Big boat, Small trailer

[rick30120]

I currently have a 20ft Sea Ray bowrider with a SMP trailer. I was recently offered, for free, a 23ft Sea Ray. the problem is the boat doesn't come with a trailer and at the present I'm not in the financial position to buy one. this is some what of a project boat. There is no engine, no sterndrive or transom housing. The rest of the boat is completely intact and in good shape.

Some info: The 20ft Sea Ray with engine and sterndrive has a weight of 2800lbs
The 23ft Sea Ray with engine and sterndrive has a weight of 3500lbs

I am thinking minus the weight of the engine, sterndrive and housing the boats weight should drop to somewhere around 2900-3000lbs

My question is, with beefing up the bunks could my present trailer tow this boat? ONE WAY TRIP, 50 MILES

 

[Scott Danforth]

the engine and stern drive for a small block is about 1000#

 

[bonz_d]

One way trip, Hi-way or back roads? Either way it should hold it. If still in doubt, remove everything you can for inside the boat and proceed cautiously.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Tongue weight may be pretty low so keep speed WAY down... 25 mph on back roads w hazards on.

Bunks will be fine as long as they are in good shape.

 

[jbetzelb]

Tongue weight may be pretty low so keep speed WAY down... 25 mph on back roads w hazards on.

Bunks will be fine as long as they are in good shape.

Tongue weight low or high? With no drive line it may be real heavy on the tongue. Thousand pounds that is normally behind the trailor axels wont ne there.

 

[gm280]

As with anything, as speed increases so does the kinetic energy, but disproportionally. Therefore keep the speed as low as you can and just be careful while on the road, be it interstate or back roads. :thumb:

 

[smokeonthewater]

Tongue weight low or high? With no drive line it may be real heavy on the tongue. Thousand pounds that is normally behind the trailor axels wont ne there.

Low... Yep driveline is missing but the boat will be hanging off the back....

The key word is MAY....
The wise move is to go SLOW.... Even if it "feels ok" often by the time that it doesn't feel ok it's too late and you are seconds from a nasty wreck.

 

[H20Rat]

Tongue weight may be pretty low so keep speed WAY down... 25 mph on back roads w hazards on.

Bunks will be fine as long as they are in good shape.

I'm thinking the opposite. Without 1000# of iron hanging out on the very back of the boat, you are going to have A LOT of tongue weight. An extra 3 feet of fiberglass over the original boats length isn't enough to make up for lack of engine/drive.

 

[smokeonthewater]

I have hauled a 28' boat missing TWO 1000# drive lines, a generator an a fuel tank on a trailer for a 25' boat.... The tongue weight was less than 50 lbs for over 7000 lb gross... That's 3' difference on a bigger boat with twice the weight missing...

I also hauled a 25' boat missing the driveline on a trailer about 2' short and it had negative tongue weight... I had to push the tongue down to the ball...

In the end tho it doesn't much matter ... He will know when he gets it loaded and either way going slow is the answer...

Overloaded trailer with unknown weight distribution = potentially very dangerous so caution is the key.

 

[smokeonthewater]

No Title

Here's a shot of the 28'er ..... I was able to move it forward a bit after taking this pic. At this point it has enough negative tongue weight that I couldn't push it down w my full 250 lbs sitting on the tongue BTW yes I moved it with the jeep... 1 mile at 10 mph.

 

[MTboatguy]

Here's a shot of the 28'er ..... I was able to move it forward a bit after taking this pic. At this point it has enough negative tongue weight that I couldn't push it down w my full 250 lbs sitting on the tongue BTW yes I moved it with the jeep... 1 mile at 10 mph.

You are nuts!

:lol:

 

[smokeonthewater]

Been there done that got the t shirt..... :lol:

In all honesty there wasn't anything crazy to that move.... My dually wasn't maneuverable enough to get it where it needed to go and I needed the winch on the jeep to get it spotted after we took it off the trailer.... We put in my buddy's back yard and blocked it up as a clubhouse for his daughters.

Only used 1st and 2nd gear n just crept along.... Back roads 1 turn n 1 stop sign.

 

[rick30120]

Thank you guys for all of your insight. This will be a very slow move and my plan is to do it at about 2 or 3am so there is no traffic. it is a back road route all the way. I added 12ft bunks that hang off the back about 2ft, I think the original one were about 5ft, but am prepared to make adjustments.