wrxhoon1

Ok then , if its 2.5 ton it would be ilegal to tow with a Falcon ( I think they are rated 2.3t ) but even if it was legal I wouldn't do it for reasons I and others have stated above . Do you have a brake-away on the trailer? If not you are not legal, check the plate on your trailer to see the GVM, if over 2 Ton you must have a brake-away system. You can have various systems depending on the trailer brakes, if they are hydraulic you can use an electro-hydraulic actuator, if they are cable your only option is vacuum. I can advice/help you with either if you need it. A 3lt Nissan Patrol will do the job easy but she will be fairly slow uphills and the Nissan 3lt engine is know as a "grenade' check some 4WD forums and you will see what I mean. A 4.2 Nissan TD will be a little better ( older but more reliable engine ) uphills, on paper they look the same as far as power goes but in practice the 4.2 is a little better. If you like the Nissan ( they are much cheaper than Toyota used) go for the 4.2 but you won't find any wagons with this engine ( very few around )plenty of utes/table tops. $25 k will buy you a 2003 ST wagon or even later ex fleet DX in 3.0 lt TD . $25 k will buy you an old landcruiser TD (80 series), later model (100 series) none Turbo diesel ( very slow) or a later model ( still 100 series ) petrol ( very thirsty). You can also look at Pajero TD 3.2 lt (2003 model) or an older Prado TD . They will all do the job in either manual or auto much safer than any car will. All 4WDS hold their value ( used) much better than cars, you can buy an 04 BA Falcon 6 cyl for $10k . If you don't have much weight on the tow bar you may have to move the axles to the rear of the trailer, you must have at leat 5% on the ball and up to 10% , use a bathroom scales to check when the trailer is level. If the weight is to much for the tow vehicle you can use a WDH to spread the load on both axles on your tow car. Good luck in your search.

If its 2.5 ton ( it should be just under 2t, if its over 2t you need brakes on all wheels and a breakaway system ) Falcon and Commie will not be legal, even if they were I wouldn't tow it unles it was a few hundred metres to the ramp. You can't beat a heavy 4WD for towing, they are much more stable on the road, the a rear end doesn't scrape the ground as soon as you put 100 or so kilos on the bar, you are not worried that the rear end will bend ( its only sheetmetal where the towbar bolts on) and you won't go sliding on a wet sandy boat ramp. I know the Falcondore V8 has the power but not the gearing to pull 4 ton ( 2t trailer 1.7 ton car and 300 kg load) . The don't have the heavy duty gearboxes, clutches, autos to do it either . They are ok to tow up to 1.5 t but no more. I know some people will say they tow 2.5 without any issues. In your case I would look at the medium to heavy duty Jap 4WD'S to do the job and if you tow long distance a turbo diesel. I tow a 6.5 mt Trophy ( 2.5 ton + depending on fuel/load) with a TTD V8 landcruiser anywhere with ease and I never worry about the towbar breaking/bending as it is part of the trucks chassi.

I have a 6.5 mt boat/trailer combo I want to transport from Sydney to Mackay . Does anyone know a transport co that will do it at a reasonable price .

That would be 1200 kg not including trailer, right? Plus the weight of dual axle the trailer say 450 kg some fuel and gear not far off 2 ton. I use stainless steel brakes in my trailer ( 6.5 mt F/G combo well over 2 ton) , that’s S/S rotors, S/S calipers and just galvanized hubs ( hot dipped) and I run a flexi brake line tube so she won't corrode either . I have a sensa brake to activate all that, not a cheap set up but very low maintenance. To be legal for the boat/trailer you are talking about you only need brakes on one axle and they only need to be override, cable or hydraulic. Cable work but nowhere near as well as hydraulic, if I was you I would go hydraulic. I would go for skids on an alloy boat as they spread the weight and they won't dint the boat. The other plus, skids trailer is much better than rollers, lots more stable, of course rollers are much easier to launch. I have skids on my trailer, much easier to retrieve than rollers because the skids guide the boat on and its impossible to hit the trailer. When I launch I back the 4WD until the back of it is in line with the water then apply the brakes she comes off about 1/2 a mt to a 1 mt, someone on the boat starts the opti and she is off. all up time about 2 minutes if that . Retrieving , someone backs the 4WD until the towbar ball is in line with the water and I power on until she hits the winch roller all up time less than 2 minutes. Gal trailers are the cheapest option, I have an alloy. If you are in Sydney go to trailer city and buy one direct. I would use LED lights on any boat trailer and alloy wheels but gal wheels are ok too.

Tuffy , If I was you I would seriously consider a modern 2 stroke E-tec. They are just as economical as a 4 banger, more torque than a 4 banger ( unless the 4 is boosted ) because they fire at every stroke . A lot less moving parts, nothing on the head so when they sit for a long time less likely to give you hassles. You don't have any smoke at iddle or underway and heaps of down low power. I don't have an E-tec , I have a 200 merc opti and I wouldn't go back to either an old school 2 stroke or a 4 stroke. For a low power engine like you want you can't go past them, I use 1.2 ltrs per hour trolling in mine pushing a 2 ton boat and I get 1 mile per litre at cruising speed of 30 mph.

Horsby is still there mate , its only 15 minutes from Carlo. 4 Bridge Road HORNSBY Good luck in the test.

