Outdoor build of GA Kodiak, Orange, CA

[Brian.Dixon]

With that much weight forward, you will definitely need to tune your trailer to get the tongue weight correct.  Better to be a tad heavy on the tongue than a tad light ... too light is a fish-tail risk.  And the weight may result in a need for a bracket that moves your motor(s) aft to balance out as well.  Are your fuel tanks towards the stern?

[json]

The fuel tank is centered more or less under the aft house bulkhead (located at about 12' forward of the aft end of the transom, hull overall length is about 29'). Last time I weighed the tongue it was pushing a thousand pounds (maybe 900 and some change ballpark), which I am probably north of now since basically everything I install that's not on the transom is forward of the trailer wheels. My payload on my truck is around 1200 lbs, so I would be pushing that to take the boat down to a scale. I have airbags to install but I also have a one ton truck on special order, so I haven't installed them yet thinking that why should I bother. My understanding is that too much tongue weight is only a problem if it overloads the tow vehicle payload or trailer payload or how the rear of the vehicle levels to the road... perhaps I am mistaken there?

[Brian.Dixon]

Well, I can't say how much weight on the tongue is too much, but 10% of the trailer/boat combo is typical for the right amount.  Heavy on the tongue won't cause fishtailing like having too much weight behind the trailer axle, but you can go too far too.  Heavy on the tongue can 'lighten up' the front wheels on the truck and cause wandering and handling issues too ... I once drove a Toyota loaded like that and it wandered so bad, the fastest I could drive was about 30-35 mph.

[json]

Ya, that makes sense. I will have to see, my gut is that it’s going to be hard to hit 10% but 15 might be doable. It’s hard to believe that any boat on a trailer is that light on the tongue with the wheels as far back as they typically are.

[Grady300]

From what my research turned up the tongue weight should be 10-15% is the target range for total GVW of boat and trailer. I bought a scale designed weighing your tongue weight foe $220 I highly recommend this. I had to move my axels forward almost 24" to get mine down from 1900# to 800# on the tongue. Ya have to keep in mind if your boat is full of fuel and whatever else might be on the boat while on the trailer

[json]

Good call on the scale Chuck, I just ordered one off of amazon for $150. I had been messing around with the bathroom scale and lever trick, but it wasn't that accurate I don't think... I feel like getting an accurate tongue weight is a good first step in what seems like it's going to be an uphill battle to get the trailer weight distribution dialed in right. That's crazy that your tongue weight was almost 2k lbs, that's a TON! (literally haha) How does your boat tow with the reduced tongue weight? Do you notice the difference?

[Todd j]

 Chuck,   I’m curious if you had to move any x-members to move your axles that far forward?   I think my trailer is about the same as yours.  I can only go 14” with all components until I run into moving/straddling/ relocating fenders and other stuff.  Just curious how I’m depth you went. 

[Grady300]

Good call on the scale Chuck, I just ordered one off of amazon for $150. I had been messing around with the bathroom scale and lever trick, but it wasn't that accurate I don't think... I feel like getting an accurate tongue weight is a good first step in what seems like it's going to be an uphill battle to get the trailer weight distribution dialed in right. That's crazy that your tongue weight was almost 2k lbs, that's a TON! (literally haha) How does your boat tow with the reduced tongue weight? Do you notice the difference?

Strange thing is I don't really notice a difference but I'm towing with a F-350 diesel crew cab

[Grady300]

Chuck,   I’m curious if you had to move any x-members to move your axles that far forward?   I think my trailer is about the same as yours.  I can only go 14” with all components until I run into moving/straddling/ relocating fenders and other stuff.  Just curious how I’m depth you went.

To be honest I'm not sure, I had Newport Marine do it. I do know they had to relocate a few brake and electrical lines. They never said they moved any cross members

[Todd j]

Gotcha. Thx

[json]

My tongue weight scale came, pretty handy little tool! I took the reading and, a bit north of 1200 lbs. Not as bad as I feared but still pretty heavy (my payload capacity of my tundra is 1260 lbs total). That's of course with no fuel or other amenities, I think the entire fuel tank is forward of the axles. So I guess for now the long and short of that for me is that I can't really pull it around until I get my hands on my new tow vehicle, and I should start doing some research into what it's going to take to move the axles forward or the boat aft or both. I intend to put a yamaha 25hp high thrust kicker on the boat at some point, perhaps I start on that project sooner than later since I need to do some kind of major surgery on the transom anyways. Certainly some fun things to think about...

[Brian.Dixon]

How much did the boat & trailer combo weigh when you were measuring 1200# on the tongue?  I'm wondering what percentage of the total weight was on the tongue...

[json]

I haven't weighed the whole package yet. I don't currently have a way to tow it without putting my truck pretty significantly over payload, and honestly not sure I could even get it out of my driveway due to a curb I would have to go down and the hitch bottoming out. Once I get the f350 that I have ordered I can take it for a ride down to the scales though. Rough guess is the whole thing (boat/trailer) weighs 5 or 6k? The trailer by itself was just shy of 1k. The axles/wheels seem really really far aft, I could be tripping but... idk, I will probably take this down to a local trailer shop and have them have a look to see if they can dial it in any.

[Todd j]

Boat looks great.  My trailer wheels are crazy far back too.

[Djeffrey]

She looks fantastic. That 350 will tow it like it’s not even there. I think we should start a pool on its weight. My guess is 4500 pounds maybe less without fuel.