The Steamtug Blog

Just after Steam Launch Edelweiss was admitted to the register of Historic Australian boats and ships with the Australian National maritime museum, and after more than a year of planning, Edelweiss has met the purpose built boat trailer that will become her next best friend, and made the journey from the Northern most border of the state of NSW down to the most Southern coast of Australia at her new home in Geelong. But what now?
Tow Vehicle
After pondering the best way to move the boat and trailer South, it was decided to tow her to Victoria on a permit, then register her once she was home. But how much does all this weigh? We have an estimate that Edelweiss was between 2.5 – 3 tons, but that is such a broad range that planning for towing vehicles and conditions is impossible. In Australia, there seems to be a limit for light vehicles that draws a line in the sand at 3.5 tonne, and there are many vehicles now that boast they can tow this. But what happens if we are over this limit? Edelweiss is a heavy wooden construction, with a large cabin, heavy boiler and even heavier steam engine.
The trailer too had to be manufactured with the sole intention of minimising weight. So when a Mick, a member of the steamboat association from Perth discussed the trailer he was going to build for his 30’ steam launch, he suggested building 2 trailers; the second one for me. But he was using steel and going for tri-axles. He already owns a Ford F250, and doesn’t care about the weight. I managed to find a company in Arizona USA who could build a boat trailer for a third of the cost in Australia. This was increased to half cost once the purpose built custom fitting was included. We also discussed that the trailer which is rated to carry 4,500 kgms could be done as a tandem, as the tortion suspension and tyres could do this spread over 4 wheels. So the order was placed. They build trailers for export especially for Australia so use all Australian components, lights, tow hitches, even the trailer plug was to Australian standards and the whole jigger totaled 820kgms.
So now the tow vehicle. Tom told me that the 1997-98 Landrover Discovery was built for the British Army who specified a tow capacity of 4000kgms. There are not many other vehicles that could do this, and I found one for sale in Brisbane, checked it out after work one night and brought it. Old Bill had 3 Landrovers in the driveway when I arrived including the one for sale. The very first thing I did was pull out the book of specifications and sure enough, found it was true. Then I looked at the tow bar which clearly has stamped on it, 4000kgms total weight, ball loading 175kgms. I told Bill what my plan was, and he looked at me and said I would be much better with the new Landrover which had a bigger engine. So I pulled out his book and showed him that even though this vehicle had a bigger engine, it was only stamped to tow 3500kgms.
I brought it, at took her over to the Hayman and Reese towing specialist. He told me I had done my money, and this vehicle would never be able to tow 4000kgms. You must have 10% of the trailer weight as ball weight, Therefore this vehicle can only tow 1.75 tonnes. Well that’s just crazy. At some point, the British Army and Landrover must have thought that these weights would work. He then confessed to me that it was rule of thumb, not actually law. He told me that I would end up upside down in a ditch if I tried towing with this, because the weight of the boats engines would thrash around at the back. Huh… my engine is down low, right in the centre over the wheels.
I was believing him and really worried until his next rant claimed that I would have no steering because the tow hitch weight would take the front wheels up and reduce steering. He demonstrated this, buy him and I standing together on the back tow bar while his mate measured the rise at the front wheels. 19mm! Huh, I thought, see nothing to worry about, but he began to tell me it was a massive amount and I was risking disaster. I then thought what would happen with 2 fat ladies got into the back seat? I have never seen a Landrover crashed on the side of the road because 2 fat ladies had gotten into the back seat. So I dismissed everything from here as bullshit.
I drove it back to Brisbane and went to some of the auto spare parts places and brought a bag of tools and filled it up with some things that would be useful. On the way back to meet Craig at his work, the car snapped a fan belt! Bugger… but tis better to happen now than down the road. So I got on the phone and tried to find a spare parts place. The first 2 did not have the belt I needed. Maybe my luck wasn’t so good afterall? I tried the Landrover dealer. They didn’t have one. I tried Bursons… nope. My last hope, I tried Repco. YES! They have one. So I googled where they were as I wondered how I would get there to pick it up. Well, what do you suppose? There shop was just around the next corner, only 5 minutes walk from where I broke down!
Unregistered Vehicle permit
I thought about this for a long time. I could apply for Queensland registration even though the trailer is only going to be in Queensland for the first 20 kms of the journey, but the first question they want to know is my Queensland drivers license number, and the address where the trailer will be garaged. So the best way to do it would be to get a VicRoads permit from Victoria which are valid interstate, and drive it home to register. My first visit to VicRoads, they could not help me because the VIN number had not been registered in Australia. The manufacturer in the USA, who makes trailers for export to Australia applies for an Australian VIN so it already has it’s number.
Next visit the lady told me she would happily write out a permit, but they are only valid for 28 days so I should come back closer to the date of travel. So just before travelling back to Brisbane, I went there again. The woman was very unhelpful, looked at the documents, rolled her eyes and said “Oh, its an import job”. So where is it now? I told her it was in Queensland. She just shut right up and said I had to see the Queensland motor rego branch. There was nothing she could do. But I have already been told it would be ok, and the permit was valid interstate. “Yes, the permit IS valid interstate, but only if the journey to the VicRoads office starts in Victoria” Does something about this not make sense???? The bloke at the next window leaned across and told me she was absolutely right. Go and see the Queensland office!
So I went back to Queensland. How was I going to do this? I got my brothers name, address, drivers license number, and towed the trailer down to the inspection centre. Finally after waiting in the cue, she called my number. All was going well. It turns out my brother didn’t need to be there and I could act on his behalf. But it all went sour when they asked for a rates notice, or recent bill to prove that his address was, as we had said it was. I don’t have a rates notice!!! Ok, see you later.
I went out into the car park and rang John Cole and was crying on the phone that nobody loved me… John said Nigel just got a permit on the computer, on line and paid with his credit card. So I flipped out the i-pad, went onto the VicRoads site. The wanted to know the VIN number, my name, address, what was the start date of the journey and how long did I need a permit. I put in 14 days and it said pay $22 and it was done all within 10 minutes! Now we just got to get her home before my 2 weeks off work ends!