Not a joke post, but sure sounds like one....what is the tongue weight on your trailer?

Mine seems kind of heavy, and I'm planning on moving the axle forward to make it lighter. What do you figure it should weigh?

I'm towing a Hobie 20 with a gear box up front, and a sail box down the length.

Thanks!

Tim J.

Mine weighs about 75 lbs. fully loaded.

I don't think it needs to be that much. Cats are long and light, and aerodynamic forces should keep the trailer in line at highway speeds. I've never heard of a Cat trailer that didn't tow well.

My best guess is 20 - 50 lbs for the proper tongue weight.

Mine weights enough so that I cannot lift it. I need to use one of those little crank wheels to put it on my hitch. The problem is that the original trailer used to build it was really short, and the axle is in the way back.

Add to that a HUGE coffin style plywood catbox and the boat, and you have a certified leadweight tongue.

On the flip side, the ladies say tha... nevermind :P

I have. We have had two tongues break because of the buffeting from the tailwind of the motorhome, causing the trailer to start whipping from side to side. This has only happened with trailers that have long tongues that do not have triangulated supports from the front of the tongue back to the main frame.

Some people trailer their boats backward on the trailer, and one reason that some do it is because with the sharp bows facing forward, the bows catch the wind and can get an oscillation going.

Other people trailer the boat backward just because it is easier to raise the mast when it is sitting up on the trailer mast stand and you don't have to do that initial cling-and-jerk maneuver. (But if you drop it, you will probably dent the top of your vehicle.)

Mine is about 250lbs...with my scooter loaded between the hulls!

Prior to some serious trailer surgery, the trailer and boat weight was 900lbs (400lb+ Nacra 6.0 on a galvanized trailer, and a large alumninum toy box). The target as per most trailer guidelines is 10% of the overall weight should be on the tongue - so it should have been 90lbs instead of the, difficult to man handle, 195lbs that it was.

I lengthened the tongue on my trailer by 6' and moved the axle forward 33" so I could balance the trailer better and be able to leave my mast on the trailer behind my RV. Without compensating for the weight of the steel this would put me with 100lbs on the tongue. As mary pointed out, I found that the additional unsupported 6' set the tail wagging the dog behind the RV or whenever a truck would pass me in my small truck. Back in the shop for some additional 110lbs worth of reinforcements with the intention of being able to put the scooter on the trailer this time. Tongue weight with just boat and trailer is back to about 180lbs (thanks to all the steel after my calculation). But I can get it behind the RV, with the scooter, and it's rock solid now.

I built my own trailer and have it set up so there is probably less than 30 lbs on the hitch (Prindle 18). When I had my H16 on the trailer, it sat farther forward and I had around 80 lbs up front. I can't tell the difference with towing on either setup. I just sold a different Hobie 16 that had well over 100 lbs on the hitch and it towed great also. It sounds like the consensus is that as long as you have a strong framework, the tongue weight isn't real critical on a cat trailer.
Fort Loramie, Ohio

I find it very hard to imagine an axle breaking from this kind of side loading. I can imagine that it would cause accelerated bearing wear and, if not corrected, eventual spindle failure. Bracing of the tongue itself shouldn't have any impact on towability (although it will make the trailer sturdier) - The center of mass, center of drag, and position of the axle should be the predominant factors.

I didn't think about buffeting caused by a large RV when I wrote my first post. You are not going to solve that problem by adding a large weight like a scooter to the front of the trailer, though. To resist buffeting, what you want is as much weight on the trailer's wheels with as long a lever arm between the ball and axle as possible (if you don't belive this, think about what would happen if you had no load on the wheels). Because the friction force is not quite linear with the load on the wheels, the lever arm term is slightly stronger, so it does pay off to move the axle back even though that will decrease the load on the wheels. Increasing the tongue weight in and of itself does nothing though.

I have been thinking about building a new trailer for a while, and I've been checking out other people's trailers at regattas. None of the ones I've looked at had more than 50 lbs. tongue weight loaded, and none of the owners complained about towability. Take it with a grain of salt, your mileage may vary, etc, etc.

Being able to manhandle the tongue easily is a very nice feature in a trailer.

Whoops! Sorry! It was not axles that broke -- it was tongues that broke.

I have now edited my prior post. Thanks for catching that.

I think a trailer tongue should weigh about 100 lbs, or more.
I have moved a trailer axle backwards, because it was too light ("perfectly balanced, he said"), and oscillated too much when loaded.
My current trailer I moved axle forward to lighten tongue load - it was too heavy to pick up easily, and didn't roll well on the cheesy plastic wheel up front.

Think about this - what company has most experience with the "average guy" and a trailer? -- UHAUL.
What does it say on every trailer they rent? - "Load most of your weight in front of the axle".

The heavier the tounge weight, the less oscillation. This has been my experience towing with large pick-ups and duallys (towing 5th wheel campers to large powerboats). I can shift the weight around and see quite a dramatic difference with the cat as well as the rest.

I have mine just heavy enough so I can lift it but not so heavy that I cannot move it around. Stability while towing is a must. I personally would rather have the tounge a little heavy and have the stability while towing.

Dont just use someone elses figure to try to figure out what your tounge weight should be. All of these trailers are a little different (not to mention what you tow it with).

Is it possible to move the boat back some? Are you having problems towing now, or is it just too heavy for you?

Moving the axle may be a good idea. It does'nt take much!

AJ
Nacra 6.0 Express

My main difficulty was that of being able to manhandle the tongue. Too heavy, and I'm guessing it's nearly 150 lbs or more. Time to lighten the load. I plan on doing so Thursday after work.

We'll see what happens!

Tim

I'm going to see what happens when I take the coffin off my trailer before I try extending the rear crossbar aft.

(can't move the axle foreward)

Tim,
I had the same problem with my trailer after I moved the sail box forward. I moved the box back on the trailer to the original position and the problem went away. Can you move the box and cradles back vs the axle?
My tongue weight is 70 lbs, even my 16 year old can move it to mow the grass.

I have a galv trailer by Long mfg. With the boat's cross bars centered on the rollers of the trailer I have 40-50 lbs of tongue weight. When I get to the landing I take the rear strap off and push her back on the trailer to get 0 lbs tongue weight for effortless manuevering on the beach. Lucky for me , the road ends and the beach begins. (now that should be a song title)

in my case, the tail wagging was the tongue flexing because it was unsupported for a good length. The trailer wasn't swerving but it was wiggling side to side (like a snake). The scooter had nothing to do with trailer stability but the reinforcements I added were beefed up to be able to handle the additional load that far forward of the axle.