Will my boat fit?

[skongolf]

I have a budy who has a 88 23 foot sea ray that sits on an dual axle easy load trailer. He is thinking of trading his boat in since the motor blew on a new one and is going to include the trailer. I have a 20 foot 97 maxum i/o that is on a single axle trailer that needs some work. What I am wondering is if my boat would fit on his trailer. since he is just going to trade it in, he could just use my trailer since the weight rating is ok. Just curious how I could see if it fits without physically swapping the boats out.

 

[gozierdt]

Re: Will my boat fit?

I think you need to look at several things- first, are the bunk mounts on his trailer welded in place, or are they adjustable. If they're welded, your bottom contour would have to be exactly the same as his, or you'd have to cut some of the mounts off and reweld them. Second, how heavy is his boat relative to yours? For example, if his 23' weighs 3500 lbs, the springs on the trailer will be set up for that weight. Your 20' probably weighs about 2500 lbs. The springs could be on the stiff side. Also, you'll want the rear of your boat back near the end of the bunks to properly support the transom. So you'll have to move the bow post back about 3 feet. And finally, weight balance. You want to maintain about 10-15% of the total boat/trailer weight on the ball.

I'm not against what you want to do, just some things you need to think about.

 

[eli_lilly]

Re: Will my boat fit?

It's all but certain that it won't fit, that's too much of a length difference.

-E