New Trailer for My Pontoon Boat

[jayboy73]

Bought the 24' pontoon boat without a trailer on Toledo Bend Lake in Louisiana. Moved boat to Texas with me in late 2006 and stored it in my barn (shop). Now redoing it with carpet and good clean up including carbs and new impellar.

The trailer I borrowed from a friend to drag the boat to Texas rails came out past the last cross frame member which gave me plenty of room to have the motor down. The new trailer I bought today has the last cross member at the very end of the rails.

I need to set the trailer up for the boat and towing vehicle. For instance, how far behind the frame and bunks should the boat pontoons hang out. Need to take in account the angle of the motor when down so that is a factor on how close it is to the structure across the back of the trailer. Is there any standard here, min or max? How do I balance the load on the tandem axles? The axles are movable. What should the max tounge weight be? I have already set the bunks to handle the centerline of the pontoons so that looks OK. How do I get a measurement on the tounge weight?

Any help appreciated soon. Trying to get ready to put on trailer.

Thanks

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: New Trailer for My Pontoon Boat

i use the bath room scale to check my tongue weight. i would want my bunks all the way to the end of the toons, they are carrying the motor. seeing you are lucky with moveable axle assembly, get the boat where you want it. then check tongue weight, should be 10% of the total weight. now move you axles forward or back, to compensated for the weight. tongue too heavy, move axles forward. the trailers are usually pre drilled every 6 inches.

 

[jayboy73]

Re: New Trailer for My Pontoon Boat

The boat weighs 1900-2000# and the trailer about 1000# so the total is 3000#. !0% of that would be 300#. I don't think my bathroom scales go that high. Got any suggestions on that?

Thanks for your valuable input.

 

[samo_ott]

Re: New Trailer for My Pontoon Boat

I was always under the understanding that for a single axle the tongue weight should be 10% but on a tandem axle it should be closer to 5%.

Also, most scales go up to 300# I think.

 

[External Combustion]

Re: New Trailer for My Pontoon Boat

You can use a bathroom scale to get an acceptable reading by placing one end of a board on the scale and the other end on a pipe or other round object the same height of the scale. The reading will in the same proportion as the placement of the tongue on the board. For example if the board is four feet long between the scale and the pipe support and the tongue is one foot from the pipe you would multiply the scale reading by four. That way your 250 lb max bathroom scale could effectively weigh 1000 lbs.

I have used this method for up to 2,000 lbs with good accuracy.

 

[Bondo]

Re: New Trailer for My Pontoon Boat

but on a tandem axle it should be closer to 5%.

Ayuh,....

With Any trailer,.... 5% is Too Light,... It'll cause the Tail to wag the Dog......

7% to 15% is much Safer..... I always shoot for 10%......

 

[bjcsc]

Re: New Trailer for My Pontoon Boat

You can take 4x4s and rig them to use your scale. See attached as I can draw it easier than write it...

 

[jayboy73]

Re: New Trailer for My Pontoon Boat

Now why didn't I think of using lever to get the weight. I am a Mechanical Engineer afterall. I guess I was in management to long. My manual for my truck and the trailer both recomend 10 to 15% for the tounge weight.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Edit: It is a tandem trailer.