Quick Question on Weight Transferr.

[skip1930]

OK I needed more tongue weight for towing and also so the hitch does not come off the ground as 'tubo' walks to the stern when the trailer is not hooked up. I had built a jack for the frame to keep the hitch from raising but don't need it any more.

So I moved the axle back and bolted the slider angles to the frame to eliminate axle twist and keep the tires flat on the ground. And I switched the jack and vee block/winch posts end for end and that moved the boat further forward.

The question is, since more weight is on the ball hitch, is less weight on the tires them selves?...hummmm I wounder. I doubt it but I wounder none the less.

skip.

[Tim Gardner]

Yup Skip, you can now deduct your additional tongue wt./2 from the each tire weight load.  Ain't physics grand?

TG

[skip1930]

I was watching the History Channel's program "Ice Trucker's" whatever...and to increase the weight over the steering wheels and improve traction for steering on a conventional tractor, a 30,000 lb block of cement was placed and chained over the drive axles behind the sleeper, in front of the 5th wheel and front of the trailer.

I would have thought the purpose of this extra 30,000 lb would be to help traction. Not steering.

skip.

[kickingbug1]

    a long time ago and old guy told me that a rule of thumb on tongue weight was a hundred pounds on the hitch. my 16 probably has about 80 cause i pick it up to push the pull the trailer in my garage. the boat trailers so smoothly i hardly know its there. if you have a tandem axle set up this all changes and the weight on the tongue is not as important as the four wheels carry most of the weight. the tongue should always push down on the rear of the tow vehicle though.

[CaptRon28]

You want about 7 to 10 percent of the trailer's weight on the hitch. That works for both single and double axle trailers.

[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.

[NateD]

I'm glad you tested the scale with your own body weight first. I took a load of old carpet to the dump a few weeks ago where you pay by the pound, and the scale said my truck weighed 400 pounds more AFTER I dumped the carpet. Obviously it isn't a terribly accurate scale, and the lady in the little hut was a bit embarrassed when I brought that up.

Sounds like your scale was much more accurate. I'm surprised by the trailer weight too, that probably puts a CP23 tandem axle closer to 1,300-1,400 pounds than the 1,000 I figured.