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Boat Forum / Building / March 2007Loading a boat on a trailer; center of balance,..
The new dual axle trailer is coming along. IR now a welder. I could use some basic math help around figuring out where to place the boat's center of balance on the trailer. (so I can put the bunks in place) If it were exactly between the two axles then it would have zero % tongue weight. Is this correct? There seem to be several schools of thought around what percentage of tongue weight is ideal, proper or even workable. Let's say you picked 10% as your goal,.. My question then is how far would you move the boat's center of balance forward to obtain this? Also, does going up or down hill change this? If so how do you allow for that? The boat is 23' on deck and approx 4300lbs if that makes a difference. The tow vehicle is a 3/4 ton chevy with a tow package. Thanks for your time as always. 4300 pounds plus the trailer will be about 500 lbs at 10% tongue weight. This should be about max for your hitch. I generally use a scale under the tongue jack to get the final placement. Start with the center of gravity of your boat (not necessarily the center of the boat) about 10" forward of the axle. This will get you close. Then use the scale to get the tongue weight correct. I'd set it at about 400 lbs tongue weight. > The new dual axle trailer is coming along. IR now a welder. I could > use some basic math help around figuring out where to place the boat's [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > The tow vehicle is a 3/4 ton chevy with a tow package. > Thanks for your time as always.  Signature“TAANSTAFL” ____________________________________________________________________________ Something to think about, from a wise man now long dead….: “In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American. “There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. “We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.” --Theodore Roosevelt...1907 ____________________________________________________________________________ "A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences." - Proverbs 22:3 ____________________________________________________________________________ >4300 pounds plus the trailer will be about 500 lbs at 10% tongue weight. > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >> it were exactly between the two axles then it would have zero % tongue >> weight. Is this correct? You didn't say the distance from the hitch to the half way point between the two axles. Let's suppose it is 15 ft. let's suppose you want 10% of the hull on the hitch. Then 10% of 15 ft = 1.5 ft So place the center of gravity of the boat about eighteen inches forwards of the mid distance between the axles, and measure the hitch weight. Brian Whatcott Altus OK The other thing you need to be aware of with some dual axle trailers is the hitch height. If you lower the tongue, the tongue weight will decrease, as the weight will be more on the front axle ;likewise, if you raise it, the tongue weight will increase. Now if the suspension were of the walking beam type, which I'm not sure is common, this wouldn't be true, in fact it would be very slightly the reverse. > The new dual axle trailer is coming along. IR now a welder. I could > use some basic math help around figuring out where to place the boat's [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > The tow vehicle is a 3/4 ton chevy with a tow package. > Thanks for your time as always. |
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