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| when trailering your boat, what angle do you want it to ride at?
perfectly level?
slightly nose high?
how much difference does it make?
what's the best way to get it right? |
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Location: The Yahara Chain | After pulling a few different boats behind a few different vehicles over the years...here is my 2 cents.
Level works the best.
Nose high works the worst...this can lead to some severe trailer sway. |
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Posts: 87
| I thought I read that level is prefered so you put equal pressure on the leaf spring mounts. Something like that. Level is best. Terry |
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Posts: 1438
| I've always heard as close to level as you can get.
How it sits is always going to change depending on what you're carrying in the back of the truck, or in some cases in the boat as well.
Scott |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | If you have 'surge brakes' on the trailer then you MUST have a level ride for them to work right.
Best way to get it right is with the right size hitch. m |
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Posts: 2
| Level! If you have it to high or to low, it causes an uneven distribution of weight off the axels of the car/truck and the trailer. Your trailer is designed to carry the weight of your boat over the axel, not on the hitch. |
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Posts: 2754
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Lambeau- My truck has a lift kit, and I have a matching drop hitch. Having the trailer level also provides better clearance for the motor, i.e., the lower unit. Navychief has a very good point, i.e., weight distribution is also important. If you can't lift the trailer by hand, the boat is to far forward. It needs to be a little noise heavy maybe 50lb's-100lbs or so, I can lift mine with one hand. Mine was setup by the factory (Skeeter). When I'm headed to Canada and carrying extra gear/gas in the boat, I also try to keep the majority of my heavy items centered over the axle to maintain the balance.
Have fun!
Al |
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Posts: 69
Location: oak lawn IL | level is best no matter what!! a single axle trailer will be just fine with a slight nose down (on ball) but a dual or triple axle is a big no-no they have to be level to have equil pressure on all tires.
if anyone tells you all the weight should be on the axle thats wrong---you always have to maintain a minimum 10% of the total weight on the ball (for eg. if you put 1000lbs in your boat 100lbs of it must be towards the front) or you will get avery bad and dangerous sway when pulling your trailer!!! anouther eg. is if your total boat/trailer weight is 2000lbs then minimum 200lbs is required on the ball.
the best way to get it right is to use an adjustable receiver ( ball can be mounted higher or lower on the receiver ) to maintain a level pull.
BTW be extra carefull when loading your boat with items exp. coolers loaded with ice and pop/beer ( theise are very heavy) you dont want to overload your axle/tires ...it'll cause the tires to get too hot and cause a blow out.
hope this helps
jim
Edited by jim casteel 2/16/2006 10:43 PM
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