Community Forums

ie2special · 07-14-2015, 02:45 PM

My father is a boat mechanic and is looking at Class C motorhomes.

He said that he heard something about difficulty launching a small pontoon or Jet ski's??

I would think the 7500# hitch models he is looking at are just fine but he said it had something to do with needing a front hitch to launch??

Any info would be appreciated

BFlinn181 · 07-14-2015, 04:06 PM

The slime on a boat ramp can be slippery. The dual tires can loose traction sometimes. Using a hitch of the front and leaving the drive tires on the dry parts of the ramp can often avoid getting stuck. It's not a guarantee, but many would rather keep more of the RV on the dry than the wet. It's also easier to monitor what's out the front window than 30' behind you.

Mich F · 07-14-2015, 04:08 PM

Small boat/jet ski trailers can be a hassle backing up, with any RV. The problem is by the time you see them in your side mirrors, you've probably already jack knifed the trailer.

I imagine a rear view camera would help a lot with that issue. Many years ago I had an 11' or so hard bottom inflatable, that was just about impossible to back up with the Class C I had at the time (without a back up camera).
I've launched from 18' up to 25' boats behind Cs without any problems.

ie2special · 07-14-2015, 04:12 PM

Good points! Is the front hitch a hassle?

BFlinn181 · 07-14-2015, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ie2special

Good points! Is the front hitch a hassle?

Any good welding shop should be able to fabricate a front hitch. If you're only talking about a couple of jet skis, the rating certainly doesn't have to match the 7,500 lb rating of the back one!

The difficulty in backing a short jet ski trailer with the long overhang of the RV is much worse than backing a longer trailer.

Murf2u · 07-15-2015, 05:55 AM

It would be a BUNCH cheaper and easier to make an extension tongue that uses a trailer ball attachment.

They are also very handy on any other vehicle with a very shallow angle launch ramp.

ie2special · 07-16-2015, 02:34 PM

Ok, We currently use My MKT to do it. It is AWD so we don't worry too much about slipage on the ramps. We got concerned that there may be something we hadn't considered :(

Todd157k · 07-20-2015, 02:44 PM

4 years of launching and the only issue we ever had was one time when the rear wheels went past the ramp (low tide) and hit the sand. We had to stick a wood pallet in front of the wheels to get up out of it. That would have happened with anything short of a 4x4.