Newer 24ft boat in shorlander trailer must do mod!

[Jameson Clark]

Hey how come you guys are moving the BOAT and not the AXLES? The tongue weight on my 212 was too high, I simply moved the axles forward. They slide along the frame rails, they're meant to be moved that way to adjust tongue weight. And there's no need to put the boat in the water to do it, just loosen the clamps and slide the axle carriers forward. Taking some weight off the axles by jacking up the trailer frame helps.

I personally would rather have axles a little further forward than to have the boat further back on the trailer.

That is what I want to do as well. My boat already sits pretty far back on the trailer in my opinion so I didn't really want to move it further. Someone said the axles were hard to squared back up? Any trouble with that?

 

[Mainah]

I also wonder about this photo using a scale under the trailer jack.....any physics guru's here that can confirm that the weight at the jack is the same as the weight at the receiver? If it is the same...then you could just put the jack on the commercial scale (if it weighs that small of a load).

Weight at the jack will not be the same as the weight at the ball. Likely close in this example but not the same.

 

[Mainah]

Weight at the jack will not be the same as the weight at the ball. Likely close in this example but not the same.

Yes that was me saying not the easiest thing to do. Sure a tape measure helps but the springs and links complicate things just a bit. A small move of the axles will have a bigger impact on the weight as well. The post move is dead nuts simple, quick, and has the benefit of making the boat just a bit easier to launch and retrieve. The 5 to 7 percent tounge weight is certainly based upon the distance of the fulcrum to the end of the lever. From an engineering standpoint moving the load is preferred provided the axles are precisely set and square on each unit. In the real world either one will net a better result than an overloaded tounge provided done right.

 

[gmtech16450yz]

That is what I want to do as well. My boat already sits pretty far back on the trailer in my opinion so I didn't really want to move it further. Someone said the axles were hard to squared back up? Any trouble with that?

It's easy to make sure the axles are squared up, just measure from the front frame crossmember to the axles to make sure they're the same distance back on both sides. Also measure from the back of the frame forward to verify. Who knows, I'm betting a few of you guys are driving with trailers that don't have the axles square right now.

I also used a ratcheting tie down to pull the axles forward. A "Come Along" would also work well doing this. Just hooked onto the axle carrier and then to the front of the frame crossmember. Pulled the whole axle carrier and both axles forward pretty easy. Make sure your brake hoses still have plenty of clearance and slack.

 

[Peelz]

I did that. AND moved my axles back, after I saw-zalled a foot off the tongue of our trailer, it was WAY heavy, and long for our boat and garage. I went for 10% of our boats weight, did it by seat of the pants, then a homemade scale as mentioned before. then borrowed a real scale and was within 30 lbs of my goal.

do it, and don't sweat it, as long as you're a little bit heavy. going light will cause an accident. look up oscillation. Ive experienced it twice, once with a poorly loaded atv trailer, and once VERY Scarily, with a horse trailer after being hit with a wind gust.

 

[Jameson Clark]

It's easy to make sure the axles are squared up, just measure from the front frame crossmember to the axles to make sure they're the same distance back on both sides. Also measure from the back of the frame forward to verify. Who knows, I'm betting a few of you guys are driving with trailers that don't have the axles square right now.

I also used a ratcheting tie down to pull the axles forward. A "Come Along" would also work well doing this. Just hooked onto the axle carrier and then to the front of the frame crossmember. Pulled the whole axle carrier and both axles forward pretty easy. Make sure your brake hoses still have plenty of clearance and slack.

Did you have to move the fenders as well?

 

[Rod5]

I had an interesting observation this past weekend when I watched them pull our boat out of dry stack storage for the first time with a humongous fork lift. Notice the blue sky area circled in yellow in this pic, see the huge gap between the fork and the bottom of the back of the boat?
Yes our hulls are somewhat rounded but I was expecting our boats to be much more Tail heavy and rest further back in the curve of the hull than shown. The boat rocked or rolled in the curve of the hull quite a bit as the fork lift movements of starting stopping etc. Fuel load in this pic was only about 25% full so fuel tank placement was not causing this.
I bring it up for those that are worried about having too much of the back of your hull hanging off the back end of the trailer bunks. The majority of the wight (or Center of gravity) of our boats is much more forward than you might think and appears to be right over the trailer axles.
Now let the debating begin!

