BAD IDEA - Pride mobility scooter for towing boat ?
 

I got tired of trying to push my boat out from its parking stall. Calling a friend or relative to help at 4 AM is not a good long term solution. There are a few dips in the pavement that makes this harder than it should be.

I spent a few days trying to think of a few solutions:


I tried crowbarring the trailer wheels which looked very promising but is slow and tedious. I have to be careful of neighbors motorcycle plus I don't want to block the parkade in case some early riser needs to get to work.

I tried U bolting a second winch to the trailer which worked but felt a bit dangerous. A Ferrari (not mine) is parked nearby and I really don't want flying bits of broken winch, U-bolt or chain damaging that guys car. (or anyone else's)

I considered calling a contractor to flatten my parking stall by adding or removing cement, but that sounds pricy and my building strata would probably freak out.

I called a few shops and asked what solution they recommend and it looked like I needed to pay $500 to $3500 for a motorized trailer dolly. I felt that there must be a better solution, but I did not know what it is.


Today I was supposed to meet someone from CL who was supposed to pick up a litter-robot (he no-showed), but while I was waiting in my underground parking lot I had, what I thought was an extremely brilliant idea.

I have this unused scooter that has been sitting in my living room for 1 year doing nothing but taking up space. (I was supposed to sell it on CL but I have been lazy about it)

Now this unused scooter seemed to have a purpose. I was pretty happy that I would not have to shell out hundreds of dollars just to move my boat 20 feet out of its parking spot. The scooters built in hitch turned out to be a cane holder mount, but I located what looked like towing mounts on the back of the scooter. How could this possibly fail?

Here is what it looked like ready to tow:

http://i.imgur.com/aNHUJ4V.jpg?1


Anyways - My hopes were dashed as soon as I applied power. The scooters wheels spun out right away. Adding weight to the scooter (me sitting in it) caused the motor to stop. The pride mobility scooter seems to have some sort of safety mechanism that shuts down the motor if it detects to much load. I do not feel like opening up the scooter to try and disable this feature.

Bummer.

http://i.imgur.com/EIvxVH0.jpg?1

Not all ideas are great.

...........

Start the boat motor and taxi like a plane

It must be nice to have a boat.

Why can't you just move it with a car like normal people

Fill the garage with water.

This is the same guy who wanted to use his truck to ram and bend some steel bars right?

http://www.revscene.net/forums/68614...ing-truck.html

Correct

Get a ATV. 4WD BABY!!!!

i knew someone who enlisted the help of a gardener who was working down the street and paid him a few bucks to get them to use their commercial john deere riding mower to do just this and pulled his boat and trailer all the way out into the back lane... just how much is it for a space at a marina?

Did it wheelie down the block? Did you try the thing in reverse?

Personally, i'd be trying the same thing... But I also have hitches on ALL my vehicles. haha

.... or maybe you can rig a bunch of these together instead :p

Come on now Sanjay, everyone knows that John Deere is the secret to towing.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/L2BOT5paHo8/hqdefault.jpg

A little know fact..... This is a picture of fliptuner moving one of his many projects.

Little known fact.

cinderblock front lip :thumbsup:

Add a turbocharger.
/win

First question, why are you trying to push the boat out? Just pull it with whatever you normally tow the boat with.

Second question, have you looked into what that scooter is worth? Some of them are worth a fair bit, easily enough to get you the motorized trailer dolly. Or just bolt a winch to the opposite wall of the parkade and use that to pull it out.

NOS is where it's at.

I'm assuming the tow vehicle won't work as the parking lots are tight and he won't be able to make the turn. The boat ain't that heavy though, if you just man up and pull it out with dem big muscles out of the parking spot.

Forget a winch, go buy yourself a chainfall or a come along and attach it to the post accross from your parking stall, then just use that.

If you don't have somewhere to attach it to, get a hammer drill and a couple hilti wedge anchors and have at 'er. I'm sure your strata won't mind...:whistle:

You need one of these





5,000 lb 12V Trailer Dolly | Princess Auto


Sorry, I lost wifi and cell service on the ferry

^
Good lord, that link is long.

That's not even a link.

best idea ever

sell the scooter and buy a trailer dolly
Trailer dolly - Electric (Boat, Plane, RV) Victoria City, Victoria

Chances are his tow vehicle is too large or does not have the turning radius to manoeuvre in there. I know my truck sure couldn't turn and clear the column with the trailer hooked up even if the roof can clear the ceiling.

Yes it is.

The boat needs to come out perfectly straight, because of cement pillar and parked motorbike. The trailer is around 23 foot long (with the tongue unfolded). There are parked cars and pillars opposite the boat.

No, those were aluminum tubes. Ramming steel would be crazy.

I used to have a larger beater boat at Deep cove marina. I think it was around 3k a year but there are no fish in deep cove. (good prawns and crabs) so you need to drive really far just to start exploring. Keeping a boat in the water also causes extra stress because of freeloading barnacles and worrying about battery/bilge pump failure, corrosion etc. I bought this boat because it was the biggest size that I could squeeze into a parking stall (plus its a Nissan import boat). Also I get to see my boat everyday when I go to throw out the garbage, which always makes me feel a little bit better about the rest of the day.


It did not wheelie and I forgot to try it in reverse.

Unfortunately I was unable to man up because of my small muscle mass.

That what I was hoping to avoid buying due my aversion to overkill plus the $500 price tag.