assemblies, good spare, repack bearings, double check everything on boat and stern/bow straps tight, I always have a floor jack and tools/4 way in the truck anyway, spare tail light/marker light, if you have a flat plug get a spare (changed mine to 7 way).

if you have power poles tie them off in the up position so they can not come down, saw a guy dragging both his at 75, when I got him stopped something had caused his foot switch to put them down.

and all the above in case I missed something.

Fear mongers.

I don’t stress going to east Texas and back 5-8 times a months. That’s the equivalent of going to SD for me. I just do the regular once over to check tire pressures, then go. If it blows, it blows. I’ll fix it. I have NEVER been able to prevent a blowout by over thinking. If it happens, I deal with it. If the trailer explodes (happens once), I call a tow truck and claim it on insurance.

I ain’t gonna live in fear, nor am I gonna take my snap on roll cabinet everywhere I go. .

easy steez I am not a fear monger just prepared I see the unprepared trailer person every single day in my line of work.

100%

Used to tow my bluewave to Florida every year. Never worried one bit.

Towed my Bird to Mille Lacs (1240 miles one way) and back a couple of years ago without issue. Inspected before I left, have a spare, small floor jack, and a road box with spare hub, few tools, grease, etc. We are hoping to do it again this September, but maybe not with fuel prices. It made sense when it was $2/gallon. Not so much at double that or higher.

yep, nothing like having to leave your boat on the side of the road in another state because you didn't have a spare hub or tire, just claim in on insurance when it gets hit or stolen, it happens.

notice I put it over 500 miles, pulled a lot of trailers a whole lot of miles and never have had a problem I could not fix on the side of the road since I carry what I need to do it.

I will wave when I pass ya while you wait on that tow truck.

Murphy's law was written with boat trailers in mind......repack your bearings and if tires are over three years old,replace them...carry small floor jack,extra hub and spare tire....always had my bearings handpacked twice a year because fished tournaments all over southeast for years and annual 2500 mile trip to mexico or falcon each year and never had a trailer problem...

Boat trailers are total garbage, brakes, hubs, the whole thing. I dont care what brand, new, old. Expect a disaster and be pleasantly surprised if you make it make without fixing something.

I've towed a boat from East Texas to the Florida Keys and San Diego. The worst disaster was losing two wheels and ending up on the spindles, which happened right after having the trailer serviced. Insurance company totaled the trailer. Luckily this happened about 40 minutes from the house. Most of my long trips have been without incident. If you are planning a long tow, do all you can to make sure your trailer is in the best shape possible, but even then, be ready for problems.

What everyone else said. I’ll add don’t tow with your cover on for really long trips. “I know some guys claim their cover is the best” but if your towing 8+ hours for multiple days at 70 mph could be bad on your gel coat. The vibration could cause a rash.

I'm convinced that boat shops dont know anything about hubs, I had a similar incident about 10 years ago after letting a boat place replace hub. It didnt make it 100 miles. Trailer shops know about hubs. I recently had a boat manufacturer tell me to ignore the instructions from the hub manufacturer that they provided with boat. I have since replaced an 11 month old hub......

My favorite was the one guy telling you that you had no clue how to load your boat....

Some guys run a few wraps of clear plastic wrap around their boat before they put cover on for long trips.

I live in Montgomery, Texas, my son attended SFA and fished three national championships, trailering to South Carolina, Georgia and Minnesota and all the qualifiers, etc., in between. He has an '06 Pantera and I have an '18 Puma. We've made 3 trips to Sturgeon and most recently went to Beaver Lake for the Bass Cat Owner's Tournament. Only problem he has had is losing a wheel and hub headed to Lake Hamilton for a FLW College Qualifier. Always check tires before long trips, replace anything questionable, during trips at every gas/food/bathroom break check connections to truck, all tie downs/straps, visually inspect tires and place palm of hand on each wheel - not tire, checking for heat, check transom saver and straps on poles - make sure power is off to poles. Going down the road, I check review mirrors for any bulges in side walls or unusual trailer movement. So far, knock on wood, this has seemed to keep us out of trouble.

I’ve seen that as well. I’d do that 👍🏼

Not gonna argue with WAWI on this one. Every trailer is kinda junk. And every trailer WILL break. Fact. I’m not gonna haul a workshop with me everywhere I go. Just like my truck. It WILL break someday. I have a spare tire. My wife’s Lexus WILL break someday. She doesn’t have a spare tire. It has a little pump and some fix a flat. Everything WILL break. Nothing lasts forever. We all die.

Just go fishing. Take care of the stuff and make sure it’s mechanically sound before ya go. If/when it breaks, go from there. You don’t have to plan to fail, figure it out as ya go. That’s what I’m saying.

I you think you will make it….you might! If you think you won’t make it, you won’t!!

That was a funny one.

WAWI knows what's up. Boat trailer are absolute pieces of chit. Just check your hubs and bring a spare tire. Not much else you can do.

