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Posts: 114
| hey guys,
my boat is about 6 inches - 12 inches to long for my garage (apartment). I was thinking about cutting the tongue of the trailer about that long so that it will fit, ive measured the tailgate and jack/roller and those will still fit fine. anything else to worry about? |
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Posts: 1209
| How about cut it and add a pivot for a swing tongue? Either way should be fine as long as you have competence and understanding of what your doing ( even while towing) |
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Posts: 114
| I was just looking into the swing tongue. Read those are more of a weak point than just cutting it shorter, it would be nice to have to keep the trailer further from the tailgate (when its open) |
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Posts: 120
| I cut my brothers trailer and added a swing tongue for the same reason. Very easy and I dont know if it is actually any weaker than just the ball mount. I would hope they are over engineered with safety in mind. |
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
My gut instinct says this is a fairly small boat and you do not plan on changing to a larger boat with the same trailer, I'd think cutting it off and reinstalling the hitch to that would be just fine.... No issues...just cut straight. 
Steve |
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Posts: 114
| thanks guys. its a 16 foot alumicraft with a 40 on a older shorelander trailer. not a ton of weight at all. my main concern is issues like dropping the tailgate on the winch or jackknife/backing issues. |
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Posts: 152
| https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qudfLLK2rdw
You can buy and install a bolt on swing tounge unit.
Edited by Sudszee 6/5/2019 10:21 AM
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Since you are concerned abt back up issues, put one of these puppies on your rear license plate and worry no more. m
https://peakauto.com/products/electronics/back-up-cameras/ |
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Posts: 114
| My ram has a really nice one, worried about my buddies vehicles as we all use the boat. |
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Posts: 416
Location: Madtown, WI | You'll be shifting the the weight of the boat to your hitch from the trailer axle. Try lifting the boat at the point where you'll be cutting and make sure it isn't significantly heavier. I had a 14' boat that had a trailer with a tongue that wasn't long enough. It was a boat that should have been super light, but was a pain to move because of tongue. It would also bounce really weird while trailering and couldn't open trunk/gate of vehicle. I would NOT shorten the tongue if I were you unless there was no other option.
Edited by stdevos 6/6/2019 12:49 PM
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Posts: 426
| stdevos - 6/6/2019 12:42 PM
You'll be shifting the the weight of the boat to your hitch from the trailer axle. Try lifting the boat at the point where you'll be cutting and make sure it isn't significantly heavier. I had a 14' boat that had a trailer with a tongue that wasn't long enough. It was a boat that should have been super light, but was a pain to move because of tongue. It would also bounce really weird while trailering and couldn't open trunk/gate of vehicle. I would NOT shorten the tongue if I were you unless there was no other option. ^^^^^What he said x2^^^^ |
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | stdevos - 6/6/2019 12:42 PM
You'll be shifting the the weight of the boat to your hitch from the trailer axle. Try lifting the boat at the point where you'll be cutting and make sure it isn't significantly heavier. I had a 14' boat that had a trailer with a tongue that wasn't long enough. It was a boat that should have been super light, but was a pain to move because of tongue. It would also bounce really weird while trailering and couldn't open trunk/gate of vehicle. I would NOT shorten the tongue if I were you unless there was no other option.
From a physics standpoint, the weight of the boat is still in the same position, but he would be reducing the weight on the forward side of the axle. The way trailers are designed, the tongue acts as a lever. Therefore, the longer the lever, the easier it feels is to lift on your own. So...when lengthening or shortening the tongue The weight doesn't change nor does it's position on the trailer, only the distance from the fulcrum (axle) does from where it is being lifted. If for some reason the boat is hard to lift now, the trailer is most likely not set up correctly. If it is that far off, it is quite possible to adjust where the axle is located as well. These adjustments would be quite minute, though...most likely a couple of inches at most, distributing more weight of the boat aft by moving the axle forewad toward the tongue
In this particular instance, if he can cut off, say 8 inches of his tongue without adversely affecting tailgate use, it will not adversely affect the overall weight distribution much at all. If anything, it may help (depending) as a hitch is supposed to have about 15% of the weight on it when level so it pulls correctly. Being this is a fairly small rig, I don't believe he's going to run into any issues mentioned about not being able to move it around given he has a decent wheel jack on it.
Steve
Edited by VMS 6/16/2019 8:57 PM
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Posts: 114
| Thanks for the input guys, cut the tongue 7 inches about two weeks ago, haven't noticed any changes at all, except if fits in my garage easier now. |
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Posts: 1209
| Good deal |
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