Hitch Question

I see the free advice is worth just about what you pay for it! :grin:

If you had a two axle trailer, then the standard answer would be that when you are hitched up and ready to roll, the frame of the trailer should be parallel to the ground. That way load gets evenly distributed on the front and rear axles. Your trailer doesn't have two axles. Maybe you already knew that.

Keeping the trailer frame level with the road is still a good idea, and it will define the ball height. You still need to be loaded to check and see if it is right or not. But with a single axle trailer, there are two other things I would consider.

First, look at the clearance from the bottom of the skeg on your outdrive to the ground when the drive is down. If you can avoid it, you want to be set up so that you can operate the boat with the drive in the normal position when you put the boat on the trailer. It is also nice if when you are having a bad hair day, that if your forget to raise your outdrive before pulling the boat up the ramp your skeg does not leave a groove in the pavement. This may influence whether you raise or lower the tongue a bit in your setup.

Second thing is what are the ramps like where you boat? I should say, what is the ramp angle. For 'normal' ramps, you can normally load and unload your boat easiest if the trailer is set up with the frame parallel to the ground as above. If the angle of the trailer is too shallow when you try and unload, you will find yourself dragging the boat over the rear of the bunks or rollers, rather than having it float off nicely. This can happen if the setup has the tongue too low, or the ramp angle is too shallow.

OTOH, if the angle of the trailer to the water is too steep, unloading will be a breeze. But when it comes time to load it, the forward part of the boat will hit the bunks up front too soon. The stern won't be guided on by the bunks or rollers, and getting it loaded squarely will be a problem. You can have the front held in place by the bunks, and the current in wind will take the stern and move it sideways. Not fun. :smt013

My 270 loads and unloads very easily, I normally do it by myself. I normally power onto the trailer until the boat is in place. But this depends on the trailer angle being right. There is one boat launch near where I live that I would like to use once in a while, but I have never used it. The angle of the ramp just looks too steep, and I don't see how I could load back up and be square unless everything were perfectly calm.

If you go watch some others at the boat ramp, it should not take too many observations before you see someone having trouble loading a boat because the trailer is just set up wrong. Watch and see what happens, and look at why they are having trouble. A boat like a SeaRay with a somewhat deep V, consistent from front to back, should nearly load itself. If it doesn't, look at your support configuration, ramp angle, and ball height.
 
:grin: Ok, I won't add to the first few replies because Four Suns pretty much said it all and I can't top that! I won't even ask what happened to the other one...... :smt009 :smt043

I think the answer is quick and simple. It needs to be where ever the trailer is when sitting level when hooked up. Simple as that.

You don't want it to be too high (which will cause not enough tongue weight) or to low (which will cause too little tongue weight) because regardless of loading and unloading, the trailer was designed to be optimally balanced when level. If it's not, it'll be wagging you, or you'l be wagging it and niether is a good thing, no matter how big you tow vehicle is.

You may have to adjust where the boat sits, but if it was designed to be adjustable, you'd had an adjustable bow support etc. The trailer manufacture will be able to tell you how it was designed for the boat to sit. Where the transom should rest on the rear of the bunks, where the bow eye should rest on the front bow support/roller etc.

I can't speak for all trailers, but any trailer that's been built for a specific boat, I've never seen anyone able to tuck the drive in all the way. Some are close even tilted up all the way. It's not designed with the primary purpose to be ease of loading and unloading, although that's certainly part of the design, being trailered safely is #1.
 
mrtopknight said:
How high should the top of my ball be from the ground?
Click to expand...

Four Suns said:
How tall are you?
Click to expand...

If we ever start a CSR classics...this one has to be in the top 10....I'm still laughting.... :thumbsup:
 
I knew it was a loaded question :grin: but I couldn't think of a better way to word it :thumbsup:
 
:smt043 :smt043 :smt043 :smt043 :smt043 :smt043


I had a stressful day and I come home and see this post....thanks for bringing a smile to my face tonight. :thumbsup:
 
Ok, after measuring the tongue height the trailer sits -4" (4" below being level) when connected. Any thoughts??
 
mrtopknight said:
Ok, after measuring the tongue height the trailer sits -4" (4" below being level) when connected. Any thoughts??
Click to expand...

Depends on what kind of ball mount you're using. Some can be flipped which is most common and why they are designed the way they are, and you can also get ones that are adjustable.
 
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