aero993

Hello,

Here is the situation, I finally received my tag from the dealer. So I wanted to put 50 gallons of fuel in the boat. I noticed, when the boat arrived, that it was sitting about 6 inches from the front stop on the trailer. I can pick up the front on the trailer with the boat on it.
At 45mph the trailer started swaying from side to side. Also, the front of the truck felt light. For those that trailer often, does this sound like a balance problem? Could moving the boat forward 6 inches remedy the problem? GM says that my truck can tow about 8500 lbs. The boat has no gas in it so I should be under the towing capacity.
The truck is a 2001 Chevy Tahoe 4x4 autoride with towing package.

Thanks,
Anthony

REELNAUTI4U

Yes, it is a balance problem. There is no way you should be able to lift up the trailer tounge with that size boat on it.
Also, when there is a trailer sway issue it is generally due to lack of tounge weight.
Boat needs to go forward....

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reelapeelin

I agree more tongue weight needed, but if you are feeling light steering already w/the little tongue weight that's present, think what'll happen when you move the boat forward and add more weight to the rear-end of your Tahoe...is the Tahoe sqatting when hooked up?...

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Bigger Hammer

If you can really pick up the tongue of the trailer there's no way that you've got too much tongue weight, you must be mis-perceiving the sway induced by too little tongue weight as the front of the truck feeling light.
Move the boat forward on the trailer, see if that helps. It may need to go further forward than 6 inches. I would recommend filling your tanks, then weighing the rig at a truck stop (CAT scale), etc. It's always good to understand what you're towing.
Standard tongue weight is 5-10% of actual gross weight. Less than 5% will almost surely result in sway.
Bill

aero993

Ok, so we hooked up the boat to my neighbors Tahoe. He has more boat towing experience than I. We took my boat out for it's maiden voyage. We stayed out about 20 minutes than came back in. We pulled the boat all the way up on the trailer. As we pulled it out of the water, it adjusted back about 2 inches. Why is that, and how does one stop that from happening? On the way to the marina, the trailer would sway. After we reloaded the boat onto the trailer everything was fine. It did not sway once. Also, I can no longer lift the front of the trailer. No it was not swatting, both vehicle have load leveling shocks.

Thanks

Bigger Hammer

When you're loading the boat the aft end of the boat is still floating. As you pull out the aft end settles, and the bow eye pivots back away from the bow stop.
You've got to put a pretty good load on the winch to get the boat to stay snug up on the bow stop. The other option (for me, with a strap winch) is to pull the boat forward on the trailer after it's out of the water. Sometimes I've had to load up the winch, pull forward a bit, then hit the brakes hard to get the boat to come forward.
Sometimes moving the boat just a few inches will make a difference. You also probably added some fuel, which will change the center of gravity. On my rig the fuel tanks are somewhat aft, filling them will reduce my tongue weight a bit.
Bill

Coconut Sunrise

What is the rated Max tongue of your truck ?

j

rat_catcher

For good towing manners you need about 10% of the rig weight on the tongue. If you can lift it by hand you are too light up front.

TripleCrownNC

Your boat needs to stay up to the bow stop. When you load in up on the trailer, try not to have the trailer as deep in the water. This will minimize the amount the stern is floating (and dropping when you pull it out). While the baot and trailer are sill in the water, tighten up the wench. I have a chain that has a turn buckle that goes from the bow eye straight down to the trailer. Tighten the strap with the wench and the chain going downwards with the turnbuckle. Pull the boat out of the water slooooo. If it moves off the bow stop, put it back in the water and do it again.

A trialer swaying back and forth means you do not have enough tongue wt. If this persists, you will have to move the boat up on the trailer.

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TripleCrownNC

This is an old pic but you can see the wench strap and the chain with the turnbuckle. The strap keeps things tight to the bow stop, the chain keeps things from bouncing.

Attached Images

 

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