Double towing

[travelcamper]

We are researching best way to tow a Honda Goldwing trike behind a fifth wheel and be legal in all states. Would like to hear from anyone with experience and advice on this subject.

[fj12ryder]

I will have to admit that the new toyhaulers are much nicer than a lot of them when we first started looking at 5th wheels/toyhaulers about 10 years ago. About all we could find then were toyhaulers that looked like you just hose them out. Not much in the way of nice looking interiors. Things have definitely changed, for the better I might add.

[sayoung]

fj12ryder wrote:
The post I was replying to made a blanket statement: "just upgrade to a big toyhualer." I was making note of the fact that "it ain't necessarily so". 🙂

Excuse my phraseology.I should have said change from as regular fifth wheel rv to a toy hauler style fifthwheel.

[fj12ryder]

The post I was replying to made a blanket statement: "just upgrade to a big toyhualer." I was making note of the fact that "it ain't necessarily so". 🙂

[Mile_High]

fj12ryder wrote:

sayoung wrote:

Winged One wrote:

travelcamper wrote:
We are researching best way to tow a Honda Goldwing trike behind a fifth wheel and be legal in all states. Would like to hear from anyone with experience and advice on this subject.

Only way you can be legal in all States is to get a Toyhauler.

Just my thought if I ever started needing a motorcycle or small car with us,just upgrade to a big toyhualer.I also thought about a HDT with a ramp between cab & hitch.

Well, moving from a 5th wheel to a toyhauler isn't necessarily an "upgrade". The 5th wheel before our present toyhauler was much nicer inside than our toyhauler: bigger bathroom and shower, nicer kitchen area, just nicer overall. But the toyhauler carries the bikes better so we sacrificed a bit to do that. But no way is our toyhauler an upgrade from our previous 5th wheel.

That may be in your case - but there are a lot of different 5 ers and a lot of different toy haulers. For some it may be an upgrade.

[fj12ryder]

sayoung wrote:

Winged One wrote:

travelcamper wrote:
We are researching best way to tow a Honda Goldwing trike behind a fifth wheel and be legal in all states. Would like to hear from anyone with experience and advice on this subject.

Only way you can be legal in all States is to get a Toyhauler.

Just my thought if I ever started needing a motorcycle or small car with us,just upgrade to a big toyhualer.I also thought about a HDT with a ramp between cab & hitch.

Well, moving from a 5th wheel to a toyhauler isn't necessarily an "upgrade". The 5th wheel before our present toyhauler was much nicer inside than our toyhauler: bigger bathroom and shower, nicer kitchen area, just nicer overall. But the toyhauler carries the bikes better so we sacrificed a bit to do that. But no way is our toyhauler an upgrade from our previous 5th wheel.

[sayoung]

Winged One wrote:

travelcamper wrote:
We are researching best way to tow a Honda Goldwing trike behind a fifth wheel and be legal in all states. Would like to hear from anyone with experience and advice on this subject.

Only way you can be legal in all States is to get a Toyhauler.

Just my thought if I ever started needing a motorcycle or small car with us,just upgrade to a big toyhualer.I also thought about a HDT with a ramp between cab & hitch.

[Mile_High]

Just a couple of bewares for both:

The swivel trailers can really add to the tail swing! I watched a Cougar with an ATV on a swivel trailer struggle to get out of a fuel station onto the road.

A standard trailer on too short of a tongue can make for a bad vacation as well. The wide swing on these 5th wheels can put that rear trailer at a tight swing pretty fast and it may meet the rear clip on the 5er. Check the turning angles and consider its not always level.

[Bionic_Man]

GPG52! wrote:
On the topic of "getting away with it"....I wonder how the insurance companies would look at a claim in a case where you were not legal on the road. I suspect this would be grounds to reject a claim and possibly cancel your policy completely. Food for thought... I'm not an insurance expert. GPG

They would look at it the same way as if you were doing anything else illlegal - like driving too fast, following too close, not using turn signals, DUI, etc. They would pay the claim.

[GPG52_]

On the topic of "getting away with it"....I wonder how the insurance companies would look at a claim in a case where you were not legal on the road. I suspect this would be grounds to reject a claim and possibly cancel your policy completely. Food for thought... I'm not an insurance expert. GPG

[C-Bears]

I would never consider double-towing as RVer's like to refer to it. But I ran into another camper last year that was traveling with a fiver and Harley trike, not a toy hauler. He had a light weight aluminum trailer for the trike and a hitch on the trike. He could actually tow the aluminum trailer with the trike if he got stopped.

Something like that could be the answer for you if worried about certain states. If you get stopped and they force you to unhook, just have the DW drive your rig and you hook up your trike to the trike trailer and away you go until you get out of that state. Or at least get down the road 50 miles or so.

[ogfalconsr]

I have some friends that travel quite extensively, more so than me, and they search out and talk to folks that specifically double tow in FL (some are residents others are not) and nobody has been stopped. The non residents some from Canada and some from Indiana have been doing it for several years. Actually one fellow from Indiana just made his 3rd trip and has passed FHP, GaHP and locals and was never given a second look. There have been indepth discussions with 2 FL residents. One is over the 65 ft length and again no problems. Then another fellow has gone from Ft. Meyers to Stone Mountain in GA as well as towing back and forth to DISNEY, never stopped. He actually told me the catch is in FL it says no to double "trailers" ball hitch and a FW is not considered a trailer per the definition. The consensus - as told by FHP that if your driving "sanely" they have no reason to pull you over. Keep your head about you.

With the above said, this is only a 'drive by' survey so travel at your own risk. However, personally, I also tow a small trailer behind my FW that has my golf cart and I have been quite a few places myself and have never had law enforcement issues in the states I have passed through.

[Winged_One]

travelcamper wrote:
We are researching best way to tow a Honda Goldwing trike behind a fifth wheel and be legal in all states. Would like to hear from anyone with experience and advice on this subject.

Only way you can be legal in all States is to get a Toyhauler.

[WeBeFulltimers]

RoyB wrote:
I would look into something like this platform with swivel wheels on it. I don't think this is considered a trailer but a platform attachment to the end of your trailer... This would be for your motorcycle or golf cart...

Not claiming that this is legal everywhere, but if I was interested in carrying anything that would fit this and not be over the its weight limits this is what I would use. I would be sure to have a heavy duty hitch system professionally installed on my fiver.

[RedRam]

Some states do allow double towing while other states do not allow it.
All states that do allow double towing have a maximum towing length and not all those states have the same allowable towing length.
I advise you to check the laws in each state you plan on traveling to see which ones allow double towing and the maximum allowable length.