Kaumajet

LT =

Two GSs here.

philip12

I have not towed this yet, it is still too cold here, I don't see any problems, It only weighs 3500 Inc. the trailer. Also, I give up,, how are you guys getting the pictures to show up as part of your post, rather then a clickable thumbnail. Scotty, Kauma, can you share with us who are not in the know?

neodoc

Gee, I feel so powerful and special. Seriously, though, the way I get the pic on the same post is to actually upload the pic to a site from which I can get the img address and insert it in the place where I want it to appear. I use a gallery from another site on which all my pics have img addresses. Someone else may know an easier way, but this works for me. BTW, if you remove the pic from the gallery, it will remove it from your post as well and display the beautiful little red X in a square in its place. Hope this helps.

StevethePilot

That's a big dog you've got there, Jim.



STP

scottybdiving

Some ISP's allow you web space to host your photos or websites. The trick is, if you get a lot of hits, you will exceed your web traffic allotment and have to put more coins in the meter.

What do you do with the large "clamp-on" in your photo. That thing looks pretty quick.

tm4exc

My experience is similar to Danno. I pull a 28 foot lightweight, aluminum chassis travel trailer fitted out for dry camping for our football games. (Sat TV and lots of Ice) Gross is about 6000 lbs and hitch weight is about 450. I have a load balancing hitch and a sway control bar. I tried it without the sway control and with the sway control and it is much better handling with it cinched up when you get passed by an 18 wheeler doing 70. (what speed limits!) I do have much better performance with the GL sway compensation than with my previous to vehicle. We have to travel up US101 through San Luis Obispo and have to go up Questa grade. This a 7-10%+ slope, more that 7 miles straight up. My 450 went straight up at 65mph at 3700 RPM. I probably was in 4th gear. That trip I averaged about 12.7 which is 3mpg beter than my 2004 Explorer with a 5.4 liter V8. The best deal about the GL is you just don't feel the trailer behind you except in a 20+knot quartering headwind which we get in the Salinas valley a lot. I have tried this trailer with an F150, the Explorer and the GL. I have pulled other trailers with Broncos and Sierras. The GL is by far, the best tow vehicle I have ever used. You will not be disappointed.

philip12

Scotty, the boat is a 21' Superboat, the engine is a Merc. 300 Pro Max, It runs in the mid to high 70 Mph range. around 78 or so. I still seem to only post thumbnails.

scottybdiving

Do you race it?

Did you get your photos hosted on a web site yet?

JimBarnhart

His bite is worse than his bark If you haven't heard of the breed it's a Norwegian Fjord.

gordongl450

phillip12,

Don't worry about posting thumbnails, in my view that is the proper way to do it. Long threads with a lot of large pictures in with the text take longer too load. And some folks place pictures that have not been cropped down and they are too big for a normal computer screen resolution.

You are doing it correctly.

Stumblefoot

+1

newellstarks

My wife and I are towing a two horse Brenderup L SL trailer which is roughly 2400 lbs empty and 5400 lbs max loaded. I've heard these referred to as the Mercedes Benz of horse trailers and they're used by cowboys as well as european equestians.

A Brenderup is designed in Denmark but licensed for manufacture in Witchia Falls for the US market. As such, they are designed have a superior strenght to weight ratios as well as tracking abiltiy (they virtually don't sway). Moreover, this trailer uses intertia four wheel brakes (meaning you don't have to have an electric brakes system tacked under your dashboard) and an integrated self-deploying hand brake located at the trailer tongue which is handy to keep the trailer in one place when you loading and unloading.

Nevada Jack

Keep in mind there is a picture thread which is available and posters can post images with a link to the page in the other threads. You can also link with your homepage or website location.

Uploading using Attachment Manager is a pain in my book if you have your pics posted on a website somewhere. Limit is 5 and format is also limited. Large images sometimes are desired as desktops and/or they show detail to a much greater degree for those looking for information. I do agree that the thumbnail postings do load faster for those with slower connections...but I like em big...:-) That is why I post on the picture thread.

dmfick

Here's a few pictures of my towing rig - at the limits of what a GL can handle - just finished at 180 mile round trip from Harborton, VA to Fenwick Island and back. No problems, but all on flat land, except the pull up the boat launch ramp. That's a World Cat 250DC - stands about 14' tall on trailer, which has surge brakes.

