Has any one moved the post on the Shorland'r trailer?

[Julian]

My quick research says it should be 10-15% or 9-14% of total Trailer weight....so it should be over 500lbs for my boat & trailer. For some reason I seem to recall reading that our hitches were max 500lbs....(but apparently I must be wrong on that).

 

[Neutron]

This is right from shorelanders websight

https://www.shorelandr.com/pages/pf_trstep3.htm

 

[Neutron]

My quick research says it should be 10-15% or 9-14% of total Trailer weight....so it should be over 500lbs for my boat & trailer. For some reason I seem to recall reading that our hitches were max 500lbs....(but apparently I must be wrong on that).

Most do max out at 500 to 600

 

[swatski]

From everything I've learned and read about trailer weight, the tongue weight should be about 12% of total weight.

I know my camper moves around much more when I don't have the front loaded like I normally do and the water tank is empty.

I've never experienced instability from the tongue being too heavy, it's hard for me to imagine that the boat trailer is so heavy in the front it causes instability.

The video posted above is a great example of weight distribution.
A trailer with too little tongue weight is dangerous.

I think campers are a different story all together. Hence weight distribution hitches and sway bars - never used with our boats.

Depending who you talk to, the tongue weight for smaller boats is more like 5-7%of total
http://www.venturetrailers.com/images/sup-weight.gif
BoatUS recommends 7-10%

We are definitely over that, no question.
@blacksapphirez that video is very instructive, I had seen 100 different versions. However, the weight distribution changes are drastic. Really have little bearing to what we are discussing here albeit the mechanics of course are the same.

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[Neutron]

A 240 or 242 full of fuel, anchor, gear, loaded up is going to tip the scales close to 6 grand. So 15% of that is 900 lbs.....
Way too much. Truck would steer like crap and its going to kill any 1/2 ton truck
Over time

 

[blacksapphirez]

This is right from shorelanders websight

https://www.shorelandr.com/pages/pf_trstep3.htm

Wow this is a news to me. My boat and trailer weighs 5000lbs so my tongue weight should be 250lbs per their recommendation of 5%.

Seems ridiculously low but I will give this a try

 

[swatski]

This is right from shorelanders websight

https://www.shorelandr.com/pages/pf_trstep3.htm

@Neutron Thank you for going to the source. How logical.

I think that clarifies this discussion quite a bit. Recommended tongue weight is 5% for double axle boat trailers, with the admissible range of 5-7%.

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[swatski]

Hell, I'm moving my by 6-8 inches next time I hit the ramp.

Thank you, @Neutron. I knew something wasn't right.

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[blacksapphirez]

Wait...if the tongue weight is 250 and a 300lb man hops on the swim platform while its not hooked up... means it could flip backwards?

 

[swatski]

Wait...if the tongue weight is 250 and a 300lb man hops on the swim platform while its not hooked up... means it could flip backwards?

LMAO, simple machines - anyone? Think about the length of the tongue.
No, a 300-pound-er will not flip the boat on a trailer.

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[Neutron]

Hell, I'm moving my by 6-8 inches next time I hit the ramp.

Thank you, @Neutron. I knew something wasn't right.

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All i can say is try it, drive it and see for yourself if it ain't better move it back.
Pretty simple free mod.

 

[swatski]

All i can say is try it, drive it and see for yourself if it ain't better move it back.
Pretty simple free mod.

Well, there is more to it, actually. I have a feeling most of us have just been doing it wrong, working off of the wrong set of assumptions. I know I have.

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[Wayloncle]

Wow!
5% seems really low, but if that's what works

I have no idea what mine is, it's not super heavy and it tows great, now I'm curious about the weights.

 

[Hana]

Shorelandr' also recommends that the transom of the boat should be flush with the edge of the bunks. I believe to make proper adjustments you would need to move the axles.

 

[Mainah]

Please be careful boating buddies. Too little tounge weight will cause you to sway side to side at speed and us dangerous. Here is a link to a site that I believe has it right when it comes to the percentages and a way to figure out your tongue weight with a bathroom scale using simple physics.

http://www.eyershitch.com/trailer-weight.html

 

[swatski]

Shorelandr' also recommends that the transom of the boat should be flush with the edge of the bunks. I believe to make proper adjustments you would need to move the axles.

Mine is exactly flush, to within 1/2", and I am fairly certain that I have too much weight on the tongue. I feel like the factory jack is about to buckle... To the point I am afraid to fully extend it. It could be my imagination of course.

The bunks support the hull but have nothing to do with the weight distribution.

I'm definitely considering moving the post, weighing the tongue before and after. I would not be surprised if mine is NOT within the desired specs right now.

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[Mainah]

Please be careful boating buddies. Too little tounge weight will cause you to sway side to side at speed and us dangerous. Here is a link to a site that I believe has it right when it comes to the percentages and a way to figure out your tongue weight with a bathroom scale using simple physics.

http://www.eyershitch.com/trailer-weight.html

So I just did the tounge weight thing from the link above. Full tank of gas, mooring cover stowed under bow seats, 150 lbs of batteries in battery comparment. Wakeboard and skis in locker. Slide spike under bow seats, anchor, anchor chain, and anchor line stowed in anchor locker, life jackets stowed, tool/ emergency kit in helm, level trailer. Used a couple of pieces of lolli column for the pipes, concrete patio block for the brick, accurate digital bathroom scale, 2x10 for the board and a 20 ton bottle jack under the tow point. Net result is ~ 625 tounge weight on a boat and trailer I estimate to be 5600 lbs (5000 lbs dry plus 300 lbs fuel, 150 lbs batteries, mooring cover, anchor, slide spike, etc).