 

[gmtech16450yz]

Yes that was me saying not the easiest thing to do. Sure a tape measure helps but the springs and links complicate things just a bit. A small move of the axles will have a bigger impact on the weight as well. The post move is dead nuts simple, quick, and has the benefit of making the boat just a bit easier to launch and retrieve. The 5 to 7 percent tounge weight is certainly based upon the distance of the fulcrum to the end of the lever. From an engineering standpoint moving the load is preferred provided the axles are precisely set and square on each unit. In the real world either one will net a better result than an overloaded tounge provided done right.

Lol. It's a Shorelander trailer. Mine had crappy Chinese tires that were undersized, lug nuts that were loose, spare wheel/mount with stripped/seized lug nuts, a wimpy little tongue jack, rear transom straps that were a joke, fenders that crack and fall off, antique incandescent bulbs instead of LED's and a surge brake lockout that is pretty much useless. I'm sure most of these trailers are fine on the axle positioning. Not.

I've found that if it's assembled in America, you basically have to re-assemble it yourself to make sure it's put together safe and correctly. Not to thread jack but these Yamaha boats are NOTHING compared to the shoddy assembly work done in the RV industry right now. I've spent the last 4 months completely rebuilding our BRAND NEW motorhome. I was disappointed in some of the assembly quality and dealer prep problems with the Yamaha boat. This new RV has gotten me WELL PAST disappointed and more towards total shock and horror. haha. Google search on the RV industry quality issues and Elkhart Indiana in particular. It's crazy.

 

[gmtech16450yz]

Did you have to move the fenders as well?

Both the axles and fenders are mounted on carriers that are only attached to the frame by 4 U clamps. Loosen those clamps and the entire assemblies move forward and back. Springs and shackles are also mounted on the carriers so there's no alignment issues with the axles to the springs themselves. Look at your trailers, it's really a simple setup. You might be shocked to see your entire wheel/axle/fender/brake/ leaf spring assembly is only attached by those 4 little clamps. Mine were loose btw. VERY loose.

 

[gmtech16450yz]

BTW, I miss you guys! Poor boat hasn't seen the water for 3 months. I'm almost finished with the motorhome project though, since it will be the ultimate boat puller, after I'm finished it's ON!!!

 

[Mainah]

Both the axles and fenders are mounted on carriers that are only attached to the frame by 4 U clamps. Loosen those clamps and the entire assemblies move forward and back. Springs and shackles are also mounted on the carriers so there's no alignment issues with the axles to the springs themselves. Look at your trailers, it's really a simple setup. You might be shocked to see your entire wheel/axle/fender/brake/ leaf spring assembly is only attached by those 4 little clamps. Mine were loose btw. VERY loose.

I have not looked close enough recently. Is the carrier one piece that keeps the axles at a fixed distance apart. This is why I mentioned the leaf springs and links. If not a single piece carrier for the dual axels the trailer should be on level ground and the axles set the proper distance apart so the springs and links can do their job properly. Of course now I am going to have to check mine out to see well it was put together at the factory.

Good luck with your RV project and hope to see more posts from you here on all of your cool boat mods.

 

[gmtech16450yz]

I just went out and double checked my trailer since I was going off of memory from almost a year ago. Yeah, the carrier is one long plate that both the springs mount to. The entire assembly slides forward and back, there is no way you can change or screw up the axle to axle distance or spring mounting. This is all assuming my trailer is the same as everyone else's, which I would guess they are. When you look at your trailer you'll see how simple sliding the axles forward would be.

