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Tongue Weight of trailer

Remediation

Remediation

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Lake Cumberland KY - White Oak Community Dock
For first time trailer towing members, I just got back from the CAT scales at the local truck stop.  The scales for semi's have 3 zones.  I pulled onto the scale with the truck in one zone and the trailer in the zone behind the truck.  With the trailer attached I weighed the rig.  Without moving the rig, i detached the trailer and had a reweigh.  

Truck with trailer attached - 6580lb

Truck without trailer           - 6400lb

Trailer unattached             - 4120lb

Tongue weight                   -   180lb

FYI - a 22sfx with 150 Mercury and 1/4 tank of fuel weighs 3220lbs. No anchors or coolers. 

Recommended tongue weight is 10-15% of trailer weight.

I should have 412-618lbs of tongue weight. 

I don't have enough tongue weight and will need to bring boat forward on the trailer.  Reweighs are $2 a piece for 24 hours so tonight I will move the boat and reweigh in the morning.

Also make sure your tandem axle trailer frames are level.  Play with ball mounts till you get it level.  It is safer and easier on the equipment. 
 
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Good info. I had to flip my ball on the hitch to get the trailer level. Sits level now. Last weekend I moved the boat up about 5" as I was too light on tongue weight when storing to storage in the fall as that was the first time it traveled down the road for more than a mile. Made a huge difference and feels a lot more stable. I guess that is a perk of having a trailer that is a little too big to allow room to move it!
 
Remediation said:
For first time trailer towing members, I just got back from the CAT scales at the local truck stop.  The scales for semi's have 3 zones.  I pulled onto the scale with the truck in one zone and the trailer in the zone behind the truck.  With the trailer attached I weighed the rig.  Without moving the rig, i detached the trailer and had a reweigh.  

Truck with trailer attached - 6580lb

Truck without trailer           - 6400lb

Trailer unattached             - 4120lb

Tongue weight                   -   180lb

FYI - a 22sfx with 150 Mercury and 1/4 tank of fuel weighs 3640lbs. No anchors or coolers. 

Recommended tongue weight is 10-15% of trailer weight.

I should have 412-618lbs of tongue weight. 

I don't have enough tongue weight and will need to bring boat forward on the trailer.  Reweighs are $2 a piece for 24 hours so tonight I will move the boat and reweigh in the morning.

Also make sure your tandem axle trailer frames are level.  Play with ball mounts till you get it level.  It is safer and easier on the equipment. 
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This is great data to have for a lot of folks here. I'm a little puzzled though, that your trailer alone only weighs 480# (4120-3640)? Did I misunderstand?
 
Andy, Andy, Andy...
 
My take-away on this thread...our boats are heavy. Heavier than you think. And in my case, substantially heavier than Bennington published. A 22' S series in at 3600+. Lightly loaded on trailer. I bet boat alone is 2,500.

My boat on trailer is over 6,000 pounds.

Take-away...these boats are built...and heavy to match. Keep that in mind when readers and researchers are considering tow vehicles and trailers.
 
Tom, I did miss up.  The cert of origin listed the weight as 480 KG 900lbs .  I will fix the post.
 
I have not seen a pontoon trailer without adjustable axles, I would do this before moving the boat on the trailer if it is positioned correctly the axle adjustment would be the way to go. Slide the axles back a bit first.
 
Mine are not adjustable. 
 
BulldogsCadillac said:
Mine are not adjustable. 
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Interesting, I would not buy a trailer for a pontoon where I could have a number of different boats on it if it did not have adjustable axles, my Shorelanr' has about a foot of front to back adjustment to the axle cradle mount to the frame rails. My previous Karavan trailer was the same way and I had to fine tune the axle position on both to get the bounce out of the tongue so the boat rode smoother, I was not worried about tongue weight just the ride of the boat going down the road. Boat should be centered in the 'Load area" of the trailer or where the bunk supports are the rest should be axle adjustment.

Could you get pictures of you suspension system and post, I am interested in how it is set up and why they are not adjustable.
 
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Could you get pictures of you suspension system and post, I am interested in how it is set up and why they are not adjustable.

 

 

It is not adjustable because it is a "Custom Executive Trailer" so the wheel fenders and step points are welded and formed directly to the frame. It would have made my life easier if the first one had been adjustable!  That was why I had to get them to make new supports for my center toon. When they designed it specifically for my model they had the center toon hanging about 2+ feet unsupported, which I wasn't comfortable with. They have since changed their design and now include the extra bump out on ESP models. 

 

I don't know if I have pics specifically of the suspension system, but you can get the idea from these couple pics I think











The one with the trailer being pulled after launch isn't mine, just a stock photo.
 
Definitely a fixed system but that trailer has a lot heavier frame and suspension than most which is probably the difference.
 
If someone is making minor weight changes, the winch tower adjustments can be used.  But when major weight changes are needed, adjusting the axles would be warranted.

I just know that I can barely lift my tongue off the ground unloaded.  Loaded, I don't try to manhandle or push around the trailer manually.

I don't care how heavy a pontoon boat is.  Because of the sheer length and lack of aerodynamics, they pull like they're 1500 lbs. heavier.  And that means that we need to tow these rigs with a vehicle that has much more tow capability than the weight being towed.

I'm good for 13,200 lbs. towing with my diesel pickup.
 
If you are adjusting weight transfer by sliding the axle assembly, make sure you also identify all connection points for brake lines and wiring. We needed to drill a new hole on each side for the fender marker light wire (in the end, both the new hole and old hole were hidden by the axle assembly frame on our setup) and we relocated the brake line mounting bracket to ensure no additional tension from the axle assembly shift. Just take a close look at everything first before you start to see what might be affected. While still not overly difficult, it may be slightly more involved than loosening up some u-bolts and sliding it to a new position.

Of course, if any new holes need drilled,  you'll need to be extra careful not to tag any wires or brake lines within the frame with the drill. To slide it, we put our tongue and frame up on jack stands and if you do this loaded, location for proper frame support should be well thought out (to keep from dragging the axle assembly along the frame). Unloaded would be much preferred but I had the equipment handy and we're 20 minutes from the lake... For us, once the weight was off the axle assembly, we just loosened it up, slid it back by hand, drilled the new wiring holes, slide it into new position, and re-fished the wires through the new holes.

We also moved the bunk stop (front step assembly) to shift the boat slightly forward on the bunk boards and reduce our overall length. So for us, a combination of both and since we always trailer (sometimes on longer trips) it was that much more crucial for us to get this right... Every boat model / trailer model combination is going to be different so if you are unsure of what is right or you are not comfortable doing it, probably best to leave it up to your dealer.
 
The Hoosier trailer uses torsion axles so they are not movable.  I would never buy a trailer with springs.  In the 40 years of towing the only thing that has broken on my trailers are the springs.  

I did move the bunk stop tower forward 2".  Then filled the boat tank.  It took 16 gals. The tank is at the back of the boat.  I reweighed the boat and only increased the tongue weight by 20 lbs.  Still too light by 200 lbs.    
 
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