Salt Life

I know this has had to be covered before, I have been doing a forum search old and new for about an hour now with no results , so here is my question.

regarding tounge weight : How much is too much

and how little is too little.

I just finished my 18' project boat. Does it look like it is sitting too far to the rear ?

kahala boy

IMO which is not worth much, transom sitting on the end of the trailer is a good thing. Looks good to me...

wld1985

How does it feel going down the road??? Swaying at 45MPH?? or rides fine.... When you hit bumps can you hear the tongue jumping from the ball/moving?>?? if so it needs to be moved up some

JoshH

Well the boat isn't flipping up so you must have something right. :doh :moon

The Maintenance Shoppe

Your trailer tongue weight should be between 10% and 15% of your gross trailer weight, including boat trailer and gear. Any lighter you get trailer sway which can get you killed, any more you are over exerting your trailer tongue, jack and tow vehicle attachment points. You don't want you trailer bunks sticking out past the transom, you just break off tranducers an damage trim tabs when not paying attention.



PS your transducer should be mounted atleast 3" past the outer edge of your propeller.

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Salt Life

Thanks TMS ! I thought there was some kind of equation for this.

I haven't weighed the rig yet. Need tags. But I know where to get it weighed and look forward to that # !

[ isnt this right , if the tounge weight is too heavy when you brake under extreem conditions the force "pushes" DOWN adding additional weight /positive energyto the reciever and too little weight " pushes " UPtaking awaydown force on the rears.

I have placed the rear edge of the runners1 1/2inches inside from the outer edge of the transom. That way 1/2 of the transom is still supported. If I need to move the boat foward I will trim off some of the runners, that is no problem.

I am going to have to estimate how much the trailer weighs. Any guesses ? Single axle galvanized trailer .

On the transducer issue. I wanted it mounted as low as possible for sure. It is 3 1/4 inches from the outside edge of the prop. Indeed if I start having issues I will and can move to further out.

DOUBLE "D" & LV

usually try to get the transom even or a maximum of a few inches past he bunks to keep good support there. tms is correct on the 10-15% on tongue weight. with small boats i like to have tongue weight at 100lbs or a little more as a general guide.

fishnfool

yea, the %10-%15 rule usually works well. Too much and it really weighs down the back of the truck, to little and it bounces around like all hell behind you and may even pull off the ball(had it happen once to a buddy who hated too much tongue weight) I usually stop when I have around 100lbs though, even on a larger boat. It's easier to handle and still keeps it on the ball real firm. Also, when figuring out your tongue weight don't forget to compensate for fuel loads(dependig on how it affects the CG on the trailer) and also if you have water tanks as well. If you carry 100 gallons of fuel it can make a helluva difference on trailer balance depending on where it sits it the hull. I know it's probably a stupid thing to remind you of but I've seen people balance a trailer empty on fuel and then wonder why it pulls like a dead pig later on with full tanks. :banghead

Finatic

Anyonegot any clever ideas for checking tounge weight. I have a rig that weighs approx 8000#'s so checking a tounge weight of 800-1000#'s is gonna take a little more that the average bathroom scale.

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Tuna Man

http://www.gmcanada.com/gm/english/s...load/determine