Boat sways when towed, how to add with to the tongue.

T

The NY Dad

Member
Jul 10, 2017
71
Arizona
Boat Info
2010 185 sport
Engines
190hp 4.3l Mercruiser
Previously we had been towing our boat with my F150 and had no problems with sway. This past weekend we used my daughters Tacoma and the boat swayed at speeds as low as 60mph.

I'm going to take it to a Cat scale and weigh it and find the tongue weight. I need to find a way to add weight to the tongue. The trailer is a Shorelander SRV31b which Searay sold with the 185sport as a package. I look yesterday and there is no way to move the axle everything is welded solid. and the winch post can't be moved forward because of the swing away tongue, theres no room to move it forward.

I'm think of adding steel plate across the top and bottom of the frame rails where it V's or adding steel bar along the tongue held with u-bolts. anybody got any thoughts.
 
The only thing you can do is get the weights....then you know the amount of weight needed and can figure out where it could go if that's an option
Tongue height might have been a factor between the two trucks... Check that too
You can also use a weight distribution hitch with sway control ... But only if your tongue weight percentage is within the requirement
 
I used one of these (not this brand) on a travel trailer I had and it worked like a champ. You can pick them up at any RV dealer that handles parts. There's a small ball on the hitch assembly and another on the fork of the trailer. You adjust the friction/tension by rotating that lever on the right side.

I towed my trailer in about a 25-30mph crosswind without sway because I could tighten it down to not allow any sway.

25e23e30-52e5-4e3c-96b1-ed11a2515296_1.9fcf5f2ad3f17b131e8a0614b1a9cef5.jpeg


Here's a link to it at WalMart.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/CURT-Swa...89545&wl11=online&wl12=17385938&wl13=&veh=sem
 
I looked into add on friction anti sway and weight distribution hitches and they arent’ compatible with the surge brakes on the trailer. So the only other option is adding weight to the tongue.
 
You might check the towing capacity of the Tacoma against the boat and trailer weight and perhaps slow it down a bit as most states trailer towing speed is 55 mph. Trailers will sway if going to fast or if the boat weighs more than the truck towing ability, been there done that. I have a f150 and my bayliner 1750 cutty cab (17 1/2 foot) will sway when I get over 55 mph but my trailer has 12" tires and the tongue weight may be a bit light also.
 
If youre having sway issues at 60mph id say you are close to where you need to be for tongue weight but not quite there. If it was really bad you'd have trailer sway at 45mph or so. To eliminate trailer sway you need to increase the tongue weight, to do this the boat needs to either move forward on the trailer or the axle(s) need to move further back on the trailer. Moving the axle is time consuming and could be costly so try moving the boat forward first. There are two ways to do this, first try to move the winch post further forward (closer to the truck) on the trailer frame (preferred). If the post is as far forward as it can possibly move then the next option is to lower the crank itself down the winch post. Yes... it is angled away from the boat so lowering it will put it closer to the rear of the trailer, however, the angle of the keel of the boat should be greater than that of the winch post so you can gain a few valuable inches. Even if this puts the bow roller below the bow eye its still the safest thing to do, just make sure the safety chain goes under the roller assembly then back up before connecting to the bow eye (to prevent the boat from riding over the roller in the event of a serious crash).

It sounds like all you need to get for movement is a few inches... If you can get the boat that much closer to the truck it will settle down the trailer sway for sure. BUT, as others have said, you probably shouldn't be going too much over 60mph anyways.
 
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Loyd Dinneen said:
You might check the towing capacity of the Tacoma against the boat and trailer weight and perhaps slow it down a bit as most states trailer towing speed is 55 mph. Trailers will sway if going to fast or if the boat weighs more than the truck towing ability, been there done that. I have a f150 and my bayliner 1750 cutty cab (17 1/2 foot) will sway when I get over 55 mph but my trailer has 12" tires and the tongue weight may be a bit light also.
Click to expand...

If your trailer is swaying at 55 mph with an F150 I would do something about that, the tongue weight is not appropriate. Its not as simple as making sure you stay under 55 mph, if you hit a bump or a large gust of wind under 55 it could throw the trailer into an unrecoverable sway. Try moving the boat forward on the trailer the same way I posted above. You could also try getting a larger drop for your trailer ball to get the trailer tongue lower to the ground, which will shift the weight further forward.
 
The Tacoma has a 6000 lb. tow rating, According to the manuals the boat has a dry weight of 2400 lbs. , the trailer shipping weight is 635 lbs., a full tank of gas is around 150lbs. That puts it a little under 3200 lbs. I know I don't have that much, but lets say I have another 200 lbs of stuff in the boat. We can call it roughly 3,400 lbs total so it's well within the Tacomas towing capability. I'll get it weighed, so I know the total weight and tongue weight then go from there. According to shorelander moving the boat forward one inch is only going to add 10-15 lbs to the tongue, so lowering the winch on the post isn't going to gain me much.
 