I don't recommend towing 8,500 pounds, but it can do it easily.

StevethePilot

Whoa, so that's huge!

Okay, a) you're basically at the limit and how does it tow? And b) you've got surge brakes, not electrics, and how does that work out for this huge load?

STP

canvasback13

OH MY GOD! Those pics make the gl look like tiny

dmfick

Boat trailers always have surge brakes because electrically controled brakes won't work under water and would be destroyed by salt water during launching, when you submerge almost the entire trailer. To get this behemoth off the trailer I have to back the entire rig into the water, with about 5" of the GL's rear tires in the water.

The trailer has surge brakes on all four wheels. Surge barkes are a hydraulic system that allows the trailer to slide along the tounge, pushing on a valve that increases the braking pressure the harder the lead tow vehicle is stopping. They work great - it takes much longer to stop than the standard GL does, but does not exert any added wear on the main brakes. In fact, I can feel it dragging back on the GL a little, as the trailer brakes are a bit more forcefull than the GL's.

In term of how it tows, I would NOT do it in high wind conditions. The GL 320 engine has huge tourqe, and the drivetrain can handle it, as it can handle the much larger loads exerted by the bigger engines, like in the 550. The problem is weight. The trailer simply pushes the GL around like a toy, and passengers feel it on bumps, turns, truck fly-bys, etc. I had a Ford F-250 Super Duty diesel before the GL, and it was much better at towing - you basically did not know the boat was there except that you had to swing wide on turns. With the GL, I do everything slower, including accelerating, turning and braking. I never go over 60, and then only on straights in perfect conditions.

I also have a Prodigy brake controller installed on this GL to use with my surface trailers, including an 18-ft car carrier box trailer that has electric brakes, and couple of utility trailers. I also tow a couple of trailers that don't have any brakes, such as a 2-place jet ski trailer that weighs about 2,500 lbs - now THAT rig does heat up the Benz brakes a bit on hard stops because the GL has to do all the stopping work. The Benz does fine with the smaller trailers - the car carrier usually carries a total weight of 6K, and it is fine - no pushing the GL around.

Clearly the heavier, taller, longer boat and trailer at 8,500 lbs is over the MB limit for a reason and I would not recommend it to anyone. It does work (the self-leveling suspension is a wonder on the GL), but could create issues if you aren't careful enough or don't know what you are doing. Every time I tow this thing with the GL I feel like I have escaped disaster after arriving. And I do get some pretty strange looks at the launch ramps, which are dominated by people who drive pickups or Suburbans.

philip12

Scotty, No I have never raced that boat, but in the early 80's I raced a 21' Challenger,. which is the same boat, just fully cored for strength. Their was a very big class APBA "A" for these boats.

dmfick, I bet that boat rides great, most people have no clue about the ride and performance of a cat. I think anyone that is shopping for a "V" bottom, CC , should try a World Cat. here is Cat., This one might be a little big to tow wiuth a ML, or a GL

StevethePilot

I am a moron. Clearly I didn't even think about that.

dmfick

I have had a few V-hull boats and will never own another - we sail and fish on the Chesapeake and in the ocean out 100 miles. V-hulls, no matter the design, always pound you. We have a lot of steep, short chop that constantly launches the boat into the air. With a good cat design, when you land it is soft because of the air and spray cushion in the tunnel. I have launched both power and sailing cats off 12 foot waves, expecting to crash down like always happens in a V-hull, only to have a nice, soft landing and no loss of momentum. I definitely recommend cats for all types of boating except flats fishing and hunting, when you need a tiny flat-bottom boat.

SFML320

Stumblefooot, do you know if you have the 1-1/4" or 2" hitch receiver for the bike rack?

I'm looking at the Yakima's rack but don't know which size to get it in.

dmfick

The standard MB hitch receiver is 2"

SFML320

Thanks!

Stumblefoot

Sorry for the slow response and dmfick is absolutely right. Ours is the 2" hitch.