Trailering

We have received many questions and attention when trailering our 2000 Searay 340 Sundancer. When we purchased this boat used, it was on Lake St. Clair in lower Michigan near Detroit. Before this boat, the largest we trailered was a 2000 Fourwinns 248 Vista. This Sea Ray is a different animal from our prior Fourwinns. The physical dimensions of just the boat, per the manufacture, with the arch electronics is: 36' 3" long x 11' 5" wide x 13' 3" tall.  We also knew it would weight about 13,000 lbs dry per Sea Ray as well. Estimating the weight combined with the trailer, "wet" weight and gear I think we run between 18,000 and 20,000 lbs. I may weight it this year just to see.

Sea Ray Manual

We currently use my 2000 F250 Superduty Crew Cab 4x4 with the 7.3L diesel to pull it on a American Trailer.  This truck currently has 136,000 miles on it and is set up with an oversized transmission cooler, Edge Evolution program and pillar gauges. The program has been set since 60,000 miles to add 100hp and 200ftlbs of torque.  According to the specification it should be around 335hp and 700ftlbs. Regardless, it does the job and does it effectively. I had a few tows that the transmission would heat up on hot days in traffic, but realized that my front overload sign was pretty much blocking the air flow to the stock transmission cooler. Figured this out after I upgraded to the new oversized cooler. This also lead to investing in a breathable oversized load sign. Problem solved. I have a hard time getting rid of this truck as it also has a front hitch for maneuvering the boat and trailer into tight spots. It sole purpose is pretty much this boat nowadays, but the body is starting to show its age.

While preparing for the maiden trip we did not know the dimensions on the trailer for height and knew that we may need to do prep in order to take it down the road. I knew that it was going to be oversized by width, so I pulled all the necessary permits in WI, IL, IN, and MI for our haul out and tow. For this trip I used a 3rd party service to pull the permits for me, however, in WI you can pull your own permits, and we do every year (some states require you to use a 3rd party service). The height ended up being too high for us to feel comfortable to tow under some of the overpasses on our route, so we ended up removing the arch from the boat and securing it on the bow for transport.

Travel lift placing the boat on the trailer

We lucked out in the fact that a sister ship to this boat was being sold in our hometown and the buyer did not want the trailer that was currently part of the deal. The broker we used was also working the deal for the sister ship and let us know that we had a trailer already set up for our boat and it would be a nice nearly new trailer. This was a blessing because as it was 1) cheaper than a new trailer we decided to order and 2) we did not have to mess around setting it up.

Arch removed and stowed on the bow

The whole process of getting the boat took two days.  The first day was shot driving to the location, doing the sea trial and then preparing for the haul. We ended up getting the boat loaded and headed back all in our first day.  By the end that day we where on the west boarder of lower Michigan and had stayed in a hotel room. Did I forget to mention that through all this we had our youngest son at 25 months with us!

When permitting oversized loads there are usually additional requirements for towing at night.  If you ever think of doing something like this be sure you have a great understanding of towing, as well as do the research and route planning. Checking DOT sites for construction and routing is a must on roads you are not familiar with. Even with all the planning there were some stressful moments on this trip, but we survived (even some not related to traveling with an infant).

When we do our Lake Michigan trips annually and our seasonal storage we do not remove the arch. This was only done the first time we picked it up. We only remove the anchor light, radar dome, radio antenna, and TV antenna.  This is because we know the heights of our routes. We are 13' 9" at the top of our arch, so most overpasses are fine at that height.

One additional thing a professional hauler suggested is to cross tie lines from the bow rail to the top of the arch. This aids in any low hanging obstructions, mainly overhead service lines, to be guided over the boat, rather then get caught in the forward leaning arch. This has saved us more than once.  Also, this set up can help guide the lower hanging branches you may run into make their way over as well.  If you do run into tree branches be prepared to have a big mess. One tow we went down into some older neighborhoods near the landing we wanted by mistake.  We slowed to a crawl to avoid damage to the arch and boy what a mess to clean out of the cockpit when we finally arrived at our destination.

If you double click & look close you will see the lines cross tied