Looking for some advice before tomorrow morning...

[skydiveD30571]

I pull a 21' (~3,500lb) behind a 2011 silverado with a 5.3 (albeit lifted) and get about 8mpg on a calm day on level road. Just part of the experience I guess!

 

[Danny C]

I have pulled similar loads with my Tahoe (enclosed and flatbed trailers) and have seen both the ss end of the Tahoe riding low from too much tongue weight and the pendulum effect of having too much weight too far back. The amount my suspension sank seemed excessive right off the bat. I do have about a 4? drop on my hitch so if I transition to a straight hitch, that may help the issue.

How do you determine your tongue weight? I assume it involves a drive on scale and unhooking the boat or something of the sort. I do not have nearby access to any of that.

My MPG was around 6 mpg. This was definitely less than I expected from previous trailering experiences, but maybe I was being optimistic. As far as tongue weight not effecting mpg, I think I just assumed that a well-balanced trailer would help kind of similar to me being able to walk my 17? checkmate around like nothing because it is balanced well on the trailer. Maybe I do not have the right thought process when it comes to that.

I do not know the current weight of the trailer and boat but I am guessing around 4000#.

See attached pic. Not the best angle, but they show the full length of the boat.

 

[boatman37]

those axles are pretty far back. thats is what is causing the heavy tongue weight

 

[ondarvr]

In the pic it looks like the trailer is longer than the boat, so it could be from another boat. Might need to make some adjustments

 

[roffey]

The boat looks to far forward to me. I wonder if you can bring the post back further?

 

[keith2k455]

In the pic it looks like the trailer is longer than the boat, so it could be from another boat. Might need to make some adjustments

This is a good point. My trailer is not that much longer than my boat, but the axles are in about the same place. You also need less of a drop on your hitch to level it, but going from a 4" drop to none will be too much. I'm not a good judge for how much squat your rig should see since I have autoride on mine and it is always level. I guess this squat could hurt your mpg by putting the nose higher in the air, but that is LOW mpg. Did you happen to feel the wheels when you stopped for how hot they were?

 

[Danny C]

I figure the hitch probably needs to be adjusted as it is set up for a previous flatbed trailer I owned. What is the best way to figure how much drop you need? I would think that If I adjusted the front trailer jack until the trailer is level that would tell me what height I need on my hitch. I figure that once I have boat balanced on the trailer correctly, the tongue weight should be low enough that it should not drop the suspension too much.

I am currently out of town on work, but when I get back, I will check the trailer again to see the feasibility of moving bunks, axles, or post. I think that my best, and easiest fix would be to move the post back (minimum length I can move back is about 9" because I need to jump it all the way to the other side of the joint) and then adjust the bunks back the same distance to make sure that the transom is supported.

I am in the process of buying an axle to replace one of the existing ones because they are both idler axles, and I need brakes on at least one axle. But I think that moving both axles to accommodate may not be able to be done without welding. Although that would be the most ideal so that I my fender steps and transom tie downs stay in the same place.

 

[Ned L]

Congratulations on your new addition!!

 

[redneck joe]

Pics of how much space you have at the back of the trailer to play with first, then we can talk about movimg the bow stop

 

[Alumarine]

I have a trailer that looks similar to yours and the fender steps move with the axle.
But as Joe says, best to see what you've got to work with.

 

[Danny C]

I was lucky enough to have the wife snap a couple of pics of the bunks at the transom. Bad news is, it does not look like there is much room on the bunks for travel. If I want to move the post, I think I need to move the bunks as well.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Sorry to leave everyone hanging. I had a very long day with the seatrial and long drive home, which was made longer by my new 22' friend tagging along behind me.

In the pic provided, what looks like cracks in the repair is just some surface scratches above repair and there is not blistering in the hull it is all water drops. The pics are deceiving.

The fire extinguisher in the engine bay is indeed automatic.

So the issue I had while driving home is literally watching my gas needle drop as I drove. I knew my mpg would suffer, but not like this. As brought up by a few people on a separate thread, the boat is not sitting right on the trailer. The boat is too far forward which is causing the weight to be unbalanced and shift forward. This puts way too much weight on the tongue and drags my car down. It also puts most of the load on the front axle of the trailer and little on the back axle. The bow of the boat is sitting too close to the ground as well (related). The only fix that I see is to move the trailer upright that holds the winch and where the boat sits (what is that called?) back. The question I have in regards to that is, is it ok to move that. It looks like it is made to be moved, but right now it is sandwiched on either side of where all of the joints come together and if I move it it will not be. Does that make sense? I will try to post pics in a minute.

The boat sitting on the trailer looks far to forward.

As is my trailer the mast is connected to the square channel tube with 2 "C" clamps on each end of the mast plate as can be seen in the photo. The mast is as far back as it will go on the trailer frame because right at that point is where the "A" begins on the frame making the metal there wider than the C clamp. You could however move the mast far enough back to get to the centre channel beam and reattach with new C clamps just behind where the "A" in the frame meets the centre channel. By looking at that picture it looks it only has to moved back only the length of the base plate to get clearance to get 2 clamps on the tube.That may be just enough to get the boat balanced.

To balance a trailer to the ball on a hitch I dead level the trailer and then measure from the top of the ball receiver to the flat ground. That is how high the top of the ball on the vehicle should be.

I see a new prop in your future. I am remise in not mentioning you have yourself a sharp boat there Danny.

 

[redneck joe]

Well not much room back there and looks like the hangars for the axles are welded on so comination of post move and bunk move which you may not have enogh there either as ideally you want the transom right over the bunk supports. That said with and it is an io i feel since the majority of the weight is inside the boat you can scoot back the bunks


Or a tich equalizer which i dont know much about .

 

[oldjeep]

I'd find the specs for the trailer. Willing to bet it is made for a boat several feet shorter.

 

[redneck joe]

I agree but still a tandem so should be ok load wise

 

[oldjeep]

I agree but still a tandem so should be ok load wise

Not when most of the load is on the front axle.

 

[Danny C]

Hey guys, thanks for sticking with me during all of this. It has been ridiculously helpful.

Just got back in town yesterday and really looked at the trailer. Everything is welded up, so moving the axles is not an option without a major overhaul. If I move the post back, it would have to be about 8? minimum. I have 4 bunks, two inner and two outer. The two inner bunks have enough space on the back end to still completely support the boat if I move it back. The two outer bunks are about flush with the transom right now so I would have to move them or there would be some space at the very back that would not be fully supported. It looks like most of the weight (from engine) would still be supported from the center bunks. The last 6-8? on the outer bunks is mostly just the fiberglass with nothing above it (if that makes any sense). Again, I can move those outer ones if necessary to accommodate.

This trailer has all kinds of issues. Besides, not supporting the boat adequately and not having any trailer brakes, there is VIN plate on it that shows an ID number or weight rating ect. I never thought to look for this at the time of the sale because it looks like a nice, well made trailer (not thrown together in someone?s backyard) that was made by an actual trailer company. The dealer gave me an MSO from the dealer for the trailer.

 

[Danny C]

Also, if the trailer was made for a smaller boat, wouldn't that put a smaller boat further forward and make the situation even worse?

 

[redneck joe]

Also, if the trailer was made for a smaller boat, wouldn't that put a smaller boat further forward and make the situation even worse?

They prob moved post foward. Look for marks when it would have been.

 

[redneck joe]

Not when most of the load is on the front axle.

Totally agree. Ok as far as total load when balanced properly