Weighing trailer and boat, etc

[MacGyver]

The other day I got into a conversation with a guy about boat weights.
Knowing that they are usually off by some, this guy told me one boat he hauled was off by about 4000 pounds.
No way the owner had that much stuff in there.

Got me thinking. What does the CP 19 weigh in at?
Well so far my trailer weight is 580. That was missing 2 of the bunk boards and carpet.
The trailer says it should weigh in at 450........

I will have the boats weight in a few short weeks.
I was glad to find out my truck weighs in at what it says 4200 (close to that.)
So I know the scale is good.

Be interesting to see what the boat weighs in at.

Mac

[CaptRon28]

I had a 40 foot Catalina that was off by around 3,500 pounds. Must have weighed it 15 times over 13 years - on various travel lifts. The 3,500 pound difference is the calculated average over the 15 weights. Last trailerable small boat was a wing keel Catalina 250, displacing around 1500 pounds more than the brochure. Friends with Catalina 42's report discrepencies of well over 4,000 pounds, some close to 6,000.  My 28 foot Telstar Trimaran is over by about 1500 pounds, the Horizon Cat by 700 or so. I can quote maybe 50 more exmples, all over what the builder claims in the specs. Ditto for the boat's draft - they're heavier than they think so they sink deeper into the water. By the way, none of my boats were laden down with tons of cruising gear - most of them were raced so they were stripped pretty clean. And I tend to use the Horizon as a day sailor. Absolutely nothing on board.

This seems to be the norm in the boating industry. They all seem to do it. Catalina splashes all of their boats into a large pool behind the Largo factory, with heavy weights taking the place of the mast, boom, sails, etc. They could easily figure out what it actually weighs by measuring the increase in water height in the pool, but they don't. They calculate the displacement with the computer design software that was used to help design the boat.

[MacGyver]

What I am afraid of is having a underweight trailer doing the job.....
Maybe that is why all the smaller tires blow out all the time....... and could explain why the trailer has a small dip like for the tongue connection. Nothing looks bent, but something isnt right, to me it should be straight.

We will see in a few weeks once I weigh her all together....... a bunch of guys all wonder as welll at work and at the elevator where I am weighing it at.

Mac

[skip1930]

Hummmm,
A CP-19 say          2000 lb
A trailer say             500lb
A load on board say 275 lb

So                         ______

                           2775 lb

Lets just call it       3000 lb

My Expedition is     5300 lb.

The rig is               8300 lb.

skip.

[CaptRon28]

Skip -

My 20 foot Horizon, which the factory pegs at 2500 pounds, comes in at 3300 - with absolutely nothing on board. The empty 600 or 700 pound trailer is closer to 1,000. Both together weigh about 4300 - over 1,000 pounds more than Compac says it will. This is normal for the industry. I have no idea why they publish lower numbers.

[MacGyver]

 
Pleasantly SURPRISED today!

Weighed the boat in at 2,060 pounds.
The boat had nothing in it, no motor, and no mast. Did have the anchor in the boat though

I will weigh the mast and motor, and cushions and stuff before I launch next year.
So trailer, and boat was 2,640 lbs.

My grandpa and I were talking on the way back and think that on the trailer, 2 tires weights could be taken off the total weight because they are  on the ground, not being carried by the trailer.

I figure that 60 pounds being off isn't bad at all.

Maybe my boss was right, the smaller boats tend to come in  weighing better than the bigger boats.

Mac 

[CaptRon28]

The axle(s), brakes, wheels, etc. are also unsprung (not resting on the springs). But you've got to include them for the tire capacity.

I'm a little suprised that the one foot shorter 19 is that much lighter than my 20 foot Horizon, but mine has the diesel which probably adds about 300 in total. The metal fuel tank and two batteries don't help either.

[skip1930]

OK I pulled the boat today.

But first went over to Sturgeon Bay Scrap yard and used the semi truck scale.

1~I weight 214 lb. Scale says 220 lb. close enough.

2~The 1997 Ford Expedition was 6020 lb with 30 gallons of fuel.

3~The 1996 CP-19 XL Performance Trailer with extended tongue, without boat, that I unhooked and drove the truck off the scale was 880 lb.

4~With truck removed, the trailer's tongue weight when the tongue jack was placed on a small electronic scale from the Aeroport was 275.1 lb.
Remember I moved the trailer wheels back 26 inches for more tongue weight.

5~The boat and trailer was 3260lb.

6~The boat as I sail it was 2380 lb [2380 + 880 = 3260]

7~Just the rear trailer axle on the scale with the boat loaded on was 3020 lb

8~The whole rig, Truck-Trailer-Boat weigh 9280 lb.

Notes;
I did not expect the trailer to weight 880 lb. Some one said it's suppose to weight 400 lb.

I think the boat is light. Suppose to be 2000 lb factory. Not too much stuff on board.

The truck is a pig.

I like the tongue weight.

skip.