I also looked at my actual boat to trailer positioning. I have a warning or heads up for those that have moved the boat back actually. The rear of my bunks end about a foot or so before the back of the boat. Obviously the strongest part of the bottom of the hull is where the transom is. Picture a box, what happens when you support a box in the center? It bows under the pressure. When you support the box on the vertical ends, they support the entire box without distorting the bottom. The boat is the exact same. The strongest and most evenly distributed way to support the boat is to have the bunks go all the way to the vertical transom. This isn't always possible or practical, a foot or two forward isn't going to wreck the boat obviously. BUT if you move the boat backwards and in turn put the end of those bunks further away from the strength of the transom, there absolutely would be more chance of bowing the hull or even cracking it.

So after looking at my trailer and boat, I now remember why I moved the axles instead of the boat. I didn't want to compromise the support of the actual hull of the boat. So for those of you that have moved your boats forward on the trailer, I'd suggest making sure your bunks are back far enough to support the hull properly. Actually moving the bunks back so that they're in the same spot on the boat as they were might be a good idea. Just a thought.

 

[jcyamaharider]

The rear of my bunks end about a foot or so before the back of the boat.

There is the major difference. My bunks extended past my boat......so now I only have 4 inches hanging out past my bunks.

 

[Julian]

I just went out and double checked my trailer since I was going off of memory from almost a year ago. Yeah, the carrier is one long plate that both the springs mount to. The entire assembly slides forward and back, there is no way you can change or screw up the axle to axle distance or spring mounting. This is all assuming my trailer is the same as everyone else's, which I would guess they are. When you look at your trailer you'll see how simple sliding the axles forward would be.

I also looked at my actual boat to trailer positioning. I have a warning or heads up for those that have moved the boat back actually. The rear of my bunks end about a foot or so before the back of the boat. Obviously the strongest part of the bottom of the hull is where the transom is. Picture a box, what happens when you support a box in the center? It bows under the pressure. When you support the box on the vertical ends, they support the entire box without distorting the bottom. The boat is the exact same. The strongest and most evenly distributed way to support the boat is to have the bunks go all the way to the vertical transom. This isn't always possible or practical, a foot or two forward isn't going to wreck the boat obviously. BUT if you move the boat backwards and in turn put the end of those bunks further away from the strength of the transom, there absolutely would be more chance of bowing the hull or even cracking it.

So after looking at my trailer and boat, I now remember why I moved the axles instead of the boat. I didn't want to compromise the support of the actual hull of the boat. So for those of you that have moved your boats forward on the trailer, I'd suggest making sure your bunks are back far enough to support the hull properly. Actually moving the bunks back so that they're in the same spot on the boat as they were might be a good idea. Just a thought.

The bunks on my trailer were actually extended beyond the end of the boat before I moved the bow stop back. Now the boat is like 2-3 inches over the end of the bunk....which is fine. I think they just couldn't afford to give the Shorelander guy a tape measure for installing the bow stops! LOL

 

[Mainah]

Same as the previous two posts. Bunks use to extend beyond the boat now a few inches shy after the post move.

 

[MidnightRider]

Yep I haven't weighed my tongue yet but if I have to do any moving I was planning on doing exactly what @gmtech16450yz did and move the axles. My bunks end 9" before the end of the boat currently and I wouldn't want to move the boat back anymore. My axles and springs are also on a single steel rail assembly so 2 U joints and the whole assembly can be moved as one.

 

[jcyamaharider]

Guess they went cheap on bunk boards on a few boats.

 

[Jameson Clark]

It must be the 21's that are like that because my bunks end well before the end of my boat already, hence my wanting to move axles instead.

 

[MidnightRider]

Guess they went cheap on bunk boards on a few boats.

Seems that from the discussion so far, and noticing the boat size in the profiles, the difference is the 21' vs 24'. 21' trailer bunks stop short of the back and 24' trailer bunks stop just past the back from the factory.

 

[Jameson Clark]

I might have missed this earlier but @gmtech16450yz how far did you move your axles and did you do any weighing before and after?