Rachel, I don't believe attachments are allowed on the list, but if you e-mail them to me I'll be glad to upload them to my web page for everyone to view. Tod -----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces+htmills=bright.net@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces+htmills=bright.net@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Rachel Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 3:39 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: Re: M_Boats: Re: Towing an M15 (yet another dissertation), and Cetol On Jun 7, 2005, at 3:01 PM, Wilsometer@aol.com wrote:
Reading Rachel's account of extreme fishtailing reminded me of a similar incident (alas, I can't blame this on someone else, as I was at the wheel). While crossing the desert a couple of years ago, I braked hard and swerved to avoid an animal, and the M15/trailer went into violent fishtail mode--almost to the point of taking the truck with it. I managed to get it back under control, but I think a jackknife and/or roll was very narrowly escaped.
In retrospect, I believe that my regular cab, short bed, 4x4 Ranger's short wheelbase and taller stance exacerbated the motion.
That's a good point, Scott. Given the extreme brake-slamming (unnecessary, but understandable when a person is not instinctively used to icy roads) and fishtailing in my incident, I was really surprised that we were able to stay on the road. I imagine a good, heavy, low-slung tow vehicle (my car weighs over 3,000 lbs empty, and it was loaded with gear, a dinghy, and 400# of humans) and a long wheelbase (104") went a long way toward our amazingly good outcome. Reflecting on that, I would much rather have been towing with the vehicle I was in than an SUV. Besides, my car gets decent gas-mileage, which I'm really appreciating these days. I guess there's a reason you see all those geezers (not that I'm completely out of that category; after all, I drive a stodgy old Volvo wagon) towing with Suburbans and their extra-long wheelbases. So although you don't need a huge, gas guzzling truck to tow an M-15, perhaps it does pay to consider things such as height and wheelbase in addition to other things. Say, does anyone know if photos can be attached to these posts? I'm not keen to post on the web, but it occurred to me that a couple of photos of my M-15 on its trailer after the fishtailing event could be constructive in showing up how the boat could be better secured. --- Rachel _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats