Towing boat with 3m beam in Qld

[Matt_F]

Hi Everyone,
I'm hoping someone here has some advice on towing a boat that has a 3m beam on qld roads. The info available on towing up to 2.9m is quite clear with oversize signs etc needed. But how about 3m and wider? Getting info on this from TMR is like getting blood from a stone. From the info I have found so far there isn't any difference towing in the 3 to 3.5m range compared to towing in the 2.5 to 2.9m range as long as the total load is under 4.5t. Is this right? Does anyone here have any experience and advice on towing a boat with a 3m beam and that is under 4.5t in qld? Thanks in advance for your input.
Matt.

[mitc69]

well from my experiences

2.2m beam is the most you can legally tow a boat on the road (as with trailer it come out to 2.5m), however, there are a few that can get away with it

2.5 max width for your boat, with trailer it comes close to 3m, which is considered illegal once u exceed 2.6m, therefore, all insurance on car and boat is voided,
2.6m - 3m u need oversize signal and flashing yellow, but still no insurance lol
3m - 3.5m u need to apply for road escort, but with insurance

others rule is if it exceed 19m in length that illegal already and there no way around that... for a boat with 3m... I take it your towing something of 8m that weight close to 4.2T.... hope you're using a tipper
remember you can techy legally tow a boat if it fit on one side of the road, however, good luck taking that up with insurance if the worst come to be

hopefully, that give you some inslight what you're seeking for, otherwise, TMR will refer you to http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/-/media/bu...lers.pdf?la=en

[ShaneC]

What? A 2.5m boat is illegal because the trailer is 3m wide? And no insurance.... you have baffled me and I thought I knew the rules.

[JulianDeMarchi]

well from my experiences

2.2m beam is the most you can legally tow a boat on the road (as with trailer it come out to 2.5m), however, there are a few that can get away with it

2.5 max width for your boat, with trailer it comes close to 3m, which is considered illegal once u exceed 2.6m, therefore, all insurance on car and boat is voided,
2.6m - 3m u need oversize signal and flashing yellow, but still no insurance lol
3m - 3.5m u need to apply for road escort, but with insurance

others rule is if it exceed 19m in length that illegal already and there no way around that... for a boat with 3m... I take it your towing something of 8m that weight close to 4.2T.... hope you're using a tipper
remember you can techy legally tow a boat if it fit on one side of the road, however, good luck taking that up with insurance if the worst come to be

hopefully, that give you some inslight what you're seeking for, otherwise, TMR will refer you to http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/-/media/bu...lers.pdf?la=en

I think the 2.2 beam information is incorrect mate. My Yalta has a 2.3mtr beam and is totally legal on the road...

[Chris Tucker]

that whole post is weird.

There is no reason a boat can't be wider than it trailer. There are plenty of 2.5m+ wide boats on 2.5m trailers.

[mitc69]

overall 2.9m is the max width by law, assuming the QLD road your driving though is 3.5m road.... the most road is close to 3m such as the road to Jacob well

2.6m is the most legal towing width regardless what guideline say! you will not make a turn on most QLD road at 2.9m without going into another lane, assuming you're within city zone, and that what your accidents report will state and that also where insurance will void you... the thing you might wanna consider... the point where you want to be the cover or not

so yes you can drag it to 2.9m by law at your own risk... remember it a law that why we have lawyers for the awesome debate

if the worst came to be.. and u find you're over the line while turning and some idiot hit you from behind from overtaking next to you or the other lane idiot decide to drive to close to his right side and hit you, you'll 100% at fault without insurance, I've seen it too many time.... this is why if u have a boat 7m+ you pick the right time to be on the road at the lowest risk

so it not where one need to know the rules or not, it where one need to understand the risk he or she make when towing something to the max,

I'm in manly with my 7.4m seafox sit close to 2.8m... the whole manly road up to well point, I'm pretty much on 30cm off the white line from both... that why I dock out from Port of Brisbane to be safer

[aussiebasser]

Once you go past 2.9 metres you get into the oversize loads category. The rules are here; https://www.nhvr.gov.au/files/t045-q...-dimension.pdf. Not sure what mitc69 is on about. Isn't he the bloke that puts it in Angel gear going down hills to protect his gearbox?

