ADJUSTING TRAILER FOR 23' SF

[peterb]

I bought a new trailer this sping for my new old 23' SeaCraft. It is a tide water roller style. Anyway my new boat has twin 200'S (see attached picture)_ and a bracket on it. That's a lot of weight in the back.

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As a result the trailer has no tongue weight and starts to fish tail pretty bad once I hit 50 miles per hour. I have been advised to slide both axels back around 9 inches. I have never done this before and aim to tackle it one day this week. I was just going to loosen the nuts and take it from there.

Are there any specific tricks to do this? I would greatly appreciate any insights that you can share with me.

Thanks,

Peter

[Fr. Frank]

Peter,

1st, jack up the trailer in the back, at least 6" AFT of where you intend to move the axles. Do NOT let the wheels come off the ground. Put two automotive-type jackstands in place AFT of the jacking point, one on each side of the frame.
Next, jack up the trailer frame about 3'-4' FORWARD of the current axle placement. At this time, jack the trailer up so that all the tires come off the ground by about 1/2" to 1". Block-up or jackstand the two forward points as well. Try to do this so that your trailer frame is very nearly level, with the tires just off the ground.
At this point, your boat and trailer should be level, supported in four places, with the tires just off the ground.
Loosen the rolling carriage at all mounting points, so that the tires are now supporting all the un-sprung weight , and using the tires, with you and an assistant on each side, now ROLL the axles and carriage backwards to a pre-measured point AFT of your current point. 9 inches should be close to what you need. Make sure both sides move the same distance.
Now LIGHTLY tighten your carriage mounting bolts, then gently take the trailer down off the stands, and weigh for tongue weight. If you have the magical 5-7% of your gross weight, tighten everything up the rest of the way and your done.

[Trayder]

Does the place you purchase the trailer at offer a service to fit your boat to the trailer?

Its a real pain in the arse to move axles around but due to the fact you trailer is new it will be easier.

The places our here that sell trailers charge a couple of hundred to fit the boat to the trailer.

If you are doing it yourself buy borrow or steal a compressor and impact wrench.

[peterb]

Thanks Father Frank and Jason.

Quick question. When I do this should the trailer be attached to my SUV (so that there is no unnucessary movement)?

[Fr. Frank]

First of all

When I do this should the trailer be attached to my SUV

No.

Second, I agree with Jason about the impact wrench. It will save a lot of time, AND provide for greater security. Or, if you're the he-man type, just put a 3' pipe on the handle of your 1/2" drive breaker bar, and good luck loosening those nuts

[peterb]

I have always drooled over those impact wrenches and compressor setups. My next door neighbor is a big time gadget guy. I will see what he has.

thanks

[klaucke]

I agree it is much easier to adjust the trailer w/o the weight of the boat on it. Moving the axles is a pretty easy, straight forward job once everything is in position. If you live near some water, I would look into just dropping the boat into the water and leaving it tied up somewhere, if you have access to that sort of thing.

Once you have everything jacked up (either w/ the boat or w/o), you only need to remove the bolts and move them back to the desired mounting holes. Please be very careful that the trailer is properly supported w/ back up in case a jack stand fails, etc. Some blocks of wood or spare tires are cheap insurance!

[peterb]

Yeah, but generally speaking I don't like to do things the easy way.

I spoke to my friendly mechanic who recommended a nearby garage. I will probably do it with them next monday. I will drop off the trailer w/out the boat, get him to tweak the trailer and then try it out (complete with weighing it).

Am thinking of moving it back 9 inches. A couple of people, including Father Frank, mentioned this estimate.

What are the odds that it will work out the first time?

[peterb]

Well, the trailer is finally finished. First, I had the axels move back 9 inches. Not enough tongue weight (about 140 pounds). Just had them moved back another 3 inches. Bingo. Now I have around 350 pounds of tongue weight. No more fishing tailing at 50 miles per hour.