Tongue weight

[jerridsc]

What is a typical trailer tongue weight for a ready-to-go Albin25?

[WillieC]

10% of 6000? That's pretty much where we are, but we don't trailer much. DA where are you?

[DesertAlbin736]

I'm here. According to this BoatUS primer, tongue weight should equal to 7-10% of total weight, or +/- 450 to 600 lbs for a 6,000 trailer weight.. You'll know if the tongue weight is too light if the trailer tends to fishtail & won't track straight, which in extreme cases is scary and downright dangerous. I've seen a case where a trailer carrying an O'Day 25 sailboat, which is a bit heavier than an A25, & being pulled by a Chevy Suburban, fishtailed so bad at freeway speeds that the driver lost control & flipped the trailer down an embankment on I-10 halfway between Phoenix & Los Angeles. Too much tongue weight can stress the tow vehicle & make it difficult to steer. The way to fix either case is to adjust the position of the boat on the trailer & not to load up the stern with too much weight. All about weight & balance, just like with an airplane.

I would add here the obvious point that to measure actual total weight of the trailer + boat itself including the tongue on a truck scale pull the trailer onto the scale, disconnect it & drive the truck off the scale. Then do as this page says.

https://www.boatus.com/expert-advice/ex ... weight-diy

The other half of the equation besides tongue weight & good tires is having adequate well maintained brakes, whether hydraulic surge brakes, electric brakes with controller or electric over hydraulic brakes with controller is to have a suitable capacity tow vehicle. Here in the West & Southwest no matter where you go you are bound to encounter some serious 5% & 6% mountain grades to traverse, some several miles long. Like for instance from Phoenix to San Diego you start at 1,200 feet elevation in Phoenix, cross some hills going in to Yuma on I-8, then gradually slope down to below sea level at El Centro, CA. From El Centro to San Diego is 113 miles on I-8 in which it climbs to 4,100 elevation at Live Oak Springs and drops through a series of ups and downs to sea level in the final 60 road miles. Our 3/4 ton diesel truck empty weighs about 7,000 lbs. Better not to have the tail wagging the dog.

One thing I hate the most in all our "DA'ing" is breakdowns on the road miles from home. That's why in 8 years I've replaced 3 sets of tires, had the trailer frame reinforced by a professional welder, replaced the surge brake master cylinder, disc brake calipers & rotors on one axle and brake pads on the other on the now 23 years old trailer.
You don't want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere halfway across the country with brake failure and the only boat slash trailer repair shop you can find looks like this:

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[SalishAire]

An interesting aside: Having towed boats back and forth across the nation I have never found I needed a weight distribution hitch (its fairly easy to move the tongue stop forward or aft to adjust the tongue weight as the boat is positioned based on its location) nor have I needed sway control. Even on my fairly aerodynamic Airstream trailer I use a very fancy hitch system. All I can figure is that since a boat is designed to move through the water it also makes a great stay sail when being towed.