moving boat with lawnmower?
 

I have an old simplicity 14hp mower, thats been retired for awhile. However I was thinking of how much it sucks to push the boat in and out of the garage, its a 11/2 man job (me and the boy) and its getting tiring. I would just back it in using the car but the road I live on is a 1 car wide road, and the lady next door gets all pissy when people drive through her yard when im backing the boat in, which takes some time. I have to get the racks off the tower, get the tower down etc... so I potentially block the road for maybe 5-7 mins and I hate feeling rushed. But I could back the boat in the driveway, unhook, get the car outta the road, and then take care of things and finish putting the boat in with the lawnmower?

anyone ever do anything like this? pics?

Can it stop??

If you do this.... Please post pictures!

What about a powered trailer dolly (something like this: http://www.parkit360.com/PurchaseUSA.htm#m). If you are handy, you could probably make one for a lot less.

I don't know if that is such a good idea. Once your boat gets a little momentum, I don't think that lawnmower will be able to stop it .

ya the only 2 problems I can see is the stopping and tongue weight. I just did some googleing and it appears that there are some people that use this method. I wonder if I just keep it slow, and have wheel chocks in place in the garage. im only moving 30ft straight back into the garage. Its a hydrostatic transmission so if you slide it from reverse to "neutral" it locks whatever kinda brakes the mower has.

The trailer dollies are a bit expensive especially considering I have this old lawn tractor here.

I may just scrap the idea all together and continue to man up and let the neighbor bitch.

Got an image of the driveway? Is it totally level? If so, I would only worry about the tongue weight lifting your front wheels. Maybe put a hitch on the front of the mower if there is a place. Take a pic of the driveway and of the old mower.... I bet you can make it work.

be careful, could get you tazed...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95qZtwJNjxk

It sounds like you are just going straight, so you should be fine. If you are having to turn the boat and have an incline, then I would avoid it!

I move my boat with my 4 wheeler. Just go slow. Try it SLOW and see what happens.

Just put some blocks in the garage where you want the wheels to stop at and go slow and you should be fine.

:DYOU HAVE THE RIGHT to crap in your pants:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D i'm rolling on the floorLOL:D:D:D:D

You already know it is an iffy situation but you can experiment away from any structures/vehicles on a level surface to see how it goes. If it is a totally level and smooth surface I could imagine the jack stand could be put down so that it could absorb a lot of the tongue weight.

You might be a redneck when.......Sorry, couldn’t resist

I put a ball on my 24 horse John Deere a few years ago and do it all the time

This is how I know when my boat is all the way in the carport. I have 2 stepping stones that stop the wheels. Make sure to mark the locations once you get them exactly right so you'll know if somebody moves them.

I used to do it with an 18 horse John Deere. No problem at all, worked great. I was on a relatively flat surface.

Have you considered a front hitch and push/move your boat around by the front of your truck/SUV/etc.? You'll have all the power and brake of your vehicle. It's amazingly easy and fast how you can move the boat with the front of your vehicle. If you have one of the big 3 trucks/SUV, it costs about $150 to get a front hitch. These are readily available from all the main hitch manufacturers (Reese, Hidden Hitch, etc.) and all bolt directly to the frame with minimal if any cut to the front plastic lip under the bumper.

Tell your neighbor they don't own the road and keep doing what you're doing. I would just say if you can do any of the prep like removing board racks tower fold down etc, before you actually get there, that might be better. Think of it as reverse launch ettiquite. Haha. Definitely not worth doing anything unsafe because your neighbor is a douche.

I do it all of the time with a 1989 Sears 18HP garden tractor - had to fabricate a bracket for the 2" ball to be bolted to the frame but works pretty good. Have to use the tractor and car dollies to pivot turn my tandem axle trailer becuase the trees block access from the neighbrs yard and don't have enough clearence to back the boat into a single car garage with 27 feet of asplate in front of the garage door.

As mentioned before, braking is a different story - just make sure you have plenty of space because stopping a 4K lbs boat and trailer can be dicey.

Will be pulling the boat out tomorrow from behind the house, will try to take a pic - looks a little redneck, but it the only way to manuveur in a confined space

I move mine with a modified floor jack, and my son and daughter. Pretty tough and very OKIE! No offense to anyone out there.

Here are the pictures from this morning after pulling from behind the house,

Lets see you launch it with the Craftsman. It would make a good Youtube video.

Know my limits

I did this with a 13 HP mower like the one above. I only did it twice. I had a hard time getting up a 1 1/2 inch stepup on a level surface. Mind you this was in a mid turn however i did not have any confidence at all that i could stop the boat if for any reason it built up just a small amount of momentum. 3-4k lb boat and trailer combo vs a 500 lb mower/tractor... i don't have to tell you which one will win.

i vote for the front hitch on the truck.