How do you judge proper tongue weight when trailering? If the hitch makes a good solid thunk, I figure thats enough!

Pete:

If I have to strain I move the boat back. I think you want about 100-150 lbs, but I am not sure? Need a expert here.

Doug

The general rule of thumb is to have 10% of the load weight on the tongue. Just use a bathroom scale to weigh what you have. If you do not already know the weight of the boat, trailer, and box with gear, then you can take it to a truck scale (many local businesses) for an accurate total weight - usually for just a few bucks. Easy way to adjust the tongue weight is by boat placement but it could mean moving the trailer axle if it is way off or the boat position is set.

Don't move the axle too far forward or the frame behind the axle will slooooowwwwwwly sag.

I think it is better to err on the side of too much tongue weight rather than too little. I was trailering two double-stacked boats to Ohio last year, and after having driven a couple hundred miles with no problem, suddenly the trailer started fishtailing badly. I was on a freeway, and I had to keep slowing down to about 40 mph to get the fishtailing under control each time it started.

So I stopped early for the night and I asked the advice of a trucker who was staying at the same motel. He checked out the trailer and said the axle is bowed down and the wheels are canted out and the bearings on the starboard side are probably going to disintegrate soon from the stress. He advised me not to drive far. I said, "Well, I have to go another 700 miles." He said, "No way. Go to a repair place and get a new axle and replace the bearings."

I did not take his advice. Instead, I decided that the boats had slid back on the trailer because of not being tied tight enough. (Not our boats and not our trailer.) Figuring the problem might be from not enough tongue weight, I pushed the boats forward a little, tied them down very tight, and had no problem the rest of the way to Ohio.

The 10% rule is a good one. In teh case of most of our cats that is about 100-150 lbs of tounge wight. I know that class 1 hitches are rated for 200 lbs max tounge weight. Here is why balancing a trailer is so important:

1) If the weight is too far forward you will have too much tounge weight (obviously). This will cause the back end of your vehicle to lift the weight off the front wheels resutling in less ability to steer effectively on slippery road surfaces (or clean one depending on how bad it is). This is mostly dependant on your tow vehicle.

2) If the weight is too far aft (too little tounge weight) then the vehicle is "holding" the trailer down and the trailer wants to whip (like in Mary's case) which will toss the back end of your vehicle around and wear out the trailers suspension and bearings as well as your vehicles.

So, you want to lod the trailer such that the tounge weight does not depress the rear suspension of your tow vehicle too much, but just enough. I know this is not exact, but you can feel the difference between a properly balanced trailer and on that is not. Very tow vehicle dependant.

For example. On my VW Passat 1.8T (yes a 150 HP 4 cyl), manual. I tow the TheMightyHobie18 on a Trailex trailer. I line up the front cross bars of the boat and trailer. I usually have the mast top out as far as the rudder tips are when locked up. This gives me about 125 lbs of tounge weight and great balance. The car steers very well in all conditions.

Fishtailing is caused by the center of gravity not being forward of the axle.
tongue weight should be enough to make sure you do not fishtail, and be less than the limit of the hitch.
my old hitch had a 200# limit, and that is very uncomfortable to lift, so I use what is comfortable to lift at the hitch end, 75 to 100#.

All good info in here. A couple of points though.

Actually you are supposed to have 8% of the total trailer weight on the tounge of the trailer.

Also the weight is not nessessarily the same as the weight on the front wheel. Sometimes those trailer wheels can be set back from the tounge a good distance which would be different from the tounge weight.

So if your trailer weighs 1000lbs you need 80lbs on the actual tounge of the trailer.

Mike Hill

Thanks Mike for clarifying the 8%. I don't know what your source is but it makes common sense to me. I'm not the biggest or strongest guy around but I've pulled many different trailer/boat combo's with less than 100 lbs. of tongue weight and never had a problem (not double stacked mind you) and it's easier on my back. I've always adjusted the boat forward or back on the trailer to get a managable weight to lift.

All great info! Now, how FAST do people feel comfortable towing a cat?

I would say under 70. 60 might be better.

Hi guys,

I do around 35,000 miles per year and 90% of that is either towing around 3-4000 lbs for work or 2 f18's & associated stuff.