So about 11 percent weight on the tounge of a tandem axle trailer from the factory is pretty good and I would not want less. Goes to show my warnings about hauling a 24 footer with a 5k/500lb rated tow vehicle are warranted. IMO get the right tow vehicle for the job instead if trying to take weight off the tounge when it is needed there.

 

[txav8r]

Just remember that this is a geometric proportion. You won't need 6-8" aft to cut the trailer weight significantly. There is an equation for this, but it is a simple lever and fulcrum. The additional dynamic is that your towing this too, and that balance is critical. Tongue too heavy is MUCH safer than tongue too light. If you moved the post back 1/2" to 1", your going to dramatically lessen the tongue weight.

I wanted to mention too, that the bunks don't really support the hull. The steel bunk mount supports the hull within a foot or so of the mounts. The bunks only provide a way to guide the boat onto, and off of the trailer. You can prove this to yourself by taking a putty knife, and slipping it between the bunk and the boat hull at any random point along the bunks that isn't within a foot or so of a steel bunk support mount. I would consider not only the tongue weight but boat position on the mounts, as the boat is balanced on them, not just the trailers overall balance. Just a thought, because when I changed my bow stop roller, I loosened my bow strap and kind of jerked the boat back off the roller with the tow vehicle. I can tell you the boat was literally on a teeter totter at that point only an inch further aft. At that point, a point that many get when they load on the trailer and don't get the bow eye bolt fully up under and against the bow stop roller, dependence on the winch and winch strap to keep the boat on the trailer is more critical. Anyway, just some thought I wanted to share.

 

[swatski]

So I just did the tounge weight thing from the link above. Full tank of gas, mooring cover stowed under bow seats, 150 lbs of batteries in battery comparment. Wakeboard and skis in locker. Slide spike under bow seats, anchor, anchor chain, and anchor line stowed in anchor locker, life jackets stowed, tool/ emergency kit in helm, level trailer. Used a couple of pieces of lolli column for the pipes, concrete patio block for the brick, accurate digital bathroom scale, 2x10 for the board and a 20 ton bottle jack under the tow point. Net result is ~ 625 tounge weight on a boat and trailer I estimate to be 5600 lbs (5000 lbs dry plus 300 lbs fuel, 150 lbs batteries, mooring cover, anchor, slide spike, etc).

So about 11 percent weight on the tounge of a tandem axle trailer from the factory is pretty good and I would not want less. Goes to show my warnings about hauling a 24 footer with a 5k/500lb rated tow vehicle are warranted. IMO get the right tow vehicle for the job instead if trying to take weight off the tounge when it is needed there.

Well, BoatUS recommends 7-10%, Shorland'r is in 5-7%.
I would say 11% is close enough to the BoatUS.

I couldn't agree more on the importance of the tow vehicle safety - and looking at towing safety can not be done in isolation - it is a COMBO. With a pickup, especially a light pickup, I would probably want more tongue weight than less. What I find towing with the Q7 (which weights ~5,500lbs and has a center of gravity about as low as any tow vehicle) - I worry more about the trailer integrity and the boat weight being distributed properly than anything else. I also do not like the way the factory jack seems overtaxed (when fully extended) with the boat just sitting on the trailer, perfectly centered on the bunks.

I'll have to look into getting the numbers/data, which I don't have right now. That said, lets keep in mind a couple of other improtant considerations:

1. YJ boats have the engines mounted fairly far forward (in the hull); less so that inboards, but more so than V-drives, as the Yamaha swim platform figures into the LOA.
   
2. Now, compare that to an average outboard configuration - and a Yamaha jet boat is definitely closer to an inboard boat as far as weight distribution.

Which also makes me wonder - what is a tongue/weight ratio on a CC boat/trailer with two big outboards hanging off of a jackplate/brackets (when they pass me on the highway). Those guys must be closer to the 5% ratio for sure.

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[swatski]

Just remember that this is a geometric proportion. You won't need 6-8" aft to cut the trailer weight significantly. There is an equation for this, but it is a simple lever and fulcrum. The additional dynamic is that your towing this too, and that balance is critical. Tongue too heavy is MUCH safer than tongue too light. If you moved the post back 1/2" to 1", your going to dramatically lessen the tongue weight.

I wanted to mention too, that the bunks don't really support the hull. The steel bunk mount supports the hull within a foot or so of the mounts. The bunks only provide a way to guide the boat onto, and off of the trailer. You can prove this to yourself by taking a putty knife, and slipping it between the bunk and the boat hull at any random point along the bunks that isn't within a foot or so of a steel bunk support mount. I would consider not only the tongue weight but boat position on the mounts, as the boat is balanced on them, not just the trailers overall balance. Just a thought, because when I changed my bow stop roller, I loosened my bow strap and kind of jerked the boat back off the roller with the tow vehicle. I can tell you the boat was literally on a teeter totter at that point only an inch further aft. At that point, a point that many get when they load on the trailer and don't get the bow eye bolt fully up under and against the bow stop roller, dependence on the winch and winch strap to keep the boat on the trailer is more critical. Anyway, just some thought I wanted to share.

Great points, couldn't agree more. Loosing the tongue weight too much would simply be a fool's errand. A VERY dangerous one.

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