A buddy of mine left for Lake Havasu 2 days ago dragging his new Phoenix. If you're about to head West you may want to think about this.....



No joke

That’s painful to see.

Made that same trip in August 2020; Argyle to Atlanta and back. All good in that 800 mile trip and the 10k miles I’ve put on it since. Except for the deep pothole on 380 that cost me a tire.

I dont go real far but used to routinely have my bearing repacked at trailer shop yearly just to be safe. Had a tire go rolling past me years ago coming back from an all night saltwater trip, it went on a flatbed wrecker and i put new axle on it same day I was so pissed.

I've had the trailer tire pass me on the road. When I saltwater fished I had constant issues with my shop built trailer. Saltwater is heck on equipment.

Have done several 3900 mile round trips from East Texas to the west coast of Mexico. Haven't torn down my bearings in many years either. I check hub temps at every fuel/food stop with an infared gun. Keep them lubed, pop the bearing buddies and check for water intrusion. Changed one rear seal due to fishing line I picked up somehow. I've been towing boats nearly 50 years and have not lost a bearing yet. Knock on wood!

There's the kiss of death...

“LET’S GO BRANDON”!!! Sorry….sort of……Vladimir Putin’s fault actually. Biden said so……..

Lots of good feeback guys. I am looking at trip east next month to maybe Alabama to fish for some of those big spots they have... will start going over trailer and get an extra hub to keep in the toolbox.

I have a travel hub kit I now carry anytime the boat is with me, extra hub greased and ready, decent jack, small jack stand, grease gun, extra cotter pin, spindle nut, pressure plate washer extra bearing buddy, rubber hammer, gloves, hand cleaner, and my normal set of tools. I have a cordless impact with a socket to pull lug bolts quick after I break them with 4 way. I keep meaning to put an extra pack of cigarettes and a small bottle of tequila in too.

For flat tire or hub work, if you have a tandem axle trailer another good thing to have is a Trailer Aid Tandem Tire Changing Ramp, Google it . You can make one out of 4 , 3" pieces of 2X6 stacked and nailed together , bevel cut one end to make the ramp. Put it in front or behind the wheel that is not affected and drive up or back up onto the ramp to get the flat tire off the ground. Easy peasy and safer and easier than a jack. Spray penetrating oil on your hub studs occasionally so when the time comes the lug nuts are easier to break loose.

Heat is your enemy. Most trailer tires are rated to inflate to much higher pressures than car tires. When they "look good" they may still be way too low. The low pressure causes heat build up. Same with bearings, good wheel maintained hubs should be good for thousands of miles.

Just trust your gut , if you believe your maintenance and tires are good, go for it.

We have the Bluetooth tire monitors that read temp and air pressure. Great piece of mind.

If this fuel thing lets up, I plan of towing my rig to Louisiana, about a 240-mile trip one way plus running around from lake to lake to bayou to river etc. I figure I may log as high as 1000 miles that week by the time I get back home.
I've shelled out a spindle before and had to leave a nearly new Ranger sitting beside the highway overnight, I'll bring everything I need to change a set of bearings and seals or a flat.
The main thing is to get your rig off the ground and check all this stuff before you head out and for you guys running greaseable hubs, once you install new bearings and seals give each spindle ONE shot of grease and no more about every third trip out or about every 1000 miles or so. I learned this from a bearing manufacturer years ago. The reason most bearing fail is because they are over greased. If you pump enough grease into a hub to corrupt the seals the grease won't stay put and eventually, they literally bleed to death and with a boat trailer that also lets in water which just compounds the issues.
The company I work for we have several large blower style fans we grease this way; one shot of grease per inch of shaft diameter, and we do this about every three months. Some of these fans have been in this facility for decades and still have the original bearings in them. We use a dial micrometer to check for deflection ever so often to see if there is any wear and they all are as tight as they can be.

Took this pic 2 minutes ago.....All loaded up and ready to head to Northern Indiana tomorrow. Going to fish all my old stomping ground lakes growing up, Lake Erie Smallmouth and a walleye meat haul. Knock on wood, everything on the trailer checklist is gone and good to go.

Gonna be expensive though, at 11 MPG and ~1000 miles 1 way, that's 3 tanks at $240 to get there, a couple tanks while there and 3 or 4 coming back. Just diesel is going to be $2000-2500 FJB (at least my lodging isn't costing anything)

I keep a custom made wooden box in my truck, has everything in it that I need to change out my hubs, it has a 4 way lug wrench, aluminum floor jack, 2-5/16 hub wrench, punch, hammer, 1/2" socket set, including two complete spare hub assemblies, keep it locked up under my tonea cover, I have had to do it twice, so it's just a little peace of mind.

That particular buddy doesn’t worry about the price of gas! Or anything else for that matter!

We drive from Cincinnati to Powell Point on Rayburn every year... Almost 1900 miles round trip and never had an issue... Just keep up with your trailer maintenance and you should be fine... Dan