Tow Bar or not to Tow Bar

[BREMBOV6]

Afternoon all

Myself and my brother have a small Fletcher boat. We keep it near the water/Loch which is probably about 400/500ft away, it’s on private land and is usually quiet. We once tried taking it down by hand with four of us, but I swore I'd never do it again, turned into nightmare taking it down and back up.

I am now looking at getting a tow bar fitted to a 2009 Diesel Megane but slightly surprised at the cost c.£350. I'm not sure how much longer we will have the car to justify its fitment, so I was wondering is there any other means to towing a boat this short distance? or how easy is it to install (DIY) a tow bar as to buy is about £120.

Any help appreciated.

[BREMBOV6]

Thanks all for the feedback, we used to have an old Isuzi truck sitting about but it rusted away and looks unsightly so would rather avoid leaving even more cr@p lying about. Quad bike is a good shout but will cost more than £300 I guess but could be fun, only thing is potential theft as we don't go to the boat very often.

The hand trailer/dolly would be possibly if it had brakes, issue we have is we do go down an incline and the weight of the boat carries momentum which is difficult to control even when four of us done this.

Will give the above some thought. Somebody (not on here) mentioned rope is possible but I just cant figure how, without crashing the car crashing into the boat or the boat into something or someone.

[BREMBOV6]

GliderRider said:

If there is a removable towing eye on the car, how about modifying one to take a 50mm ball? If you're not going on public roads, it shouldn't matter that it is not on the car's centre line.

You would just need to watch the nose weight of the trailer, especially if you need to add an extension piece to the towing eye move the ball hitch away from the bumper.

You can buy towing balls with a thread and a nut on the bottom.

Towing ball with thread & nut



As others have said, if you don't need the electrics, you should be able to pick up a used towbar yourself and either fit it when needed or leave it on the car. You may need to declare it to your insurance company though.

An alternative to a quadbike would be a petrol golf buggy. Our club used them for towing gliders and they would tow a heavy two seat glider in its double axle trailer without problems. The buggies have DAF-style constantly variable transmission so will automatically adapt the gear ratio to the load. An old golf buggy may be less of a thief magnet than a quad bike.

Edited by GliderRider on Tuesday 30th March 16:52

This looks a great shout, never knew these existed. Is this just a simple screw into the towing eye?

Does anyone know the thread on a Megane 2009 1.5 5dr, Mk3 ?

I did start looking at quads because it sounds fun but that will be more than £300.

Edited by BREMBOV6 on Wednesday 31st March 11:17

[BREMBOV6]

Thanks for the above, this price looks reasonable. Is it possible to add electrics at a later date if it is needed?

[BREMBOV6]

I spoke with a mobile fitter and essentially explained the above, the difference between electrics and no electrics was £30 for him although a few people have now mentioned the electrics are the expensive part.