Any good alloy welder will weld this, then grid it back and paint it.

When you say 5-6 mt , you have to be more specific ,sea transport cost goes on cubic mts RO-RO , to give you an indication allow about $200 us per cubic mt + land transport + shrinkwrapping. Measure the length of the combo from the tip of the coupling to the tip of the leg when its tilted up in trasport possition X the widest part of the combo X the highest part of the combo and you get the cubic mts . You will have to pay GST (10%) on the purchase price of the rig + US land transport + sea transport . When she gets here Port Kembla in your case ( as you are in Sydney) you will pay your customs agent say $150-200 to act for you + all goverment charges like every entry costs you $$ and Q/T will want the rig steam cleaned , all up expect say $1000-1500. including tow to Q/T for cleaning. You won't have to pay import duty if you do supply the goverment with "Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) STATEMENT OF UNITED STATES ORIGIN" When she is released from customs and Q/T , after you pay everyone and the goverment GST , its up to you how you tow it to whereever you want , keep in mind the trailer is unregistered. You won't need to comply the boat ( just to verify the HIN , about $35) but you will need to comply the trailer and it can be tricky, depending on the trailer. When you find the combo you want to buy you need to apply for import approval for the trailer ( not needed for boat/engine), so you need to pay $50 to Canberra and supply the trailer details and VIN with your application. Whatever you do don't ship before you get the approval, when you get your approval, check to make sure the numbers are correct, then you can ship it . Keep in mind the trailer width must not be greater than 2.5 mts ( not even 5 mm) , you will have to change the lights as they don't comply and depending on the GVM othet stuff as well . If under 2 t GVM , you only need lights and brakes on one exle . If over 2 T GVM , you need brakes on all wheels and a brakeaway system . When all that is done you will need a weighbridge ticket and blue slip if under 2 T gvm , if over 2 T you need a brown slip, same as blue but fewer places do them . Don't even think of importing a trailer with over 4.5 T GVM, can be done but very hard. When you have your blue/brown , take that to RTA with the bill of sale and pay the fees ( rego fee and 3% stamp duty) to get it registered . The boat is much easier , just take the HIN verification and bill of sale to Maratime and pay the rego fee and you are done . Its all as easy as that but with our $ well under 80 cents its not worth it , you can buy the boat here cheaper. By the way don't think that you will cheat on GST by telling customs you bought the combo for half waht you actualy paid by giving them a bill of sale for that amount, if they suspect that you cheated they will ask for your bank account details. Worse case they will take your rig and of fine you . If you still want to go ahead and import I can put you on to a good transport mod in USA that will handle the export side of things for you including US land and sea up to Port Kembla .

You will find the Falcon will be a better tow wagon, she has leaf springs and the rear end where the tow bar fits is made stronger . The point others have made about towing with cars is a valid one but you should be fine as long as you have your trailer well babanced and you are sensible, after towing for long distances always look under the car where the towbar mounts for signs of stress . As you will be towing a long way and at high speed you should get yourself a WDH that will fix your rear going to the ground and the front lifting . When you get the Falcon or any other vehicle you can still use the same WDH. Balance your trailer so you have 5-10% of the weight on the towbar , you can use bathroom scales with some timber on it and place it under the jockey wheel. There are various WDH's you can buy from about $200 up, if you want a used WDH , I have one you can have for $120. You will be surpiced the difference they make , I tow with a landcruiser but I still use a WDH unless I'm going to the local boat ramp in suburban traffic and 60 k limit.

Rob, I bought a trailer for a friend from boat city last year, a heavy duty single axle with a GVM of 1500 or 1600 kg , can't remember . As with all trailers, I like to set them up my way to suit me and i like to replace all bolts and U bolts with S/S items as they rust, I also like to use S/S calipers and S/S rotors but they are very expensive , in your case she will only have cable overide brakes. Nothing wrong with the trailer and he saved about $1500 as he was looking at Dunbier, trailer city did it for $2400. These days I would think they all use Chinese made steel RHS . Make sure you don't go for a lightweight even if you think you will be under the GVM, if you are on the limit they don't tow as well. With alloy boats you need skids with keel rollers not multi roller, rollers will dint the alloy . 115 Opti is a good choice, I have a 200 Opti and I'm very happy, no oil smoke at all and very economical . I use manual Scotty long arm downriggers , mainly because of the cables running to them and battery issues. I only run a twin battery set up with a 1-2 off and both switch ( I use sealed batteries) and I leave the charging to the Opti as she has a 60amp alt, the 115 has the same . If you can afford go for a hydraulic steering but cable works well for your boat if its already on . Even with our $ so low stuff in USA is cheaper than here so buuy as much as you can there but EMS is not cheap..

Premium will be fine as long as they don't put ethonol in that as well at some later stage .

Thanks for the correction . I got it wrong there, I thought Nissan owned Tohatsu, I was wrong there . I know all Nissan outboards sold in USA are made by Tohatsu , all Nissan outboards sold in Japan are made by Honda and Tohatsu make a lot of Mercury badged engines up to 30HP. Tohatsu are the second largest outboard manufacturer in the world .

They are quite good nmade by Nissan, some Mercs are a re-badged Tohatsu.