IMHO the 8-10% theory is ok up to 150lbs. Most car tow hitches are designed to have max 200lbs vertical load and up to 5000lbs gross trailer weight.

As for speed - if your trailer is loaded properly and the load tied down, speed is generally not an issue. (Have been guilty of making a TheMightyHobie18 do 120mph down a fwy late for a regatta many years ago . Common sense needs to apply though - you can't go around corners anywhere near as fast and stopping distances are longer.

Tiger Mike

Speed is also dependant on the tire diameter and how much you trust your bearings. The larger the tire the faster you can go since the bearing angular speed is reduced.

Again, drive so you can control your car and the trailer. Keep your distance from vehicles in front of you since you can't stop as fast (especially the smaller lighter vehicles that seem to stop on a dime).

I have found with my trailer and car I feel comfortable going about 70-75 mph on the interstates. When the wind is blowing I slow down since the trailer is relatively light and gets blown around.

Make sure everything is secured very well. I was coming back from a week long vacation in Vermont 2 years ago and was drivng behind my freind who was pulling his TheMightyHobie18. The front tie-downs failed and the bows lifted straight up in the air. While it was vertical it rotated around the rear tie down, landed on the pavement and was drug sterns first for about 500 ft until he could pull it off the road.

This all happened about 5 car lengths in front of me. Had the rear tie down not held it would have been a very painful (or very short) expereince for me. Fortunatly the only damage was to his keels and it was repaired.

It never hurts to have an extra tie down in place.

I pulled a Bobie 20 to Florida and back twice. I average about 70 when I have a clear road. Eileen does about 80...rock on girl! We pull it with a Mustang 5 liter (302). Knock on wood, no problems.

Dan

Interesting info. The situations that scare me the most while trailering (I keep it to 60-65, after that my gas milage goes WAAAAAY down), is being passed by big rigs. The amount of air those thing push around is astounding and cause the trailer to weave all over. Any advise to keep the trailer in shape when being passed by these behemouths?

When towing a lightweight setup like a cat, there is not much you can do. Just anticipate the surge and try to keep from getting blown off the road. Heavy trailers and boats move much less. For example my Stiletto 27 doesn't move when a rig passes by, I actually like the push to keep that thing moving . It probably about 2500#, boat, trailer and gear.

Nope they don't make beach wheels for that one!

Clayton

Which works better for trailer stability: having a wide axle with the wheels far apart or having a narrow axle with the wheels close together? And whichever way is better, WHY?

Mary, I think we can apply the same principle from sports cars with excellent road gripping abilities. The wider the wheelbase, the better.

I do beleive is the wheel base is wider, the center of gravitiy is stationed towards the center and barely shifts. If the wheel base is narrow the center of gravity is more substantial to shifts, left right for and aft.

Also another thing that works good with trailors is to have bigger wheels/tires. Bigger wheels and tires will lessen the rotation on the bearings. Making them rotate less, causing less wear and tear through reduced heat.

Mary,

When you say stability what, exactly, do you mean? It is resistance to tipping over sideways? If yes, then a wider stance in better, i.e. a cat vs a mono.

Or do you mean how much the trailer "dances" around behind the tow vehicle? If yes, then a longer distance from the trailer hitch to the axel will have a much greater affect than a wider stance. That distance being longer will cause the trailer to follow your tow vehicle better (it will center it self better) and it will make backing up much easier.

By "stability" I meant how well it tracks behind the towing vehicle and how little it gets thrown around when big vehicles pass it.

So you are saying that this is not necessarily specifically related to the width of the axle, but is also related to the length of the trailer tongue?

I'm not an engineer, so bear with me on this. If you have a narrow axle and your trailer wheels are close together, does that mean you should have a shorter tongue. And if you have a wide axle (wheels far apart), you need a longer tongue? Or is it vice versa?

I know I have followed some trailers with very wide axles, carrying ATV's, and they seem to be all over the place. And I have followed one of our trailers with the narrow axle carrying three boats, and it seems to track very true.

So is this all a function of relative tongue length vis-a-vis axle width? (Assuming proper weight on the hitch.)