Boat trailer comes loose - tragic.

got it rj...thanks...learning all the time !!!

Then how did the coupler come off?

Wrong size ball (too small)? latch not in good working order? These
areas of negligence where a good lawyer will earn their keep...

On the insurance thing...think both owner of the TV and the person(s) or company
who did the modification work will be named both in any criminal or civil actions
{edit in blue}

Should have included the driver too, as they
are also held responsible no matter the owner or someone else modified it

This is what I call the day Mr Murphy crosses a persons path...that so many
think only happens to the other guy...and the very thing I manage most all of
my decisions towards...

And expect any settlement will have a NDA so we'll never hear of it again...

carringb wrote:
Hitch balls are strongest when they are in compression from having tongue weight on them.

If a hitch ball is torqued correctly, it's already under thousands of pounds of compression from the mechanical advantage of tightening the nut on the shank. A couple hundred pounds of tongue weight wouldn't make any difference, especially since that weight isn't static when the combo is being driven.

BenK wrote:
Pintle is for a tongue end without a coupler as we normally think on this form, but
for a 'eye' like this:

Look at the picture again. It's a combination hitch that can accommodate either a pintle or ball coupler. When used with a ball coupler the pintle is latched open.

BenK wrote:
If true that the hitch was modified...who ever did the mod's now owns
the liability and hope they knew what they were doing and did it
WELL...and their insurance policy is a good on...plus umbrella policy
in the millions of bucks...

Maybe, but maybe not. If the Tundra owner had his fishing buddy down the street do the (sloppy) modification, I think the more likely scenario is that the Tundra owner (or his insurance company) will be the ones getting sued. Regardless, a very tragic situation.

This is the relevant statement from the article

"Sources close to the investigation said the hitch had been modified in some way.

“It came unhitched from the trailer, it wasn’t properly secured,” a police source said.


The hitch had been modified, and it disconnected from the vehicle. Someone should go to jail IMO.

only part of why bigger tow balls REQUIRE 450-500 ft/lbs of torque on the ball
nut to shank thread

Pre-tensions so that the shank will NOT move, nor bend while towing...that the
ball takes most of the loading, which is then transferred to the shank

for those who scoff at torquing to spec...issue is the ball/shank may move and
BEND in the shank tongue hole...worse are those who advise others who
do NOT know better...and follow "just tighten it good and tight"...

Note that if a 10,000 lbs rated ball is NOT torqued to the OEM's specification of
450-500 ft/lbs....it is now NOT rated for 10,000 lbs...

majorgator wrote:

carringb wrote:

...Hitch balls are strongest when they are in compression from having tongue weight on them. That's why all heavy-duty tow bars don't use hitch-balls.

Huh:h Can't imagine any universe in which that makes sense. Or how its even relevant to this accident.

I did not state that was relevant to this accident. I simply stated that is why I don't like combination ball/pintle hitches. When a hitch ball is loaded for/aft without tongue weight, it is a simple bending load. With tongue weight, the combination down force and for/aft force becomes more of a shear force, where the ball is much stronger (Or any other fastener for that matter). This is why hitch balls should not be used to attach a tow strap.

Yup all arm chair investigators...but here are mine...

The pic shows 'cops' checking it and think they put it back together to see what the
heck was the setup

Pintle is for a tongue end without a coupler as we normally think on this form, but
for a 'eye' like this:



Noticed that there appears to be NO surge brakes, as most boat trailers are
setup that way...as electric brakes do NOT do well submerged

Also, that type of TV Ball/Pintle is designed to have the top part
latched DOWN. Some have self safety, others a pin to hold down the
top part....but looks like the coupler has its latch in the way...so
wondering of the driver had the pintle top portion 'down' or was it
left 'up' ???

Don't see any safety chains either, but not to say there was none...

Article says two times that the trailer became disconnected

Says the TV stopped 100 feet later...if me traveling on a boulevard
where cyclists were...I'd be able to stop way shorter than that...now
that the trailer is no longer hooked up...opinion is that he was going
more than 25MPH-35MPH

First image is of one mangled bicycles...they got hit dead on

In Calif, a 22-foot Trophy fishing boat would be over the min weight
limit where trailer brakes are REQUIRED


If true that the hitch was modified...who ever did the mod's now owns
the liability and hope they knew what they were doing and did it
WELL...and their insurance policy is a good on...plus umbrella policy
in the millions of bucks...

1. The police are looking at the hitch in the photo, as part of the investigation. they are not necessarily hooking it up so the driver can continue on home. The truck is a black Toyota, as stated in the article as having been towing the boat.
2. Many boat trailers are not required to have brakes. Obviously, if they don't have brakes, the can't have a break-away system.
3. I have seen the combination hitches with both 2 inch and 2 5/16 balls. They are quite common around here.
4. I don't see any evidence of safety chains, either. Of course, considering the way some trailers are built, it is entirely possible that the safety chains broke away when the trailer came loose! Too many trailers are built with the safety chain attaching point nothing more than a piece of 3/16 cold rolled mild steel rod welded to the tongue! I like to use 5/16 high strength chain attached to the tongue with at least 1/2 inch Grade 5 bolts.
5. Tragic, for sure, that a death occurred.
However, we should all be aware that it doesn't take much blunt force trauma to severely injure or kill a totally unprotected person. A runaway bicyclist can also hit and injure/kill someone. That would be rare, it is true, but how rare is a runaway boat/trailer?

Some info and more pics here