determining Tongue Weight

[thefryguy]

Alrighty, we bought a Bayliner 3058, no trailer
Purchased the trailer, a beautiful Aluminum trailer tri axle

The boat is now on the trailer and as predicted, we'll need to make a few adjustments.

The rear bunks are a bit too long

The tow rig is a 1999 Ford F250 4X4
Right now as she sits, the Ford squats only 1 3/16"
I was told by the trailer manufacturer that I need about 500 lb of tongue weight.

my gut tells me I wouldn't want the trailer any farther back as that much squat probably isn't 500lb yet.

Incidently I pulled it with this configuaration about 80 miles and it pulled wonderfully.

Any Idea what my tongue weight is at this point?

 

[bhammer]

Re: determining Tongue Weight

I have always used the 9 to 15% rule, and I hit the middle with the boat half full of fuel and a typical gear setup. Take the boat and trailer to a scale and weigh it, then put a scale under the tongue and weigh it. I went overboard with my last one. I raised the trailer as high as I could with the front jack wheel, placed a 4X4 under the tongue and placed that on a scale. It was about 15# difference than at the wheel jack,

 

[fishrdan]

Re: determining Tongue Weight

To figure out that much tongue weight, place a 4x4 under the tongue, a jack stand off to to one side 2' supporting the 4x4 and another one to the right 2',,, with a scale under it. The jack stands need to be exactly the same distance from the tongue. Lower the trailer jack so the 4x4 and jackstands are supporting the weight and look at the scale. Multiply the number by 2 and you have your tongue weight.

Unless you have a 500+# bathroom scale,,, then just place it under the tongue

 

[Polar_Bus]

Re: determining Tongue Weight

Alrighty, we bought a Bayliner 3058, no trailer
Purchased the trailer, a beautiful Aluminum trailer tri axle

The boat is now on the trailer and as predicted, we'll need to make a few adjustments.

The rear bunks are a bit too long

The tow rig is a 1999 Ford F250 4X4
Right now as she sits, the Ford squats only 1 3/16"
I was told by the trailer manufacturer that I need about 500 lb of tongue weight.

my gut tells me I wouldn't want the trailer any farther back as that much squat probably isn't 500lb yet.

Incidently I pulled it with this configuaration about 80 miles and it pulled wonderfully.

Any Idea what my tongue weight is at this point?

A quick ballpark method to caculate how much tongue weight you need is to take the advertised weight of your boat, and multiply that number by .1

So a 3500 lb boat you would need approx 350 lb of toungue weight. This number will vary depending on exactly what your tow vehicle is. Light duty V6SUV's and Shortbed trucks tend to be more fussy about exact tongue weights than HD long bed V8 trucks ..

You can also shift the boat weight foreward or backwards on the trailer to fine tune the behavior of your tow setup as well

 

[captharv]

Re: determining Tongue Weight

The books call for anywhere between 5 and 10%.
However, before we go way offf on a tangent, exactly what problem are you trying to fix? If there are no problems, comes under "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"
Too little tongue weight will allow the boat to "fishtail" down the road and be unstable when getting passed by semis.
Too much lifts the front wheels of the tow vehicle and causes handling and wet braking problems.

 

[dave11]

Re: determining Tongue Weight

To figure out that much tongue weight, place a 4x4 under the tongue, a jack stand off to to one side 2' supporting the 4x4 and another one to the right 2',,, with a scale under it. The jack stands need to be exactly the same distance from the tongue. Lower the trailer jack so the 4x4 and jackstands are supporting the weight and look at the scale. Multiply the number by 2 and you have your tongue weight.

Good simple method. I just go to the truckstop and weight on the platform scales.

 

[thefryguy]

Re: determining Tongue Weight

Got it weighed today
330 lb of tongue weight, need to move the boat forward and reposition the bunks.

Trailer with the boat, fuel and water full, weighed 13,200.
since I weighed the boat only hooked to the truck, I'm assuming I would add the 330 tongue weight to determine my total boat and Trailer weight of 13,530.

 

[redone4x4]

Re: determining Tongue Weight

no, it is included in the gross combination weight, which is what u got when u weighed it all together. the tongue weight was already applied to the truck at that time, if it was connected.