[The Mad Cat]

I run a towing/transport business so I'm fairly up to date with oversize loads. My understanding is that once your boat is wider than 2.9m you can only tow it with a vehicle that has a GVM of 4.5t or more, this is not GCM and the tow vehicle has the correct towing capacity.
Below is the quote from the guideline from Aussiebasser.
" To operate under this guideline a vehicle must have a gross vehicle mass (GVM) of more than4.5t or be in a combination that includes a vehicle with a GVM of more than 4.5t."

TMC

[The Silver Unicorn]

Best you go recheck the rules mitc69

[Noelm]

This is a very contentious issue in every state, read your relevant rules very carefully, don't believe seat warmers and over the counter staff (or Mitc69) the rules are complicated and very strict, there is no "just over" with 3m you are going to be in trouble to tow easily.

[mitc69]

yup I just read the rules and I believe it still the same what i said, remember content is a boat and a boat seeks a ramp or safe spot one can say, or point A to B... sometimes I think most you guys forgot what QLD road are like lol or maybe you guys just stay in a comfort zone... who knows...

regardless what guidelines say, if he or she is using a truck to tow or 4x4, it'll only kinda protect you from fines under pending, now tell me how well are those guidelines gonna protect you when you do decide to cross the bribe island bridge? or outback roads? or residential zone?

so yes the salesmen gonna tell you your own risk, pending where you're going and which guideline you want to try to use, but if you're over that dam line, don't expect to be pretty for a long time... the amount of car accident we have daily is insane

this is no better then NDA and court order debate

[Matt_F]

Thanks for your input everyone.

The link that Aussiebasser put up is the best info I have managed to get off tmr.

And from what you say Mad Cat, it's only the vehicle that is different.

So as long as you have a truck that can tow it legally then it should be possible to take it out to 3.5m with the oversize sign and flashing lights etc??? And as long as its less than 19m long.

Although Noelm you make a good point. Towing that wide would be a headache.

Thanks for the input so far.

[Jeremy]

"Better to keep your mouth shut and let people think that you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt" Mark Twain

[Crunchy]

My long boat will double in value if Mitc69 becomes transport minister

[gofishin]

mitc69, your posts make my head hurt ... a lot... !

How's a bloke supposed to wind down on the couch multi-tasking ... watching TV and trying to do a bit of light reading on Ausfish, on the damn iPhone, when such concentration and deciphering is required ??? (Sshhhh, don't tell my missus I can do 2 things at once!).

I don't know whether to drink more, or less, to hope it makes more sense... or stop altogether and go and throw my phone into the pool...!

One thing is for sure, you need to stop drinking before posting... .

yup I just read the rules and I believe it still the same what i said ...

Have a read tomorrow morning and see if your posts still make sense., especially the parts quoted below ...

Firstly, none of the following statements make sense let alone state the Regs. that are mentioned in the link you provided in the same post!...

well from my experiences

2.2m beam is the most you can legally tow a boat on the road...

...2.5 max width for your boat, with trailer it comes close to 3m, which is considered illegal once u exceed 2.6m...

...2.6m - 3m u need oversize signal and flashing yellow...

...3m - 3.5m u need to apply for road escort...

...TMR will refer you to

This link.
http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/-/media/bu...lers.pdf?la=en


And then we have more contradictory and confusing statements...

overall 2.9m is the max width by law...

...2.6m is the most legal towing width regardless what guideline say! ...

...so yes you can drag it to 2.9m by law ...

so it not where one need to know the rules or not, it where one need to understand the risk he or she make when towing something to the max...

"The most legal..." you say ???

It is either legal, or not! No 'in between', or 50 shades of grey!

And, are you saying that if a person thinks the risk of their situation is low, the rules don't matter??? WT???

Please let us know how much you think you understand your risks, while your big Sea Fox pushes you down hill to Manly in angel gear? We need to know if we have to get the hell off the road or not!
When you have detoxed, read posts 2, 6, & 11 again, and see if you agree with us?

Meanwhile, I am going to have another beer, and see if that helps!
Cheers
Brendon