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Quite a few posts recently about trailers but nothing that answers my question. Our boat's a 1989 with a Yamaha 50 2 stroke.
I'm about to fit a new axle & suspension units while the boat's on the water, but not sure what weight rating I need to be looking at. I'm guessing we have:
Bare boat - 550 lbs (per specifcations)
Other stuff - 200 lbs (fuel, battery, anchor, etc.)
Motor - 250 lbs
Trailer - 250 lbs
The trailer is shown less the axle which is unsprung weight, and less the towball load.
Total 1250 lbs - does this seem a reasonable estimate ?
When you rate the trailer and tire to carrying capacity, it includes everything (axles, fishing gear, the load you are carrying, etc...). You have a little leeway with tongue weight, which transfers some of the trailer weight to the rear axle of the tow vehicle (with your small set up 300lbs.max. probably a bit less). Check with DMV in your area for weight requirements for brakes on axle. In CA it is 1500lbs. I am not familiar with your hull but I would put off the trailer rebuild until the next time around and weigh your trailer and boat together at some sort of scale (quarry, landscape supply, weigh station, etc...) and take your guess factor out of the equation. I would get the correct spring (not overbuild) but get the largest tire/rim available for the axle hub.
Garris
If I had the exact weight for my boat and trailer I would keep the tongue weight out of the equation for wiggle room for adding weight to the boat. The tongue set up should be just heavy enough to be hard to lift or more.
Yes, if I'd thought I'd be replacing the axle I would have done as you suggest and weighed the whole rig. However the problem is that, whilst doing what I thought was a quick clean-up, I found the suspension arms to be very rusty and corroded so I'm not confident of their being able to do a 50 mile trip without catastrophe !
Anthony
P.S. Why would the axle itself be included in the weight ? I'd have thought it wouldn't be, as that's what's taking the weight.
It is important to note that Anthony is in Wales. As in the United Kingdom.
I would side on the caution side. The published weights for Boston Whalers are NOT accurate.
You need to factor worse case. Imagine the boat, full of gear and fuel AND filled with rainwater (by accident). The last thing you want is the trailer to fail.
Go for an axle rated for 2,000 lbs
I think the trailer brakes rule for the UK is:
Any trailer weighing over 750 kilograms, including its load, must have a working brake system.
ASIDE:
My only visit to Wales, Arrived in a local B&B on the side of a valley in a small hamlet after 36 hrs of international travel. Woke up the next morning to see two fully loaded RAF Tornado's a few hundred feet away doing a low level run down the valley on their way to a practice range. I could see the pilots helmets.
Did the existing trailer come with the boat, and was it "dealership original"? You might want to look at your existing tires and see what their maximum capacities are. It will give you a starting point for the capacities as originally built.
Garris
I am sure others on the site have more knowledge around your specific needs with similar boats
Edit: Phil posted as I was writing, I would go for the 2000lb rating also, based on your numbers and Phil's experience. Looks like you need brakes based on 2.2 lbs. = 1 kilogram
I have a 1976 Sport 15 and 50hp Nissan (550 + 160 + 200 in gear = total 910#). Your weight estimation seems about right to me. I still have the dealer original EZ Loader trailer for mine and it's rated for 1650 lbs (and the axle is rated to 2000#). As long as the total weight of the boat/engine/trailer is <1650lbs it looks like you don't need brakes. I don't have brakes on my setup and it trailers very nicely. Also, the boat was trailered ~900 miles from the northeast to me in NC when I purchased it without problems.
Edited by wlagarde on 08/22/14 - 4:58 AM
1976 Sport 15 w/ 2005 50hp Nissan 2 stroke
Many thanks for the further advice, everyone. To answer the points raised:
a) Not absolutely certain, but I'm fairly sure the trailer's original (one previous owner and fits exactly) and thus, as it's unbraked, it would indicate the weight as below 750 kg = 1800 lbs. That said, I'm assuming the 750 kg rule was in effect in '89 !
b) The suspension units appear to be available in 50 kg steps, so I suppose if I go for 800 kg then this would be sufficient. Presumably if you go too high, the ride will become harder. We have a '55 Land Rover with an appalling ride, but load a few bags of cement or a pile of logs and it's like a Rolls-Royce !
c) I'll have a look at the tyres (ok, tires) but doubt if they show a weight rating.
d) Ah, the jets, Phil ! Much of Wales is an RAF low flying area. We're on a hillside too and just occasionally look down on them, they mostly come from RAF Valley on the Isle of Anglesey in the north. Always more activity when there's a crisis in the Middle East !
In the UK we have a curious mix of metric and imperial measures. We still have miles and more importantly pints of beer, but most food, building supplies etc. are in metric. But if you go to the builders' merchant, say for some planks, you still ask for 6 ft of 8" x 2" but what you actually get is 200 mm x 50 mm which is fractionally smaller in section. So with plumbing and pipe fittings there's a good market in adaptors to make, for example, your new 50mm pipe connect to the original 2". And farmland etc. is still sold in acres, whilst officialdom refers to hectares. Motors have always been measured in cc rather than cu ins, so that's not been a problem.