I've heard that a general rule of thumb for trailering is to have 10% tongue weight on the ball. So it looks like you require approximately 320 lbs tonge weight. Lower your tonge wheel onto a bathroom scale to see where you are at and add or push weight forward accordingly??
 
Could you move the spare tire closer to the tongue? I pull my 200OVOB with a trailblazer, that's 400lb of engine weight hanging behind the trailer frame. With my former 17' StarCraft OB I use a straight receiver. For the Sea Ray I had to switch to a 4" drop receiver to get everything to handle ok. Unfortunately, no brakes on the trailer, but I haven't been able to get a trailer upgrade or axle upgrade approved.
 
It would be EXTREMELY rare for that package (boat/trailer) to be set-up wrong. I'm not saying it can't happen, but there were SO MANY of those made with no problems, it would be a very odd thing for ShoreLand'r to mess up. In fact, I can't think of the last time I heard of a ShoreLand'r being made improperly... other manufacturer's... well... ;0

But that fact that it tows well with the F150 also points to the trailer being set-up properly. It seems as though the issue might be with the Tacoma. For what it's worth, I know of plenty of people that trailer your set-up with smaller vehicles with no issues.

It would be good, though, to double check things. To check your tongue weight, you need to use a 4x4 directly under the coupler (where the ball goes). If you measure further back, the reading is inaccurate. Boat trailers tend to work with slightly less than the 10% "norm". Some even down to 5%. With your setup, if you're around 200lbs you'll be good. How easily can you lift the tongue up?

FYI, it only takes a few inches to affect tongue weight - how close is the winch stand to the swing tongue?

Was there any extra weight in the boat (aft end) this particular time? Water in the bilge?
 
The NY Dad said:
The Tacoma has a 6000 lb. tow rating, According to the manuals the boat has a dry weight of 2400 lbs. , the trailer shipping weight is 635 lbs., a full tank of gas is around 150lbs. That puts it a little under 3200 lbs. I know I don't have that much, but lets say I have another 200 lbs of stuff in the boat. We can call it roughly 3,400 lbs total so it's well within the Tacomas towing capability. I'll get it weighed, so I know the total weight and tongue weight then go from there. According to shorelander moving the boat forward one inch is only going to add 10-15 lbs to the tongue, so lowering the winch on the post isn't going to gain me much.
Click to expand...

When you are talking about an 18 foot, 2800 pound load on a single axle trailer moving the boat forward an inch is going to net approximately 13 pounds of tongue weight. You need just under 340 pounds of tongue weight so get the figure you're at now and adjust accordingly. I'm thinking that 200 pounds of tongue weight is not good enough for your setup, maybe with a larger truck. If you can get the boat three inches forward you'll be gaining 40 pounds of tongue weight. It sounds like you dont like the idea of moving the winch down, but short of adding weights to your trailer tongue (which is hack), moving the winch is your only option.

40 pounds may be all you need, probably even less since you're only noticing sway above 60 mph... Remember, when moving the boat forward, youre not only adding the weight to the tongue, youre reducing the weight behind the axle, which is most likely what is causing your sway. If you want to add weights to your trailer tongue it'll be double the weight to gain the same effect from moving the boat forward.. So gaining 40 pounds by moving the boat forward will be the same as adding 80 pounds of weights to your tongue.
 
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Do all the easy things first. Find out the current tongue weight. Make sure ball is at correct height so boat trailer is lever when hooked up. Check tire air pressure on trailer and truck, run them at max allowable. It tows fine with the 150 and should with the Tocoma also. What ain't the same?
 
Thanks everyone, I'm going to fill the boat with gas, check air in all the tires, then I have a nice level cement pad I'm going to put the truck,trailer and boat on, make sure the trailer is setting level when hooked to the truck. Ill measure the tongue weight with a Sherline tongue weight scale, Then take it to the cat scale and see what the boat weighs. Once I know that and figure out what my tongue weight should be, ill look into moving the spare tire because I have room on the trailer frame to move it, and moving the winch down on the post if need be.
 
Works been insane this month, I didn't get to the cat scale but I did weigh the tonge with a Shoreline tongue scale. I had only 275 lbs. on the tongue. Adding up the boat weight from the manual, and the weight of a tank of gas and adding a couple hundred pounds for stuff we keep in the boat most life jackets a couple paddles lines, anchor, stuff like that. It should be around 3,300 -3,400. So My tongue weight is way low. I was able to move the spare tire mount forward 13" we'll try that and see how it goes, it's bound to make an improvement.
 
So whats so hard about slowing down a bit. Seen way too many boats alongside the highways from loss of control from sway.Too big a boat, too small a tow vehicle
 
You're not low. The weight is fine and right about where I would expect it to be for a boat trailer of that size. Remember, you said it towed fine with the F150 - the "variable" here is not the trailer, it's the tow vehicle being used. But check tire pressure in both vehicle and trailer (to be sure). Moving weight forward "could" help, but it SHOULD NOT be needed - the trailer/boat is set-up fine.
 
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